ARAB HORSE MESAOUD—14.2 hands.The property of Mr. WILFRED SCAWEN BLUNT.
ARAB HORSE MESAOUD—14.2 hands.The property of Mr. WILFRED SCAWEN BLUNT.
ARAB HORSE MESAOUD—14.2 hands.
The property of Mr. WILFRED SCAWEN BLUNT.
We need not consider the game as played by Orientals. The Manipuris, whose national game it is, and from whom Europeans first learned it, use ponies which do not often exceed 12 hands in height. The game was introduced into India proper in 1864,[11]and was first played in England by the officers of the 10th Hussars in the year 1872, on their return from service in India.
[11]“Recollections of my Life.” By Sir Joseph Fayrer, Bart. 1900.
[11]“Recollections of my Life.” By Sir Joseph Fayrer, Bart. 1900.
In India, where the game of Polo was first played by Englishmen, the Arab is thought the perfect pony, the more so because the height of ponies played under the Indian Polo Association’s code of rules must not exceed 13 hands 3 inches. The extensive operations of the Civil Veterinary Department have proved again the truth that no sire impresses more certainly and more markedly his likeness upon his stock than the Arab, a fact which is due to the high antiquity, and therefore “fixed” character of the breed.
If, therefore, we find the stock got by the thoroughbred sire too prone to outgrow the limit of height, we may, without self-reproach, turn for assistance to the Eastern stock, from which we have evolved the modern racehorse, as in doing so we shallsimply be going a step farther back, and thereby avoid in great measure the difficulty of stature which our fathers and ancestors have created for us in our endeavour to breed a small compact horse from the pure strain.
The next point that presents itself is, On what sort of animal would it be most advisable to cross our thoroughbred or Arab? In the absence of any long-continued series of experiments, which alone could have led to definite results in the production of a fixed type of pony, or a stamp of pony worth trying to perpetuate as a fixed type, the answer must be conjectural; we can only deal in probabilities.
We may not be able to establish a breed of which a specimen exceeding 14 hands 2 inches shall be something quite abnormal; on the contrary, the whole course of experience in breeding horses of whatever class goes to prove the impossibility of ensuring that the progeny of any given sire and dam shall attain to a specified height, neither less nor more. Nevertheless, there seems no reason why skill and care in breeding should not in course of time produce an animal whoseaverageheight at maturity shall be the desired 14 hands 2 inches.
There are, it must be repeated, several essential points to be kept clearly in view in our endeavour to develop a Polo Pony on the foundation of Thoroughbred or Arab blood. We have primarily to guard against the tendency to exceed the regulation height, and we must seek means to obtain the bone and stamina which are so necessary. Our Forest and Moorland mares suggest themselves as the material at once suitable for the purpose and easily obtainable. In these ponies we have the small size which will furnish the needful corrective to overgrowth, and we have also that hardiness of constitution and soundness of limb which are invaluable in laying the foundation of our proposed breed of 14-hands 2-inch ponies.
Many attempts have been made from time to time to improve these breeds; indeed, some have been so frequently crossed with outside blood that the purity of the strain has nearly disappeared; this is believed to be the case with the Dartmoor pony. At the same time these infusions of blood have done nothing to impair the value of the ponies in respect of their intrinsic qualities of hardiness and soundness.
That small thoroughbred and Arab bloodblends well with the Forest and Moorland strains has been abundantly proved; Marske, the sire of Eclipse, who was under 14 hands 2 inches, as is well known, stood at service in the New Forest district for three or four seasons from about the year 1765, and produced upon the New Forest breed a beneficial effect which remained in evidence for many years. The late Prince Consort sent a grey Arab stallion to stand at New Park, which did much good in improving the stamp of pony; and in 1889 as before mentioned Her Majesty lent two Arab sires, which remained respectively for two and three seasons and produced a marked effect on the Forest breed. One of the Dongola Arabs or Barbs which Mr. Knight used gave the best results on the Exmoor ponies, and the use of the thoroughbred horses, Pandarus by Whalebone, and Canopus, grandson of Velocipede, also improved the breed in point of size.
Some of the best hunters in the West of England trace their descent on the dam’s side to the Welsh Mountain pony, the sire of some of the best horses, however, being a horse with a stain in his pedigree, viz., Mr. John Hill’s Ellesmere by New Oswestry. In this connection it may be remarkedthat Bright Pearl, winner in the class for unmade Polo Ponies at the Crystal Palace Pony Show, held in July, 1899, was got by the thoroughbred Pearl Diver out of a Welsh Hill Pony mare whose wonderful jumping powers had gained her many prizes.
The fact that the Forest and Moorland breeds owe their small size to the rigorous conditions of a natural free life and the spare diet accessible must not be lost sight of, for their tendency to increase in size when taken up, sheltered and well fed is very marked. The fact is of importance, because we could not expect that foals got by a thoroughbred or Arab sire would possess the stamina that enables the Forest or Moorland pony to withstand exposure. It is true that the stock got by Marske throve under the comparatively mild rigours of New Forest life; but the thoroughbred of 135 years ago was a stouter and hardier animal than is his descendant of to-day. It would therefore be necessary to choose between losing the young half-bred stock altogether, and of rearing it under more or less artificial conditions with the certainty of rearing an animal which would respond to those conditions by increased stature.
The same remarks apply equally to stockgot from Forest or Moorland mares by an Arab sire which flourishes in a high temperature, but is not adapted to endure continuous cold and damp.
Judgment and care might do something to obviate the tendency to overgrowth; the happy medium to adopt would be to allow the dams with their half-bred youngsters as much liberty as varying climatic conditions indicated the well-being of the latter could withstand.
It has been suggested that the mares which have finished their active career of four or five seasons on the Polo ground might with advantage be used for breeding purposes, being mated with a small Forest or Moorland stallion. This suggestion does not commend itself to the practical breeder, who is well aware that a big mare throws a big foal even to a small horse. Were increase of size the object in view the worn-out Polo Pony mares might be used thus with every prospect of success; the reverse being our aim, it is to be feared that experiments conducted on these lines would lead to failure.