Ithas already been explained that the Shetland pony is now little used for work in his native Islands, having been displaced by larger ponies and horses as the development of roads has substituted driving for riding, and carts for the creels and pack-saddles which are now found only in the remoter districts.
A TEAM OF MARES.
A TEAM OF MARES.
The progressive disuse, however, of the pony, as a work animal in Shetland, has been accompanied by a much greater increase in its use elsewhere. This has specially been the case in the employment of ponies in coal-pits, which grew to its heightduring the very period in which the use of roads became general in Shetland, and in which, therefore, but for some new demand for it, the pony might in all likelihood have come near to extinction.
It was in the middle of last century that ponies were first used in coal-pits in the north of England,[48]horse ponies over three years old being imported at the price of £4, 10s. each. Their employment increased rapidly, until, in the late sixties and early seventies, the demand became so great that the earlier price was more than quadrupled; the supply of ponies was practically exhausted; and the Islands were all but depleted of good stallions; since these only are used in the pits so as to obviate the inconvenience of working stallions and mares together. The number now employed is very large, and shows little sign, so far, of reduction through the increased use of machinery, which tends to displace rather the larger horses used in the more spacious main roads than the Shetlandponies which can find their way in the lower-roofed passages of the pit. There is usually an active demand for thick, strong colts ready for work, which is not now permitted at less than four years of age. The Shetland pony—and particularly the pony of the “Londonderry” type—is admirably adapted for pit work. In structure he is exactly what is required, massive, muscular, and heavy, and yet able to walk comfortably in a passage not four feet high. His wise and placid disposition is no less a recommendation in an animal which is to work in cramped situations and in surroundings that might overstrain more excitable nerves than his. The Shetland pony learns easily to accept and adapt himself to new conditions; he travels with composure by sea or land; and the introduction of motor-cars into Shetland has been carried out with much less disturbance to the minds of the equine than of some of the human inhabitants: no animal could lend itself better to so strangea service as that of the coal-pits. Mr Brydon estimates that “it is not overstating the case to say that, on an average, they will travel over 3000 miles in the course of a year, and ‘shift’ as many tons of coal.”[49]
A considerable sentimental repugnance exists to the employment of ponies below ground; and to the unaccustomed such a life appears sufficiently unattractive either to man or horse; but the fact remains that the life is not on the whole unhealthy: if it lacks the summer sun it is spared the winter nights. The fable that the ponies become blind has no better foundation than is given by the fact that a short time is required to accustom their eyes to the light when they return to the surface. They are no doubt exposed to accidents; and they are less protected against overwork and other unfair treatment than they should be; though this is partly rectified by the provisions of the “Mines Act” of 1911.
It is only right to say plainly that thegeneral accusation that has been made of cruel treatment of the ponies in the pits is an entirely unjust libel upon a class of men who, whatever their failings may be, are not inhumane. In point of fact, the ponies in the pit are usually sleek, fat, and contented, and display an affection for their attendants, and a confidence in man, not easily to be reconciled with the suggestion that they are habitually maltreated.
By permission of the Proprietors of ‘Punch.’A CHIP OF THE OLD BLOCK.
By permission of the Proprietors of ‘Punch.’
A CHIP OF THE OLD BLOCK.
It must be admitted, nevertheless, that the pit-ponies are the less fortunate class of Shetlanders, and that the pleasanter career belongs to those which are selected for what appears to be the natural office of the pony—that of the child’s first mount. This is no new occupation for him. A letter, dated 1737, from “Mellerstains” to the writer’s brother in Bressay, runs:“In several of my letters I have told you that Lady Binning’s children are from home on account of their Education, so that a Horse would now be of no use as they’l be grown up before they settle here again,”[50]—a gift-horse, apparently, somewhat brusquely declined. Sixty years later a manuscript note, dated 1800, appended to a copy of Campbell’s ‘Political Survey of Great Britain’ (1774), bears that: “Yoked sometimes to the equipages of the Nobility, they have attracted the notice of ye metropolis.”[51]We find the Sheltie, therefore, more than a hundred years ago in favour as a luxury, and nearly two hundred years ago recognised as a child’s pony. The pages of ‘Punch’ in the last century bear constant witness to its popularity for this purpose; and this could hardly be otherwise, for a child and a Shetland pony are an inevitable combination. Not that the pony requires so slight a burden; for it is not any ordinary weight of full-grown humanity, but only length of limb, that prevents the adult from riding it, as the Dutch seamen used to do in Shetland in spite of this drawback.[52]But the pony attracts the child as no large horse can; and it is the ideal mount for earlyyears. Its disposition is its first and greatest recommendation; for, while of coarse there are exceptions, generally the Shetland pony is so wise and kind and docile that it almost teaches the child to ride. Its manageable size and its admirable nearness to the ground promote the confidence which is the beginning of equestrian wisdom; and it never shatters or impairs that confidence by stumbling. This, indeed, is a qualification that is of capital importance. A pony that falls is of course an impossible mount for a child; but one that stumbles is scarcely better, since it constantly suggests the possibility of falling before experience and practice have neutralised fear. The breadth and strength and balance of a good Shetland pony make it the surest-footed of all riding animals. Theorists, without a fact to shelter themselves with, have alleged a danger to the health of children from sitting astride the big barrel of the pony, but the answer to them is quite simple. Their fears are imaginary,for they can produce no justifying instance; and anything less wide than the Shetland pony—in actual cross-measurement—would, owing to narrowness of chest, be an unsafe and stumbling mount: so long as men ride, the Shetland pony will be the most valued and most valuable possession of the child happy enough to own it. But, to be the perfect child’s hack or hunter, the Shetland pony must be bred as a riding-pony: it must have riding action—not the round and hammering gait of the once fashionable hackney, but the darting, gliding shoulder action that covers the ground quickly and smoothly. That alone is the safe and comfortable action of a saddle-horse large or small. Further, the pony must be bred with a short back and high withers to carry a saddle. The round low wither that disfigures too many modern ponies is fatal to the excellence of a saddle-horse, both because it will not hold a saddle in place and because it goes with short straight shoulders more proper to the coal-pit than to the road or field. Incidentally, it may be mentioned that a saddle, in the strict sense, is not necessary or desirable for a child’s first riding. More ease and comfort—without any risk to the pony’s back—can be obtained by using the treeless “pilch,” which pads the back and yet gives closer and safer contact than the saddle.
Trustworthy as the Shetland pony is, it must still be added that not only must he be educated, mouthed, and mannered as carefully as a larger horse, but also he should not be subjected to the temptations of power. Until a child can really manage and control him, the leading rein must be kept in regular use, so as to avoid those premature conflicts and accidents that are as fatal to future horsemanship as they are to equine manners.
ON DUTY.
ON DUTY.
The Shetland pony now goes far afield. In the United States he has enthusiastic supporters, who allow more laxity in height than British breeders approve—admitting 44 inches as a legitimate stature. He goes toAustralia, New Zealand, the Argentine Republic, and South Africa, as well as to many European countries. In Canada, at the moment, he is in great demand: there he is the school pony; for in the new wheat lands farms are far from the schools, and a pony is the child’s conveyance. For this purpose a mount is needed which is easily kept, docile, and hardy, and which can be hitched to a fence during school hours without being critical of the state of the thermometer. The Shetland pony supplies the demand, as if he had been created for that purpose; and Canadian buyers come to Britain year by year to take ponies in increasing numbers.
The Sheltie has the great advantage of a singular longevity. Every one who really associates with them knows how disastrously short a time dogs and horses live: on no reasonable calculation can they grow old with their owners. Even the Shetland pony fails of this, but he makes the bravest of attempts.There are many accredited instances of ponies living to thirty-five years and upwards; while, among Stud-book ponies, the famous Jack died at the age of thirty, and his son Odin at twenty-four, while his grandson Thor still lives in health and vigour at the age of twenty-seven: with a little luck father and son may learn to ride on the same Sheltie.
The pony is the most easily kept of all animals. For two or three pounds a-year he can be maintained; for a little more he can be kept in hard-working condition—a useful member of a small establishment, and no unprofitable part of the equine staff of a farm, going over much more ground, with light loads, and a boy to drive him, than a cart-horse that will cost nearly ten times as much to keep.
Yet in the end it is idle to deny that it is not his indisputable economic validity that binds the Sheltie’s lovers to him: rather it is himself—his wisdom and his courage, his companionable ways, his gay and willing service.Having taken from him their first falls and first riding lessons, and fought with him their first battles, they look forward to an old age in which he shall draw their bath-chairs; and in the interval of life he provides as a field animal the dual charm of a creature at once wild and tame—wild in his strong instincts, his hardihood, and his independence,—domestic in his wisdom and sweet temper, his friendly confidence in mankind, and his subtle powers of ingratiation.