The Fetlar pony is not, indeed, of pure race. Its origin is traced to an animal which has often been called a “mustang,” but was in point of fact a grey Arab, presented by the famous General Bolivar to the late Sir Arthur Nicolson. From 1837 onwards, for some years, this horse was crossed with the native ponies of the Island, which were presumably somewhat larger than those of other parts of Shetland, Fetlar being one of the best grazings in the Islands. For many years the influence of this horse showed itself in a large proportion of grey ponies in Fetlar. Later, another Arab was introduced; and an Orkney garron cross was also used. The resulting product is a pony of about twelve hands—ranging from eleven to thirteen—from which the grey colouring is now practically eliminated. The ponies bred in this way show a degree of unity in type and size which is truly remarkable, in view of the apparently very different sources from which they are sprung. Indeed, the singular fidelity to type of this essentially cross-bred pony is highly suggestive of a common element in the ancestry of the Arab and the Shetland pony. The Fetlar is, in type and quality, one of the best of native ponies. It has a good deal in common with the ponies of the outer Hebrides.
[CHAPTER III.]
The Modern Pony.
The Shetland pony, as now produced on the British mainland, is chiefly derived from the stud established by the Marquis of Londonderry in the Islands of Bressay and Noss in 1870,[45] and carried on by him there under the management of Mr Robert Brydon and the late Mr Meiklejohn until its dispersal in 1899. It was in this stud that the standard was set by which showyard judging has proceeded during the last twenty years; and it was here also that the type of the modern pony was created and fixed by selection and close inbreeding.
The stud was originally intended for the purpose of breeding pit-ponies for its owner’s collieries in Northumberland; and this purpose is reflected in the type which is characteristic of the “Londonderry” pony. It is commonly said that the governing formula of the stud was “as much weight as possible, and as near the ground as it can be got”; and, so far as it goes, this formula—admirably adapted as it is for defining a pit-pony—is no bad description of the result attained in many instances. While the original object of the stud was never lost sight of in its policy and management, it was carried out by skilful and enthusiastic breeders, who set themselves to eliminate defects of conformation which were common among the Island ponies. The consequence was a degree of breed improvement which is perhaps without a parallel as the result of less than thirty years of breeding and management.
But not only is the source of improvement in the modern pony to be found chiefly in this one stud. It is also traceable—as in so many other breeds—mainly to a single animal.
If it be true that the modern pony is substantially the “Londonderry” pony, it is hardly less true that the “Londonderry” pony is the pony that is bred from the horse Jack (16), foaled in 1871, which came into Lord Londonderry’s possession as a colt, and was the sire or grandsire of almost all the stallions used in the stud, as well as of a third of all the mares that are recorded as belonging to it.