The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1905-12-09
pom IE 8.

When the trolley car and the auto
mobile conspired to depress the value
of the horse they failed to ruin the
pony market. Ponies are still bred in
various parts of the country, import
ed from abroad and caught half wild
in remote regsons, more especially
upon the island of the south Atlantic
coast.
About the most expensive pony in
the New York market is the Shetland,
domestic or imported, probably be-
cause he is on the average the small
est obtainable. There is very small
Patagonian and Argentine pony
which is almost a caricature of the
Shetland, exaggerating some of his
most marked peculiarities, but these
ponies are not sold in the New York
market.
An Icelandic pony is occasionly
seen here. These little beasts have
dense shaggy coats, and they are
quite untitled to our summer climate.
Welsh ponies, Exmoors, Dartmoors
and others are imported from the
British Isles. These and the Gal
ways are larger than the Shetlands.
The ponies of the central Asian high
lands and of India are seldom import
ed for domestic use.
Ponies usually considerably larger
than the Shetlands, are brought in
from Canada. One of the rarest
breeds is that from the Sable Islands,
off the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Every island along the Atlantic
coast with race of half wild ponies
has tradition to account for their
presence. The Sable Island ponies
are confidently asserted by Canadians
to be descendants of hardy small
horses placed on the island to serve as
food for shipwrecked mariners. Al
most no other large animals. accord
ing to the story, could endure the
winter of that climate, but the ponies
survived and prospered.
The Sable Island ponies are larger
than the Shetlands, and some of them
are of great beauty and strength.
They often live to old age, and retain
their activity and spirit. A hand
some black Sable Island pony that was
used for years by suburban family is
still Aourshing up in New Brunswick
whittier she was sent when the sub
urbanites broke up housekeeping,
and is serviceable, though nearly
twenty years old.
Of native American ponies some of
the most interesting are those of the
south Atlantic coast islands. The
annual auction of Chincoteague ponies
takes place on the Virginia Island of
that name about the middle of Au-
gust. Chincoteague accounts for her
race of ponies by the more or less
hypothetical shipwreck of a horse
laden vessel from Europe some time
in the eighteenth century.
1t is we'll known that several gen.
erations of Maryland and Virginia
children have had the Chincoteague
ponies for playmates, and in all prob
ability the ponies have inhabited the
island for at least a century. They
are bigger that the Shetlands, often
better looking, and almost always
strong, and sometimes very swift.
In fact the Chincoteague pony
makes very fair draft horse for
light loads and good roads. He is
incidentally an excellent swimmer,
and when pasture is scarce he some
times swims narrow passages of salt
water to fresh meadows. as the Chin
coteaguers call the narrow strips of
grassclad land that edge their island.
Currituck Sound has a race of
ponies much like those of Chinco-
league. They are not literally wild
horses, since they have owners, and
the colts are branded. The natives
| of the regions use them for ordinary
domestic purposes and the largest OF
the breed very well serve the needs
of their owners.
Like the Chincoteague ponies, they
are easily kept, and on the whole they
furnish cheap horses for the poor
farmers of the coast. The Chinco-
league ponies can be bought at auc-
ton upon the island for $40 or $50,
and the Curritucks are probably
cheaper.
Those who cannot we'll afford to
bny and keep ponies for their children
will find the Texas burroa cheap and
useful substitute. A burro may be
bought in Texas for $40 or less and
brought North for So or So.
He is tough, not ill natured, easily
kept, fat, long lived and really capa-
bic of some speed. There is nothing
that affords children in the country or
the suburbs more fun than one OF
these little beasts.
| One thing is necessary, and that is
to clip his long coat after he arrives,
lest he harbor parasites that will
keep him thin and damp his spirits.
After that the burro is likely to give
his owner little trouble or expense.
On soft roads the burro does not even
require shoes.