THE PONY FOR ARMY PURPOSES

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4313, 23 March 1901, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE PONY FOR ARMY PURPOSES

Sir Richard D. Glreen Price, writing in . Idle “Live Stock Journal Alamanac,'' remarks that the pony, beloved in our boyhood, disdained in our youth, tolerated in • our middle age, and worthily esteemed in j later life, has suddenly sprung into an importance such as, when he penned an article many years ago on his virtues, was quite unexpected. His admirers ure now many, his historians are great, and his value has increased; so much so that the preservation of his breed by the registration of pedigrees in a stud book has been undertaken, and is progressing most satisfactorily. and a strong society has been formed for his improvement. No doubt we have to thank the advance of the game of polo as an aristocratic national game for this boom in,ponies. And yet this is not all. It has been discovered (as I contend it ought to have been long ago) that ponies are an essential factor in modern warfare. . . I have many personal 1 ASSURANCES PROM OFFICERS in the army, and men fresh from South Africa itself, that without their ponies the Boers would long ago have been conquered, and that those in our Colonial and Lovat's Scouts' ranks have been of the greatest value to our service. It was only a few weeks since that I had the testimony of my son, on Imperial Yeoman who has been through the whole campaign, and who, writing home, said—- “ You are doing good work in strongly advocating the use of ponies in our army service; they have fairly outlasted the bigger horses in this campaign, and without the aid of our mounted men the infantry would have been unable to tackle the Boers. They (the infantry) have - been marched to death in the impossible task of cornering a well-mounted enemy, and in this the Yeomanry and the Colonials have been invaluable.” It would have Been well-for us had we purchased in the fiyst instance Basuto ponies, instead of leaving them for the Boers to become possessed of. The authorities have imported tb South Africa some 20,000 small horses from South America, besides a large mmbjer from Texas, but, according to the best opinions that I have been able to glean, they have proved soft beasts, and not satisfactory remounts in the great majority of cases. j So many reforms are likely to follow in tire wake of this great Boer war that it is perfectly safe to expect that our heavy ' cavalry will be almost done away with. and that lightness, quickness, and smart- ' ness will be the points of efficiency to be aimed at. Beyond -this it would not surprise me to see one or more companies or mounted men attached to every regi- ■ ment of infantry, and to these the pony will be essential. Easy to mount and dis- *■ ifiount, easy of carriage, of good constitu- | tton. of less

1 ! TARGET FOR THE ENEMY. arid easier obtainable in foreign, countries than the larger horse, it needs little arguj inent to prove that the pony, not over- ! weighted, will be the exact requirement of ■•5 6ur mounted infantry. Indeed, I may spate a's a fact: that the War Office has already approved the formation of a pony regiment for the district adjoining the New Forest in Hampshire. Taking all these circumstances into consideration, it stands to reason that the future breeding f of our ponies is worthy of much thought, that the supply should keep pace with the demand, and. above and beyond this, that duality and excellence should go hand in hand with quantity. There are so many ■ parts of Great Britain that are eminently i fitted for breeding ponies that we havo a , Vast field for our exercise of-this enter- , prise. By way of illustration let me take my own county of . Radnor,. with almost . every acre of which I , am intimately ■acquainted. Here there are at least jj)0,000 acres of hill-land that hitherL tb have been given up to sheep : ! pasturing, and have had only a sprinkli ihg ,of ponies on them (and those, i B regret to say. of a very inferior quality).' ■During ‘ the Idst ‘few years; 'owing to the liwness in the price of wool, these sheep have decreased at least by one-half, as' it ’ if now well-known that it does not pay to Sep old wether sheep for the mere sake their wool. Therefore, why should not . the pony (improved) take the place of the ’ sheep ? Thousands of ponies could thus be bred in Radnorshire alone, in a highly remunerative way, and yet this little opunty forms but a small spot on the pony- - breeding area of our country. And let c me here point out that it is in the high- . 19.11 ds of South Africa, viz., in Basutoland, , ■where the hardy ponies are bred. (The idea of raising what I may call the nucleus of pony battalions in Great Bri--1 thin may sound a crude one, and no doubt 5 it is so at the present moment; yet there i•• are 1. MANY FAR-SEEING MEN who would fain agree with me, and have * already begun to pave the way by breeding to a type of improved riding pony. Here the thoroughbred or the best type ‘ of Arab, on the sire’s side, is the one most 1 likely to succeed,'and the height to be t aimed at is from 14 hands to 14 hands 3 inches. This may seem a difficulty at . first, but it is proverbial of the Welsh 1 -pjony at least that it breeds animals big- . gfer than itself, if they are not absolutely c starved in their youth, aud no donbt the 3 same can bo said of other notable pony 1 breeds. Let me beg pony-breeders on a ’ Ihrge scale in billy countries to eschew the i , hackney, or more half-bred trotting cob, . if . they intend to build up a herd of ponies fijtted for riding purposes. By the use of ’• hackney sires they will be defeating some I of the finest attributes that nature has t nioulded in the real Kill pony, viz., sta- * mina, tractability, and surefootedness, which can never be attained in a rough country by an animal that tosses his J legs about; and tires after going a few f miles. . . , Onr agricultural societies 1 and horse show societies (and their name } is legion now) are beginning to recognise r the importance of including ponies 'j i IN THEIR PRIZE-LISTS, f I and in this they are clearly marching with the times. It needs but a word of en--1 cpuragement from the War Office to set the I pony ball rolling in earnest, and. with g - Fiord Roberts at the head of this great t Department of State. I do not think we j nbed fear for what his vote will bo. for ■ | there is no one in the army who, from his > I Indian and sporting experience, has had t j more reason tb prove the efficacy and i efficiency of the pony in India, or through- , out the world. Hence it is that in being t a humble follower and believer in the sound , sense and judgment of Sir 1 Walter Gilbey 5 in what pertains especially to horses, I uni 3 hesitatingly advocate pony-breeding of the 3 best type, as not only conducing to the i : assistance and popularising the game of 1; polo, but also of giving us better riding . i ponies, and battalions or mounted infantry I ! such as will be in a few years the admira- ■ j tion and envy of every nation in the world.