Little  Horses  With  Big  Values. 
GOOD  DWARFS  PAY  WELL. 
On  page  65  of  this  year’s  It.  N.-Y.  we  gave  an  account 
of  the  pony  breeding  establishment  of  Dr.  O.  C.  Jack- 
son,  of  Jamaica,  Long  Island.  Dr.  Jackson  has  prob¬ 
ably  the  largest  collection  of  little  horses  in  the  coun¬ 
try.  He  has  three  breeds,  Welsh,  Shetland  and  Ice¬ 
land,  and  is  constantly  on  the  lookout  for  novel  and 
striking  specimens  of  these  breeds.  When  one  is 
breeding  ponies  he  finds  that  values  are  found  in 
points  different  from  those  that  give  value  in  larger 
horses.  The  smaller  the  horse  the  better,  provided  it 
is  stout  and  of  good  color.  If  one  is  trying  to  produce 
dwarfs  the  more  completely  he  can  dwarf  the  size  the 
better  off  he  is.  Dr.  Jackson  realizes  this  and  with 
his  Shetlands  he  is  constantly  breeding  and  selecting 
with  a  view  to  decrease  the  size  and  preserve  the 
strength  and  vigor  and  also  the  most  striking  colors. 
The  picture  at  Fig.  219,  shows  how  well  he  is  succeed¬ 
ing.  Here  we  see  him  really  “riding  his  hobby,”  for 
he  stands  astride  of  the  smallest  mature  pony  in  the 
country.  This  is  Sugar  Plum,  a  “  skewbald  ”  Shet¬ 
land  mare,  four  years  old  and  fully  grown  and  de¬ 
veloped.  You  can  see  that  the  doctor  stands  flat- 
footed  on  the  ground  without  sitting  or  throwing  any 
weight  upon  the  little  horse.  This  is  a  good  way  to 
‘  ‘  ride  a  hobby  ” — keep  it  under  perfect  control  and 
show  it  off  to  the  best  advantage  and  still  do  not  in¬ 
jure  it  and  “  ride  it  to  death.” 
Dr.  Jackson  makes  a  great  feature  of  training  his 
ponies  so  that  they  are  perfectly  safe  to  handle  and 
drive.  He  says  that  no  man  can  afford  to  break  and 
drive  ponies  enough  so  that  children  can  safely  handle 
them.  This  is  children’s  work  and  the  ponies  are  to 
be  handled  and  driven  by  children  anyway.  So  the 
doctor  turns  the  ponies  over  to  his  own  children  to  be 
trained  and  educated.  As,  he  says,  he  is  blessed  with 
eight  little  Jacksons,  and  all  of  them  greatly  interested 
in  the  ponies,  he  manages  to  give  each  one  of  the  little 
horse  dwarfs  a  thorough  high  school  education.  He 
will  not  recommend  any  pony  until 
his  own  children  can  do  anything 
they  please  with  it.  He  has  ponies 
so  gentle  and  intelligent  that  a  child 
five  years  old  could  safely  harness 
and  drive  them.  The  Shetlands  are 
naturally  so  affectionate  and  easily 
handled  that  there  are  only  two  out 
of  30  head  that  the  doctor  would  not 
fully  guarantee.  When  a  man  is 
selling  ponies  he  cannot  be  too  care¬ 
ful  to  tell  his  customers  about  their 
faults.  The  little  things  are  to  be 
driven  by  children — the  most  care¬ 
less  and  excitable  drivers  in  the 
world.  If  the  pony  has  any  faults 
at  all,  they  are  sure  to  come  out 
under  such  driving  and  sorrow  be  to 
the  man  whose  wrong  guarantee 
prevents  the  care  that  might  have 
prevented  a  runaway  and  serious 
accident.  This  training  ponies  is  a 
sort  of  “children’s  work”  that 
is  like  play  for  the  little  folks  and 
profitable  for  the  big  ones.  It  is  not 
often  that  children  can  really  be  of 
actual  service  to  their  parents  in  this 
way.  These  ponies  are  a  prolific 
race.  At  Fig.  220  is  shown  a  little  mare  with  her  two 
colts,  both  born  within  a  year.  The  pony  breeding 
business  is  profitable  to  those  who  understand  it  and 
are  properly  fixed  to  conduct  it.  There  is  a  demand 
for  dwarfs  and  giants.  These  bring  the  high  prices, 
while  the  ordinary  sized  horses,  unless  of  very  superior 
quality,  will  bring  only  ordinary  prices. 
A  visit  to  Dr.  Jackson’s  farm  is  always  most  interest¬ 
ing  to  lovers  of  horses  or  ponies.  A  hundred  of  the 
Dr.  Jackson  Riding  His  Horry.  Fig.  219. 
little  fellows  turned  ont  in  the  paddock  together  form 
a  picture  to  delight  the  eye.  It  is  only  in  size  that 
these  ponies  are  inferior  to  their  bigger  brethren.  In 
endurance,  they  are  no  whit  behind  the  larger  horses ; 
indeed,  it  is  claimed  by  the  doctor  that  he  can  drive 
more  miles  in  six  days  with  a  team  of  ponies  than  can 
be  made  by  a  team  of  horses.  They  are  tough  and 
wiry  and  while  they  cannot  travel  so  fast  as  the  horses 
of  greater  size,  they  can  keep  at  it  for  more  consecu¬ 
tive  hours.  For  intelligence  and  responsiveness  to 
training,  they  really  excel,  and  in  kindness  and  affec¬ 
tionate  dispositions,  they  are  far  better  equipped,  as  a 
rule. 
The  doctor,  as  has  been  previously  stated,  has  three 
distinct  breeds,  the  Shetland,  Iceland  and  Welsh,  with 
the  numerous  Scotch  and  English  variations  of  these 
leading  types.  The  Shetland  is  the  stout,  heavily 
built  pony,  with  shaggy  mane  and  an  abundant  crop 
of  hair — what  is  known  as  the  distinctively  pony  build. 
Animals  of  this  kind  are  as  hardy  as  they  can  well  be, 
tough,  plucky  and  capable  of  great  endurance.  The 
Welsh  ponies  are  taller,  but  weigh  less.  They  are 
more  graceful — more  like  the  standard-bred  trotter  in 
shape  and  action.  They  are  very  beautiful.  A  team 
of  these  little  fellows  will  skim  over  the  country  roads 
before  a  light  phaeton  or  carriage  at  a  good  gait  and 
are  always  the  admiration  of  all  who  see  them.  The 
Ieelands  are  larger  than  either  of  the  others. 
Dr.  Jackson’s  choice  is  a  cross  between  the  Welsh 
and  Shetland.  They  make  finer  shaped  animals  than 
the  Shetland,  and  are  better  roadsters,  though  he  says 
they  require  more  pains  in  breaking  than  the  pure- 
bloods.  But  after  they  have  been  thoroughly  trained, 
they  are  especially  valuable. 
The  Rural  assures  its  readers  who  may  be  interested 
in  equine  matters  that  they  will  find  a  visit  to  Dr. 
Jackson’s  place,  thoroughly  enjoyable.  There  is  one 
pleasant  thing  to  be  recorded  in  connection  witli  it, 
not  directly  concerned  with  his  breeding  business. 
This  is  his  business  of  boarding  and  thoroughly  caring 
for  old  horses  which  have  outlived  their  usefulness, 
whose  owners  will  not  have  them  killed.  For  a  mode¬ 
rate  price,  the  doctor  receives  these  old  family  friends, 
boards  them,  takes  good  care  of  them  and  treats  them 
when  ill.  It  is  a  pleasant  sight  to  see  these  old  horses, 
which  have  faithfully  served  their  masters  until  old 
age  and  its  consequent  infirmities  have  made  longer 
service  impossible,  spending  the  remainder  of  their 
days  in  comfort,  well  fed  and  happy.  It  makes  one 
think  better  of  human  nature. 
Veterinary  Science. 
Among  the  most  encouraging  signs  of  the  times, 
in  relation  to  our  domestic  animals,  arc  the  strides 
which  have  been  made  forward  in  veterinary  science. 
Fifty  years  ago  it  would  have  been  a  misnomer  to  have 
applied  the  word  science  to  the  work  of  the  veterina¬ 
rians.  One  has  only  to  look  over  the 
text  books  written  during  those  days 
and  before,  to  thoroughly  realize 
this,  and  older  readers  of  The  Rural 
New-Yorker  can  recall  to  memory 
enough  of  the  treatment  of  the  older 
so-called  veterinarians,  to  under¬ 
stand  by  contrasting  it  with  the  work 
to-day,  the  progress  that  has  been 
made. 
There  are,  here  and  there  about 
the  country,  survivals  of  the  old  bar¬ 
barian  type,  who  “  doctor”  a  cow  for 
“hollow  horn”  or  “  wolf-in-the- 
tail,”  and  whose  methods  are  as 
cruel  to-day  as  those  of  old.  It  is 
pleasant  to  reflect  that  such  types 
are  growing  scarce  year  by  year,  and 
that  our  domestic  animals  escape 
much  of  the  well-intended  cruelty  of 
these  antiquated  bunglers. 
We  can  well  remember  when  the 
owner  of  horses  which  had  been 
worked  pretty  hard  during  the  win¬ 
ter,  had  them  all  bled  on  general 
principles,  before  turning  them  out 
for  a  rest  in  the  pastures.  We  have 
seen  the  blacksmith  in  the  country 
towns  burning  out  “  lampas  ”  from  a  horse’s  mouth 
with  a  hot  iron,  while  the  poor  animal  writhed  under 
the  worse  than  useless  torture.  But  these  absurdities 
and  barbarities  are  happily  at  an  end,  and  more  in¬ 
telligent  methods  prevail.  Heroic  doses  of  drugs 
are  less  common  and  a  wiser  and  more  humane 
method  is  coming  into  vogue.  It  is  always  the 
wiser  plan  to  lean  to  the  small  dose  in  dealing  with 
domestic  animals. 
