The Washington herald., 1910-07-24

Not only has the polo pony improved.
but the demands of players on their
ponies have increased. Men require
better, larger, faster animal than ponies
were even four and five years ago.
Ponies Of this class are not too COM
mon; frst-rate horses of any breed, from
race horses down 10 Shetland ponies,
never are or have been. So the ponies
go UP.
1--WE have seen the whole process in
India" says q writer in Bailey's Maya
zine when first played there polo
pony was country-bred, quick, handy and
very easy to ride. Tournament play
found them out, and they were discov-
cred TO be shifty and cunning under pres
sure, and. above ALL unable 10 bear the
strain of a fierce finish 20 a close match.
They cost from $50 to $50 rupees.
'Then came the Arabs and they. too.
had their day. They used to come UP to
US in trucks from Bombay at an average
of 400 rupees apiece, and If one in ten
became a tournament pony We were
lucky. The periods of play were short
ened. the length Of matches contracted;
but the standard Of tournament play
grew more and more exacting and the
Arab had to go.
THE Arab never was a weight carrier
he is very apt TO cross his legs and come
down if hustled, and he has now been
displaced In India by the Waller, the New
Zealander and the English pony. at about
| $500 rupees apiece. Now this is exactly
in brief the process that has gone on in
England, except that we do not need to
import our ponies and are able 70 breed
them for modern polo.
English Ponies Better|Fhan Others.
The English polo pony has ousted his
rivals, so greatly has he improveds he
carries weight better, is faster and yet
is a great deal better balanced and hand
Ter than he was, and he has practically
displaced all others. the few first-clsss
Americans and Argentines that survive
being rather an evidence for than against
the supremacy Of the English pony. How
much the English pony has improved may
I be seen from the fact that, whereas at
one time In frst-class tournaments Arabs,
Argentines, and Americans might be seen
/
ponies, now only a very few of the best
OF these herds can hold their own in first
class polo
IF now we go on to analyze the prin-
cipaI sales OF ponies that we know of dur
ing last year we shall find that, excluding
all ponies land there were a good many
that fetched less than ESQ we are able
to trace 165 ponies which sold for an ag-
gregate of e1s.lS3. the average price being
sT1s ] shilling. OF these ponies. eighteen
brought to their sellers from 100 10 800
/ guineas, averaging a fraction over s206.
OF the I65 ponies, 10 were sold al from g
to 80 guineas. making a total Of e7.s2s. or
an average of SIS 10 shiIllngs for each
pony. OF these ponies all but very few
were English or Irish, the American. Ar
gentine, and Arab ponies not amounting
to per cent Of the whole.
But It may be said that the price in
the fiTst-class were raised by the AmeTi-
can purchases last year and BY the de-
mand for forty or fifty frst-class ponies
for the international matches. I do not
think. however. these purchases made a
great deal OF difference or that the aver
age price in any year for the best class
of ponies would fall much below 90
guineas. The price of ponies are in no
way enormously high. and unless the
game falls of in popularity. OF which,
OF course, there are no signs al present,
the market prices Of the three classes
will probably not vary very much from
the present rates for some time to come.