The National tribune., 1901-07-11
SABLE ISLAND PONIES
A Hardy Breed That Has Existed
for Nearly 400 Years on a
Windswept Waste.
BY LILLIAN HARROD,
SABLE ISLAND PONIES.


Upon desolate, wind-swept Sable Island
roam gangs of wild ponies; by whom
brought to this isolated spot Situated
where the junction of the st. Lawrence
and the Gulf Streams fall out into the
broad Atlantic) is disputed question,
which never can be definitely settled,
owing TO the meager records of its early
days.
The Portuguese were the first known to
have visited this island, which they
sighted while on a voyage of discovery
early in the 10th century, and placed here,
as was their custom, cattle and horses.
Baron de Lacy was the second, and
with equal authority he claims to have
placed horses on this island with view
Of settling on this spot.
Still, when one realizes the difficulty OF
landing upon Sable Island, through the
perpetual surf with which it is surrounded,
Ii seems feasible to give the honor to de
Mercier, an American clergyman, who in
l740 is known to have imported both cat
tie and horses from the United States to
Sable Island, hoping to be able to make
here a permanent home for his family and
himself, but the price asked by Govern
ment for this worthless land-one pence
per acre-being deemed by him too much,
the project was abandoned.
As the horses found here early in the
18th century bore indisputable points COM
mon to the horses in the United States, it
seems that the latter theory must be cor
rect.
The cattle left by the early voyagers
were exterminated either by people from
the mainland, who came here every Fall
In order to kill them for their Winters
beef, or by persons who were Shipwrecke1
upon these inhOspitable shores, whose sole
sustenance was the flesh OF these animals.
Thus the horses are the only connecting
link between the olden and the present
time.
Through constant exposure of a hun
dred years to all inclemencieS of the
weather and poor food, the horses left
upon the island have developed into
strong, sturdy ponies, with long, sweeping
tails Zone by actual measurement being
three yards in length), abundant names
and forelocks, large, ill-set heads, thick
joints, small eyes, often blue in color anu
known as wall-eyed. The features that
distinguish the stations from the rest are
the heavier names and forelockS, which
give to them q very ferOcious appearance.
The colors that predominate are bay with
black name and tail, and chestnut with
light name and tail. There are found
very few blacks, but no gray is ever seen.
The introduction of thoroughbred mas
ter horses from the mainland cause the
ponies found here at the present day to be
larger in size and better shaped.
In the Fall of 1899 several of the ponies,
that were brought to Halifax on the Gov
ernment Steamship Newheld, were sent to
the Summer home of Professor Graham
Bell at Cape Briton, in order to try the
experiment of bringing them back to their
former proportions.
WILD AND DEsoLATE RANGE.
Until the last few years the coarse grass
and wild-Dea vine with which this island
is covered, has been their only food: and
during the Summer months it has proved
to be sufficient for their needs, in the Win
ter season, when the ground is covered
with snow and ice, their teeth, worn by
the constant nibbling of the grass through
the sand, are not able to penetrate the
frozen ground, causing many death from
starvation.
Then, too, their only shelter from the
cold blasts of Winter were their shaggy
coats and the gulches or hollows that lay
between the sand dunes. Here they hud-
died together in regular order, the colts
being placed in the center, the older horses
circled around, while the master horse
takes his place in the most exposed posi-
tion.
The large number of deaths that have
occurred In former years from exposure
to the weather and starvation, caused at
tempts to be made to capture them and
confne them inside the barns; but their
hatred toward mankind and dislike of the
shelter thus afforded has caused them,
even In the toughest weather, to escape
IL possible from their confinement and to |
run for miles before they dared to stop |