Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-01-04
FACTS ABOUT THE PONY
THE USE OF SHETLANDs IN THE
COAL MINES.
Reasons for the POny's Superior In
telligence Over the Horse Some
Stories Of Equine Endurance.

From the London Spectator.
Looking to nature for a match to the av-
erage pony. We find that he has very many
of the points of the primitive horse Bur-
chelFs zebra, the commonest species of
South Africa has many Of the good points
of the pony, and also most of the bad
ones. He Is short In the back, medium
sized, but strong, with regular pony head
and profile. But he has as bad shoulder and
short stride. All Zebras are sure-footed in
rough ground, as ponies are, and like ponies,
they can gallop both up and down steep
and mountainous slopes. But the ponies
represent a later development than the
zebras, and better natural powers. AS
animals are not really progressive, though
by artificial selection their physique or
mental capacity can be improved in GER
tain directions. the ponies have often re-
tanned much that the horses have lost. The
mare of an Arab chief, which lives daily
with its master, is fed on little but whole
some food, and exists in nearly natural
conditions. retains the qualities of endur-
ance and intelligence, augmented by the
purity of its blood and by slightly in
creased size. But the artif1c1ally enlarged
morse OF Europe, which spends it's life in
the stable or in harness, and supports it's
increased size by consuming greater guam
titles of artificial food, loses constitution,
endurance and brains 1t is not fair to
Wltted little ponies. because they are never
given a chance to think for themselves.
The tendency for generations has been to
make them into machines. That MANY of
them retain the capacity for thinking and
learning is proved by their cleverness when
any one takes the trouble to teach them
t But most; for want of teaching. develop
as panic exetaDity such I'm
undser and anstn,n total inability to
and strange But in the matter of
endurance and constitution the ponies are
first and the rest nowhere Sir Walter
Gflbey's collection of pony stories from all
lands, Burmah, Morocco, india Turkestan
Egypt. Texas, the Soudan and Asia Minor,
with the experiences of Bashi-Bazouks.
post riders, Colonel Burnaby, Colonel Dodge
and half dozen transport officers in as
many British possessions, is delightful
reading. Perhaps the most deserving pony
OF the series was American Indian Dony
whose acquaintance Colonel Dodge made
in the great west.
He offered $40 for it, but the owner
asked 5000 He had ridden this pony dur
ing six months, when CARRYING ths mails
between Chihuahua and Ell Paso, nearly
800 miles apart, through the territory Of
hostile Indians, Apache braves who would
have tortured and killed him if they had
caught him He made this perilOus journey
once week on this pony, hiding all day
and riding all night for three successive
days For six months the pony carried him
between so and 100 miles three nights
in each week. Burnaby used to ride forty
miles day on his Siberian pony The cav
airy in the dash for Metemmeh rode four
teer-hand Arabs. One day the regiment
travelled forty miles in eleven and a half
hours. with half gallon Of water per horse
and four pounds of grain. But the most
So tisfactory thing about ponies in general
Is that from Corea to the Orkneys there is
hardly a bad breed. They all seem able to
do the maximum Of work on the minimum
of food. Their intelligence is easily ac-
counted for Everywhere the pony is kept
out of doors, and leads more natural life
than the horse. Its hardness makes it
constant companion of man, and it is every
where used for work and not for show.
The Shetland pony, the smallest of his race
and family, the greatest prize and possess
sion Of our childhood, is now becoming
quite parsonage on his own account His
birthplace and bringing up, his career and
obsequies, are unique In the history Of the
worlds domestic animals. Born in hyper
borean islands of a diminutive father and
still more diminutive mother, he passes
from pasture to pasture in boats, till he
goes to the south in a ship with hundreds
of his companions. Then he descends thous-
ards of feet into the earth, where he works
by artificial light all his life, and at his
death is brought above ground to be buried.
To work In the mines is the destiny of the
majority of Shetland ponies.
Lord Londonderry kept a famous stud OF
them, presumably for in his collieries.
This stud has been dispersed but there are
several in the south Of England in which
by careful breeding the ponies are kept
small. These mostly bred for home use,
and for ladies' and chidren's pets. But in
the pits the Shetland pony Is still indispen-
sable. If it were not for him coal would be
even dearer than it is. He never goes on
strike, his temper is admirable, he never
grows FESTIVE even if he bumps his head,
which is the only accident which commonly
afficts him. and to guard against which the
mere thoughtful coal owners provide him
with leather helmet. Now that the pits
are lighted with electric light the ponies
sight does not suffer. They have fine sta
bles with movable boarded floors, so that
they never suffer from thrush or cracked
heels, and the temperature is uniform
they do not catch cold. Pure Shetlands are
the only breed which keeps small enough
to work in the seams, even Iceland ponies
proving too big and too eXcitable. There is
room to jump about in coal gallery,
and the conversion of the diminutive "Shel-
tie into equine mole is one of the
greatest tributes to it's placid disposition,
and to the determination Of its race never
to be anything but ponies. In the quaint
phrase of one of their admirers: There are
no ponies small enough to push the Shet-
lands out of their deserved position" For
all that we hope that a time will come
when the Shetand's place underground
may be taken by electric traction. as the
ponies took the place of the women and
"butty boys who pulled and pushed the
corves in the bad old days, and that the
ponies may drink the waters Of forgetful-
ness and come up to the air and light again,