THE PONIES OF SCOTLAND AND THE SHETLAND ISLANDS.

The Scottish nation from early times have possessed a breed of horses which was held in great esteem; and, as in England, laws were passed from time to time prohibiting their export from the country. The second parliament of James I. in the year 1406 enacted (cap. 31) that no horse of three years old or under should be sent out of Scotland. In 1567, James VI. forbade the export of horses in an Act (Jac. VI., cap. 22) whose preface makes specific reference to Bordeaux, from which place there was a great demand for horses.

In a curious old book entitled The Horseman’s Honour or the Beautie of Horsemanship, published in the year 1620 by an anonymous writer, we find the following passage:—

“For the horses of Scotland they are much less than those of England, yet not inferiour in goodnesse; and by reason of their smallnesse they keep few stoned but geld many by which likwise they retaine this saying ‘That there is no gelding like those in Scotland,’ and they, as the English, are for the most part amblers. Also in Scotland there are a race of small nagges which they call galloways or galloway nagges, which for fine shape easie pace, pure mettall and infinit toughnesse are not short of the best nagges that are bred in any countrey whatsoever; and for soundnesse in body they exceede the most races that are extant, as dayly experience shews in their continuall travels journeyings and forehuntings.”

Berenger[7] says:—

“This kingdom (Scotland) at present encourages a fleet breed of horses, and the nobility and gentry have many foreign and other stallions of great value in their possession with which they cultivate the breed and improve it with great knowledge and success. Like the English they are fond of racing and have a celebrated course at Leith which is honoured with a royal plate given by his present Majesty [George III.]

“The wisdom and generosity likewise of the nobility and gentry have lately erected a riding house in the City of Edinburgh at their own expense and fixed a salary upon the person appointed to direct it.

“This kingdom has been famous for breeding a peculiar sort of horses called Galloways. From the care and attention paid at present to the culture of horses it is to be expected that it will soon be able to send forth numbers of valuable and generous breeds destined to a variety of purposes and equal to all: the country being very capable of answering the wishes of the judicious breeder who need only remember that colts require to be well nourished in winter and sheltered from the severity of a rigorous and changeable sky.”

[7] “The History and Art of Horsemanship,” by Richard Berenger, published by Davies and Cadell, London, 1771.

The Galloway, so called from the part of Scotland known by that name, is a diminutive horse resembling the Welsh cob, to which the author of an Encyclopædia of Agriculture compares it in a passage quoted on a former page. The breed gradually diminished in number as the advances of law and order deprived the mosstroopers and other predatory border men of a method of livelihood which involved the use of hardy and enduring horses.

Before the commencement of the nineteenth century and during more recent years this animal, which cannot be described either as a horse or a pony, has played an active part in agricultural work on the low lands of Scotland. In localities where no roads existed, and wheeled traffic was impossible, galloways were used not only for riding but for the transport of agricultural produce; as they lacked the weight and strength to draw the two-horse plough, ploughing was done by oxen, but the sledges which held the place of carts and waggons were drawn by the galloways, which were also used to carry corn and general merchandise in pots and panniers.

In height the original Galloway was generally under 14 hands. Youatt (second edition, 1846) describes it as from 13 to 14 hands, and sometimes more; it was a bright bay or brown, with black legs and small head. The purposes for which it was used indicated the desirability of increasing its height and strength, and with this end in view cross breeding was commenced in the early part of the century, and continued until so late a date as 1850. By consequence, the old Galloway has now almost disappeared from all parts of the mainland and survives only in such remote situations as the Island of Mull.

About the end of the eighteenth century a Mr. Gilchrist employed on his farm in Sutherlandshire as many as ten “garrons” to carry peats from the hills and seaweed from the shore. These burdens were carried in crates or panniers:

“The little creatures do wonders; they set out at peep of day and never halt till the work of the day be finished—going 48 miles.”[8]

[8] Husbandry in Scotland, published by Creech, Edinburgh, 1784.

At the present time the most conspicuous field of utility open to the Scottish pony is that offered by the grouse-moors and deer-forests, though in the close season general farm and draught work affords them employment. A pony of from 13 to 14 hands may be strong enough for a man of average weight to ride on the grouse-moor; but for deer-stalking a sturdy cob of from 14 to 15 hands is necessary, a smaller animal is not equal to the task of carrying a heavy man or a 17-stone stag over the rough hills and valleys among which his work lies.

The origin of the “Sheltie,” like that of the other breeds considered in the foregoing pages, is unknown. Mr. James Goudie, whose essay on The Early History of the Shetland Pony is published in the first volume of the Shetland Pony Stud Book thinks there is every likelihood that it was brought to the islands from Scotland at some very early period. The “Bressay Stone,” a sculptured slab which was discovered in Bressay in 1864, bears, among other designs in low relief, the figure of a horse on which a human figure is seated. “As this monument is admitted by authorities on the subject to belong to a period before the Celtic Christianity of the islands disappeared under the shock of Norwegian invasion [A.D. 872], it may be inferred ... that the animal was known and probably found in the islands at this period.” Early writers state that the Scandinavian invaders introduced the foundation stock some time prior to the fifteenth century. Buchanan makes passing reference to the Orkney and Shetland ponies in his History of Scotland, written three centuries ago: but the first description which has completeness to recommend it is that of Brand, who visited the islands in 1700 and wrote A Brief Description of Orkney, Zetland, Pightland, Firth and Caithness, which was published at Edinburgh in the following year. This author writes:—

“They are of a less size than the Orkney Horses, for some will be but 9, others 10 nives or hand-breadths high, and they will be thought big Horses there if 11, and although so small yet they are full of vigour and life, and some not so high as others often prove to be the strongest.... Summer or winter they never come into an house but run upon the mountains, in some places in flocks; and if any time in Winter the storm be so great that they are straitened for food they will come down from the Hills when the ebb is in the sea and eat the sea-ware ... which Winter storms and scarcity of fodder puts them out of ease and bringeth them so very low that they recover not their strength till St. John’s Mass-day, the 24th of June, when they are at their best. They will live to a considerable age, as twenty-six, twenty-eight or thirty years, and they will be good riding horses in twenty-four, especially they’le be the more vigorous and live the longer if they be four years old before they be put to work. Those of a black colour are judged to be the most durable and the pyeds often prove not so good; they have been more numerous than they now are.”

Bengie, in his Tour in Shetland (1870), after remarking on their sure-footedness and hardiness of constitutions, suggests that the sagacity, spirit and activity for which they are remarkable may be due to the freedom of the life they live on the hills. “They are sprightly and active as terriers, sure-footed as mules and patient as donkeys.” They stand, he adds, at the head of the horse tribe as the most intelligent and faithful of them all; and he compares the intelligence of the Sheltie with that of the Iceland pony much to the advantage of the former. “Shorter in the leg than any other kind,” says Mr. Robert Brydon, of Seaham Harbour, “they are at the same time wider in the body and shorter in the back, with larger bones, thighs and arms; and therefore are comparatively stronger and able to do with ease as much work as average ponies of other breeds a hand higher.” The Shetland Stud Book Society will register no pony whose height exceeds 10 hands 2 inches, and the average height may be taken as 10 hands: many do not exceed 9 hands, and a lady who wrote an account of a visit to Shetland in 1840 speaks of one reared by Mr. William Hay, of Hayfield, which was only 26 inches, or 6 hands 2 inches high! It is however, unusual to find a pony measuring less than 8 hands at the shoulder, and we may perhaps doubt whether the 26-inch specimen was full-grown.

In colour the Shetlander varies: bays, browns and dullish blacks are most common: sometimes these hues are relieved by white markings and occasionally white specimens occur: piebalds are rare. The coat in winter is long, close and shaggy, fit protection against the inclemency of the weather the pony endures without cover or shelter: in spring the heavy winter coat is shed, and in the summer months the hair is short and sleek.

In former times it was customary to hobble the ponies; but this practice, which must have done much to spoil their naturally good action, has been abandoned for many years.

It is now usual to give the ponies a ration of hay in the winter months when the vegetation is covered deep with snow, and thus the losses by starvation, which formerly were heavy in severe winters, are obviated. Otherwise the Sheltie’s conditions of life to-day differ little from those that prevailed three centuries ago. Mr. Meiklejohn, of Bressay, states that in April, generally, the crofters turn their ponies out upon the common pasture lands, and leave them to their own devices. On common pastures where there are no stallions the mares are caught for service and tethered until the foal is born and can follow freely, when mother and child are turned out again.

In autumn when crops have been carried the ponies come down from the hills to their own townships, where they feed on the patches of fresh grass which have been preserved round the cultivated areas. The nights being now cold, they remain in the low-lying lands sheltering under the lee of the yard walls; and “when winter has more fully set in the pony draws nearer his owner’s door, and in most cases is rewarded with his morning sheaf on which, with seaweed and what he continues to pick off the green sward, the hardy animal manages to eke out a living until the time rolls round again that he is turned on the hill pasture, never being under a roof in his life.”

At one period the ponies were apparently regarded almost as public property; for, among the “Acts and Statutes of the Lawting Sheriff and Justice Courts of Orkney and Shetland,” was one passed in the year 1612 and frequently renewed, which forbade the “ryding ane uther manis hors without licence and leave of the awner,” under penalty of fine; and also provided that “quhasoever sall be tryet or fund to stow or cut ane uther man’s hors taill sall be pwinischit as a theif at all rigour in exempill of utheris to commit the lyke.”

The number of ponies on the islands has decreased in recent years by reason of the steadily growing demand from without. The latest available Government returns are those of 1891, and for the sake of comparison the returns of 1881 are given below:—

18811891
Horses (including ponies) as returned by occupiers of landused solely for agriculture921787
Unbroken horses and mares kept solely for breeding4,3234,016
——————
5,2444,803
——————

The ponies are little used for farm work in the Shetlands; they carry loads of peat from the hills to the crofts, and apart from this are used only for riding; they are beyond question the most wonderful weight-carriers in the world, a 9-hand pony being able to carry with the greatest ease a full-grown man over bad ground and for long distances.

They owe their value to the combination of minuteness and strength, which renders them peculiarly suitable for draught work in the coal mines. Many ponies will travel thirty miles a day, to and fro in the seams, drawing a load, tilt and coals included, of from 12 to 14 cwt. The Sheltie’s lot underground is admittedly a hard one, but his tractable disposition usually ensures for him kindly treatment at the hands of the boy who has him in charge.

These ponies, says Mr. Brydon, were first used in the coal pits of the North of England about the year 1850. Horse ponies from 3 to 5 years old could then be purchased for £4 10s. each delivered at the collieries. Since that time prices have risen enormously, though for the smallest animals they fluctuate from time to time in sympathy with the price of coal. As the cause of the influence of the coal market upon the price of Shetland ponies is perhaps not quite obvious, it must be explained that the chief value of these little animals is their ability to work in the low galleries of thin-seamed pits; when the price of coal sinks to a certain point these thin seams cannot be profitably worked, the pits are “laid in,” or temporarily closed, and the ponies withdrawn. In 1891 the average yearling was worth £15 and a two-year-old £18, while full-grown ponies were scarcely procurable. In 1898 a four-year-old could be bought at from £15 to £21, owing to the depression in the price of coals and the suspension of work in thin-seamed pits.

It will be understood that only small animals of the commoner sort suitable for pit work are affected by the coal market. Horse ponies of the right stamp with good pedigree and suitable for the stud still command from £30 to £50, and in some cases even more. Mare ponies of good pedigree also command high prices; at the last Londonderry sale, the mares, Mr. R. Brydon informs me, sold at an average of £19 per head; but the average obtained for second-class mares would little exceed six guineas per head.

The docility and good temper of the Shetland pony make him, above all, the best and most trustworthy mount for a child. Captain H. Hayes has remarked that “a comparatively high degree of mental (i.e., reasoning) power is not desirable in a horse, because it is apt to make him impatient of control by man.” The Shetland pony is the rule-proving exception; for he combines with the highest order of equine intelligence a disposition curiously free from vice or trickiness. Mr. Brydon has never known a Sheltie withdrawn from a pit as wicked or unmanageable; withdrawal for such reasons being very frequent with ponies of other breeds.

Engraved by F. Babbage.

CHILD’S SHETLAND PONY.

The property of Sir WALTER GILBEY, Bart.

It may be observed that about the middle of the century there were a number of Shelties in Windsor Park, which were used to do various kinds of work.

During recent years a demand for mares for breeding purposes has grown up in America, much to the advantage of the crofter, who finds a market in the colliery districts for horse ponies only.

Many attempts have been made to increase the size of the Sheltie. About the middle of the last century Norwegian pony stallions were introduced into Dunrossness with the result that a distinct variety was established and still continues; this is called the Sumburgh breed; in size these ponies range from 12 hands to 13·2. Another variety known as the Fetlar breed owes its origin to the introduction by Sir Arthur Nicolson of a Mustang stallion named Bolivar over half a century ago; the Fetlar ponies run from 11 to 13 hands, and are described as remarkably handsome, swift and spirited, but less tractable than the pure Shetlander. The Sumburgh and Fetlar varieties deserve mention only as experiments; the result having been to increase the height of the pony, it follows, after what has been said on a former page, that these cross-bred animals are of comparatively small value.

Far more importance attaches to the efforts which have been made to improve the pure breed while preserving its diminutive size. The Marquis of Londonderry, some twenty-five years ago, acquired grazings on Bressay and Moss Islands; and having procured the best stock obtainable from all over the Shetlands, began breeding on judicious and methodical lines. Twelve or fifteen mares with a carefully selected stallion are placed in an enclosure, and the young stock, after weaning, are turned out on the hills; they are hand-fed in winter, but are never given the protection of a roof, whereby their natural hardiness is preserved. The Marquis of Zetland in Unst, and Mr. Bruce in Fair Isle, follow a somewhat similar method of mating and rearing. Messrs. Anderson & Sons have on Northmavine done much to promote the interests of the breed by purchasing good stallions, often at Lord Londonderry’s annual Seaham Harbour Sale, and distributing these over the common pastures. The benefits which have accrued from this policy are very marked; and though the crofters yield to the temptation of high prices, and sell their best animals for export, the endeavours of the gentlemen named above to maintain the quality of the breed in its native habitat cannot fail to largely counteract the evil results of such sales.

Among the studs on the mainland the best known, perhaps, is that of the Countess of Hopetoun at Linlithgow. Her ladyship’s success has been due in no small measure to that beautiful little sire the Monster. This pony is a perfect example of the Shetland stallion, as may be gathered from his showyard record: he was first in the class for Shetland ponies under 10 hands 2 inches at the Royal Agricultural Society’s Show in 1895, at Darlington, and has been preferred by judges to Lord Londonderry’s Excellent and the Elsenham pony, Good Friday, Excellent having taken many first prizes, and Good Friday five firsts at the London shows.

Mr. James Bruce has a drove of Shetland ponies at Inverquhomery, Longside, Aberdeenshire. These are descended from two mares and a stallion imported in the year 1889. Three years ago Mr. Bruce replenished his breeding stock by the purchase of five more mares. A noteworthy feature of this stud is the colour, which in every case is chestnut, Mr. Bruce’s 1889 importations being of that rare colour among Shelties.

Since the establishment of the Shetland Pony Stud Book, several studs have been founded in Scotland and England. The chief difficulty the owners have to contend with is the proneness towards increase of size due to milder climate and richer feed. This tendency can only be checked by the periodical importation of stock from the Shetland Isles.

Drawn by J. Doyle. Engraved on wood by F. Babbage.

H.R.H. PRINCESS VICTORIA IN HER PONY PHAETON.