THE PONY FAD.

Otago Witness, Issue 2437, 28 November 1900, Page 40

THE PONY FAD.

A member of the New South Wales Racing ' Commission endeavoured to prove through ' a witness that pony racing helped considerably | to improve the breed ot horses. The question put concerned the failure of the British j cavalry horse in South Africa and the wonder- ' ful stamina of the Boer "pony." Respecting I this su*bject "Milrqy" writer: We have heard j a lot about this Boer pony, but a returned Australian who saw a great cteal of both sides dtiring a twelvemonth s jaunt ir Africa, declares that the ""ponies" he saw were seldom below 15hds, and generally they were nearer 15.2." As regards their stamina, r we really know little ; it is surmised that they have done great work during tne late war, but we have no positive proof that they did even as much as the much-abused British halfbred coachcr. Boer farms are dotted all over the Transvaal, j and the facilities for a change of mount are f very great as compared with those of an in- | vaaing army in a hostile country. Kaffir I servants and thousands of sympathisers are ever present to care for and provide fresh horses for the fighting men and to- dispose of, or, as an. Australian would put it,- '"plant" the tired knocked-up horse on good grass. In this respect the Boers .lay right over the British. Bush-bred Australians fenow what an inferior fresh horse '•can ca with a good but tired one, and they also know that a tew men can drive a mob of nearly knocked-up horses very much faster than a v body of cavalry or mounted men on tired horses can tiavel. Therefore, with a change here and there,, the Boers can gefe over twice the width of ground a cavalryman can, and at tiTe same time the. Boer has at his disposal ready means to transport his knocked-up horses to places of safety where they can recuperate and be returned to the fighting line when again fit for service-. I know scores of men who firmly believe that the average 14.2 pony is a better animal than, a 15.2 horse of equal shape and < breeding-, and these men believe tnat the « racing of small horses should be encouraged | for the purpose of discovering the best of | diminutive equines to breed from, ' Of course I riot one of these enthusiasts has" ever had to J depend on ahorse to see liim through a long j day's journey or a hard day's mustering'; J they are generally, townsfolk, who drive a light sulky, with, a well-bred pony in it. A small, "" well-bred pony looks nice in" a light sulky, and the ladies call it a "dear darling," but if, ■the' pony were askad io pace it with a 15.2 hds or'l&hds horse of equal breeding from sun to sun with 15st in the saddle, the dear- darling would be most likely to stop j by the way. With very light weights \xp £ have seen small horses do great things, but I never saw a good little horse beat a good bigone at anything. Ponies are very useful to carry""boys or drive in light harness, or for j polo mounts { 'but for hard work and military j purposes they are not in the same street as I their larger brethren, military- experts and the ] numerous admirers of the "dear little darling" j notwithstanding. If there is any justification for pony racing, improvement in horsebreeding is not one. Unfortunately a large lMimber of the galloways racing almost daily j about Sydney are stallions, and, no doubt, when their usefulness in this direction ceases, j they will go abroad as stallions and bid for public favour with a "racing- record" which will look very fine in print. Every hoise 15hnds and under should be emasculated in the interests of the nation — in fact,_we ahould be studying the best interests of the community if oO per cent., or even more, of the modern thoroughbreds were adde£ to the list after it was definitely ascertained that they are never likely to achieve success as sires of racehorses or of horses for useful work. Of couiee an occasional mistake would occur j (as witness the gelding of Paris and Bungebah, !| two horses that may have proved useful as remount getters) , but the 'advantages of the system .would very much outweigh the draw--backp. A gelding, when he has finished rac- ■ ing, is generally useful for light harness," but a stunted or ill-shapen, Qr hereditarily unsound stallion is^a useless animal. The pruning knife will only be brought into use when j a stallion tax becomes law — a tax that will ! make it unprofitable to own a weed or an 'unsound animal with nothing to recommend it but a pedigree, and perhaps a few two-year-old scrambles or a pony race or two.