The Canton advocate. [volume] (Canton, D.T. [S.D.]) 1877-1897, 1884-01-03
The Shetland Pony.

The native live stock of Shetland
cannot generally be commended, but
the well-known ponysof that part Of
the world is perfect Of his kind, says a
! writer in Forestry. As carts would be
out of place on the steep sides of the
hills, ponies are kept by every family
for the purpose of carrying peat for
Winter use. The fuel, after being
dried. is placed in baskets called "cas-
sies," one of which hangs on each side
of the animals back a strong, broad
back, admirably adapted for the pur-
pose of bearing heavy burdens. Tho
"Sheltie" is an animal which for many
generations has been bred and trained
under special and peculiar circum-
stances, and hence his physique and
general character, his hereditary in
stincts and intelligence, his small size
and his purity and ixity of type. A
pony belonging to a breed which has
had to pick its zigzag way down a
steep declivity during many generations
must be sure-footed. 4
By the same rule q pony, whose
grooms and playmates include dozen
uveniles-thc children of the neighbor-
hood, who roll about underneath him
or upon his back-must be gentle and
the same pony, living on air sometimes,
rather than on herbage, must be hardy.
/ The pony of the Shetland Isles is in
fact the offspring Of circumstances.
He is the pet of the family, gentle as an
Arabs steed under similar training.
He will follow his friends indoors like a
dog, and lick the platters or the child
ren's faces. He has no more kick in
him than a cat, and no more bite than
puppy. He is q noble example of the
complete suppression of those vicious
propensities that some of this kind ex-
hibit when they are ill-treated, and of
the intelligence and good temper that
may be developed in horses by kind
ness. There is no precedent for his
running away, nor for his becoming
frightened or tired, even when he has
carried some stout Laird from Lerwick
to his house, many Scotch miles across
the kills. He moves down the rugged
hillsides with admirable circumspec-
ton, loaded paner-fashion with two
heavy ''cassies' of peat, picking his
way step by step, sometimes sideways.
In crossing DOGGY spots, where the
water is retained and q green carpet of
aquatic grass might deceive some
steeds and bring them .headlong to grief
in the spongy trap, he carefully smells
the surface, and is thus enabled to cir
cumvent the danger. In the Winter
the Shetland pony wears a coat made
of felted hair and specially suited for
the occasion. His thick Winter gar
ment is we'll 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 is not bad looking
when new. But when the coat grows
old toward Spring, at the season when
the new one should appear, it becomes
the shabbiest garment of the kind that
you often see. Its very amplitude and
the abundance of the material render
it more conspicuous when it peels and
hangs for awhile ragged and worn out,
and tuen falls bit by bit till the whole
Of it disappears. The number of
ponies bred in different districts de.
penls on circumstances. A good
b:.cdiig district must possess q good
h.li-thal is, hill lying we'll for shell
ter. and we'll clothed with native vege.
tation, such as heather.