Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 38.djvu/556

540 weathers, they should have their heads loose, in rough pasture; and in summer they can safely be left out at night, with the exception of young foals. Strange to say, the latter are remarkably delicate. For indoor food common wheaten bran made into a mash, with the addition of a little Indian meal, suits them much better than oats; while hay or straw, with turnips or potatoes, and perhaps a little linseed cake, complete their stable dietary. Generally speaking, they are somewhat gross feeders, and, though capable of standing unharmed a surfeit which would ruin an ordinary horse, they should have a carefully measured allowance, varying according to their size and to the work they have to do.

Now, as to the much-vexed question of height. A variation of, say, three hands between the average large and small sized ponies means a good deal in the case of such a tiny animal. Yet it obtains, as we have said, among undoubtedly pure-bred specimens, and entirely independent of any foreign cross. Accidental variations of size occur, of course, in breeding, and may be perpetuated, though this is not always to be relied upon. The true explanation, according to one of the most experienced of Shetland judges, is that size is mainly, though perhaps not entirely, a question of feed. Scanty feeding on hard pasture tends to diminish the height, and also to develop that superabundance of hair which is popularly (though erroneously) regarded as one of the distinguishing marks of the genuine strain.

The craze for undersized ponies, in our opinion, has had its day. Except as curiosities, or for the purposes of the ménage, these pygmy animals are practically useless. The conventional Shetland pony—the animal represented in picture-books—namely, about forty to forty-four inches high, very tight-jointed, and with an impossible growth of hair all over him, is just about as bad a type of this famous race as can well be imagined. From his build he is generally short-winded and thoroughly impracticable in his paces. A South Mainland specimen, on the other hand, long and rakish in build—hard-grown, as the saying is—and clean-limbed, will far surpass his companion in staying power. One of this hardy breed—in our opinion the ideal Shetland pony—has been known to travel from Sumburgh to Lerwick and back the same day, with a tolerably heavy riding weight, say fifty-six miles altogether of extremely hilly road. But, minor differences apart, there are certain characteristics—unfailing tests in their way with the experienced judge—which go to the "make-up" of a Shetland, as distinguished from an Iceland or Faroe, pony—e.g., a certain unmistakable breadth of build, set of pasterns, and, more particularly, an apathetic air which no other breed possesses. Your "Sheltie" is not a quick animal, is inclined to be sleepy rather than otherwise in his paces, and is, as a rule, disposed to do no more than he