Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1881-03-30
Shetland Ponies.

Inc LONDON F36JU says THAT THESE
useful little animals are not an agri-
cultural, but domestic necessity. In
Shetland, as in parts of Ireland, every
family depends for its support for fuel
ON peat, and as the peat is seldom found
near at hand, on the shore where the
houses stand, but on the hill behind
them-there is always hill in the rear
in Shetland, every island consisting
mainly of hill, with patch or two of
smooth land in few snug hooks by
the shore-and as it is often, is at dis
lance of several steep and stony miles,
each house requires several ponies, the
numberdepending upon the distance and
the character of the road. A family liv-
ing convenient to the peat may re-
quire only two peat carriers, and
another may require half dozen. The
material often has been dug and dried
in the usual manner, is carried home on
the backs of the ponies In blankets call
ed 'cassies.' 1t is obvious that the back
which has to perform this kind of SER
vice should be broad and strong. The
Shetland pony is a striking example of
development; for generations past he
has been bred and reared and trained
with uniformity which could not have
been secured In any other part of the
United Kingdom. Hence his physique
and general character, his hereditary in
stincts and intelligence, his small size
and his purity and fxity of type. A
pony belonging to a breed which has
had to pick it's zigzag way down the
steep declivity during many generations
must have sure-foot. BY the same
rule a pony whose grooms and playmates
include dozen juveniles-the children
of the neighborhood, who roll about
underneath him or upon his back-must
be gentle; and the pony, living on the
scathold, on air sometimes rather than
on heritage, must be hardy. The pony
of the Shetland isles is, in fact the off
spring of circumstance. He is the pet
of the family, gentle as the Arabs steed
under similar training. He will follow
his friends indoors like dog, and lick
the platters or the children's faces. He
has no more kick in him than a cat, and
no more bite than puppy. He is a
noble example of the complete suppress
sion of those vicious propensities that
some of his kind exhibit when they are
ill-treated, and of the intelligence and
good temper that may be developed in
horses by kindness. There is no pre-
cedent of his running away nor for his
becoming frightened or tired, even when
he has carried some laird from Lerwick
to his house, many Scotch miles across
the hills. He moves down the rough
hillsides with admirable circumspection,
loaded pannier-fashion with two heavy
cassies of peat, picking his way step
by step, sometimes sideways In cross
ing Doggy spots, where the water is re-
tanned, and green carpet of aquatic
grass might deceive some steeds and
bring them headlong to grief in the
spongy trop, he carefully smells the sur
face, and is thus enabled to circumvent
the danger. In winter the Shetland
pony wears a coat made of felted hair,
and specially suited for the season. His
thick winter garment is well adapted for
protecting him against the fogs and
damps of the climate. 1t is exceedingly
warm and comfortable, fits close to the
wearer's dapper form, and it is not bad
looking when new. But when the coat
grows old toward spring, at the season
Wien the new one should appear, it be-
comes the shabbiest of the kind that
you often see. Its very amplitude and
the abundance of the material render it
the more conspicuous, when it peels and
hangs for while ragged and worn out,
and falls bit by bit till the whole of it
disappears. No horse looks at his best
when losing his coat, and the more coat
there may be to lose the worse he
looks"