SUCCESS OF THE POLO-BRED PONY.

North Otago Times, 3 September 1910, Page 1 (Supplement)

SUCCESS OF THE POLO-BRED PONY.

Hardly.' more than a decade ago the Polo player, had ,to Beet his mount for the game amongst B heterogeneous collection of nondescript animals, whose only claim for recognition lay in their speed and low statue, Argentine, Mexican, and' Welsh ponies played side by side with the undersized thoroughbred and the hill pony of India. Bome of them lacked stamina, and some courage ; some possessed upright shoulders, and others were weak in the hocks or pasterns, but | fabulous prices were paid for the best of them, for the sole reason that there was nothing else with which to meet the demand. But even in the few 7ears during which the Polo and Rid-' ing Pony Society has been setting itself to the task of establishing t j breed of Polo Pony much of the old order has changed. Players are no longer content with the nondescript* of former days, but are ready to purchase at a remunerative price the hunterlike animal which, although scarcely more than a pony In height, possesses the speed, courage, and, docility of the thoroughbred, combined with the activity and handiness of its smaller relative. The Polo and Riding Pony Boclety amply justified its existence by a[warding the championship n f the riding section to an example of the breed which it had Bet itself to establish. Bred as is Animation on j the lines laid down by the Society, she Is at once good-looking and possessed of all the requirements looked for in the playing pony, and although pitted against older and more expert- -' enccd ponies, was considered by the judges fitted to .take her place in a tonmnment. Such a triumph of the breeder's skill has seldom been accomplished within so short a time, but what has been done once can be repeated, and none need now desroair of their ability to' produce the class of pony required" if only they keep the type clearly fixed before their eyes. It Is scarcely claiming too much to prophesy that before the end of another decp.de the Polo pony will reproduce itself as faithfully as / does the Shire,.the.Hacttaey or the [Shetland. ~.''. • But there is yet another lesson to • he learned at the late London Spring Show. Time after time the judges were seen to discard Borne goodlooking animal, and to pnt in its place another whose principal claim to notice lay, in the perfection of Its manners. The moral is obvious; the pony breeder mußt' not rest conitent when he has at last produced the animal he requires, ' but must devote himself whole-heartedly, to its education. No matter how' goodlooking the animal may be, its value is small unless it be thoroughly trained, and the training of a Polo pony includes; much more than the mere breaking to stick and ball. fore venturing to exhibit a' pony in any riding classes, the novice "'would do well to attend a Pblppdhy show, and carefiillj' follow the/work of such accomplished'horsemen as Messrs. {Biickmaster and. Grenfell. Judircs such as they know "what is .4-; .wanted.in a ( jpony; and'no-iinschooW',''/■:>.... animal,'however'.fast, he may be, will'! ' rnme thrimeh so .trylitj! m ordeal M ''--' Whites &*i :.