From this date onwards we have a continuous record of the pony, growing in definiteness as time goes on. “The horses,” says the Rev. Hugh Leigh in 1650, “are of a little size and excellent mettell: for one of them will easily carry a man or woman 20 miles a day; and they will live till they be 20 or 30 years of age though they be never stabled summer or winter.”[21] Travellers comment on its small size, its strength, and its excellence. Thomas Kirke, in his diary, reports a visit to “Burra’s” house (Stewart of Burray in Orkney). “We dined before we went away, having been very well treated, and at our departure he bestowed a little Shetland horse upon us, so low that I could easily stand on the ground with the horse under me.”[22] The Orkney horses in 1693 are, according to Wallace, “little yet strong and well mettald, most of which they get from Zetland, and are called Shelties.”[23]
In 1701 we have a full and clear description by Brand which places beyond doubt the fact that the pony whose history we have traced from the vague suggestions of earlier times is the Shetland pony as we have it now.
“I think the kine and sheep are of a greater size than they are in Orkney, though their horses be of a less; they have a sort of little horses called shelties, than which no other are to be had if not brought hither from other places; they are of a less size than the Orkney horses, for some will be but nine, others ten nives or handbreadths high, and they will be thought big horses there if eleven; 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, yea there are some whom an able man can lift in his arms, yet will they carry him and a woman behind him eight miles forward and as many back; summer or winter they never come into a house, but run upon the mountains in some places in flocks, and if at 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 (as likewise do the sheep), which winter storm and scarcity of fodder puts them out of case, and bringeth them so low, that they recover not their strength till about 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 in twenty-four, especially they will 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 pied often prove not so good; they have been more numerous than they are now; the best of them are to be had in Souston and Eston, also they are good in Waes and Yell, these of the least size are in the Northern isles of Yell and Unst.
“The coldness of the air, the barrenness of the mountains on which they feed, and their hard usage may occasion them to keep so little, for if bigger horses be brought into the country, their kind within a little time will degenerate; and, indeed, in the present case we may see the wisdom of Providence, for their way being deep and mossy in many places, these lighter horses come through, when the greater and heavier would sink down; and they leap over ditches very nimbly, yea up and down rugged mosses, braes or hillocs with heavy riders upon them, which I could not look upon them, but with admiration, yea I have seen them climb up braes upon their knees, when otherwise they could not get the height overcome, so that our horses would be but little if at all serviceable there.”[24]
This statement is repeated by Martin in its essential features a few years later. “This Country produces little Horses, commonly call’d Shelties, and they are very sprightly, tho’ the least of their kind to be seen any where; they are lower in stature than those of Orkney, and it is common for a Man of ordinary Strength to lift a Sheltie from the ground: yet this little creature is able to carry double. The black are esteemed to be the most hardy, but the pyed ones seldom prove so good: they live many times till Thirty Years of Age and are fit for service all the while. These Horses are never brought into a House, but exposed to the Rigour of the Season all the year round; and when they have no grass, feed upon sea-ware which is only to be had at the Tide of Ebb.”[25]
Brand’s account, confirmed by Martin, completes the series of statements by which we are compelled to recognise that the Shetland pony of to-day is the lineal descendant, with or without some degree of cross-breeding, of a pony which has lived in Shetland from very early times.
The characteristic which most definitely asserts itself throughout all the descriptions, and which is displayed by the Sumburgh bones, is small size; and the significance of this characteristic is greatly increased by the fact that it remains unaffected by great changes in the conditions under which the pony is reared.