The Louisiana populist., 1897-12-31
PONIES OF ICELAND.
PERFECT MkRvELS OF ENDURANCE

They Have Peculiar Pacing Gait Which
Under Great Weight Conquers Space.
Can Swim Like Fish and Climb Like
Goat.
If the camel is the ship of the desert,
the Iceland pony is the cab, train,
omnibus and tramcar Of the wonderful
country to which he belongs. TO be-
gin with, he is misnomer. He is not
pony, in the ordinary sense Of the
word; he is a horse; in bone and
sinew, in strength and endurance, in
manners and deportment-a horse In
everything, in fact, except in inches;
and sober, steady, hard-working
horse, too. He is very "multum in
parvo,,,' a concentrated essence" OF
horsefesh. He can swim like a fish,
climb like goat and jump like deer.
He sticks at nothing, and takes every
variety of travel--bog, lava bed, sand,
powders and grass mounds-with un-
disturbed equanimity. If he has to
ford one or two rivers with strong cur
rents flowing girth-deep, it is all in
the days work. Only give him time
and periodical halts for refreshment,
and he will do his fifty miles per day,
and thrive upon it.
Iceland ponies are bred in hundreds
in the large grass plains in the south
ern districts of the islands. Little or
no care is taken in selection, so that
half hands, though here and there one
improved, the average pony standing
from eleven and a half to twelve and a
half hands, though here and there one
will reach to nearly thirteen hands.
Every variety of color is seen, but
skewbalds of many shades are the
commonest The chestnuts, as a ruic,
are the finest, and the browns the
hardest. Beautiful cream colors, with
light points, are not infrequent; black
is very rare, and roam also. Their
PAGES are fast, considering the size
of the animal, journey of thirty-two
miles being often done in six hours or
less, with heavy baggage. They trot,
canter and gallop, but the pace most
esteemed by the natives is the amble
or "skeid," in which the fore and hind
legs on a side are advanced stimuli
taneously, giving running action,
very smooth to the rider A good
PAGER is considered very valuable,
and often sold for high figure. Some
of these ponies amble SO fast that they
keep ahead of another going at 4
hand-gallop, and they maintain the
pace for a days journey under a
weight of eleven to fourteen stone. Ice
land ponies are steady and fast in har-
ness, though wheels are compara-
lively new departure in their country.
They travel mostly in strings, often |
lied head and tail. Hay, baggage and |
household goods are thus transported,
and building material also. You meet |
a "timburlestur," or timber team, of |
rom eight to ten ponies, one carrying |
planks trailing on each side, another
strips of iron, another bundles oftools;
4 number of spare animals run
ling loose, and not infrequently foal
}r two.
1t is as rare to see dead Iceland
pony as dead donkey though their
skulls are often visible, half trodden
nto the miry ways surrounding the
arms. The pony begins work at six
,r seven years-hard work, that is to
'ay. He is early apprenticed to his
rade by following his mother at her
and when he is foot sore
s strapped upon her back. He works
veil up to twenty years and over, and
'ften remains fairly sound to a ripe
I'D age. He feeds on the fat of the
and IN the summer, and in the winter,
his owner is poor, must live on his
Wits and his stored condition. Farm
rs who are fairly we'll off keep their
nimals in during the winter and feed
hem On hay; but, Notwithstanding,
many OF the ponies have a hard time |.
4 1t. The Icelanders,h oweyer, keep
heir steeds as we'll as their means al
ow, and treat them altogether in a
rotherly fashion.