Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 September 1883 — Ponies. [ARTICLE]

Ponies.

The most popular pony is the Canadian, which is rather large for a pony and small for a horse, but he is much stronger and hardier, in proportion to size, than the larger animal of the horse kind. Exposure and inattention brings the horse down to the pony class, which not only affects the animal so subject at the time, but by long continuance, the dwarf size becomes characteristic in successive generations. Along the coast of Virginia and North Carolina,the islands are used for breeding ponies. On Chincoteague island, which is not far from the Virginia and Maryland line, on the Atlantic coast, ponies have been bred for many years, many of them being nearly as small as the Shetlands, but not so shaggy. The ponies come into the world with no care from man afterward, except to be branded, and, as the island is nearly barren of vegetation, it is a matter ol surprise how the animals can subsist, thrive, and multiply as rapidly as they do, and that, too, in the face of the fact that duiing the existence es storms and severe cold they have no shelter. The supposition that long-continued exposure and neglect will ultimately destroy all that nuyv remain of a breed is not verified in tnis case, for, despite their hardships, the ponies, when broken to harness, will outlast the best of horses, go longer without food and water, seldom become sick, and live to a good old age. In strength they cannot equal the average horses, as size is against them, but in proportion to their weight they are superior for drawing a load over a long distance in a short period. They never seem to tire, and never founder. They demonstrate, however, that JU we neglect our stock we deteriorate them in other ways. Size will be reduced, and more difficulty is encountered in training and domesticating animals that have been abandoned to their own resources. And then, who knows how many poor creatures actually perish on these exposed islands before the stronger and more robust become capable of undergoing the trying ordeal necessary for perpetuating its species. The “survival of the fittest” alone was the result, and no doubt many years elapsed’before the herds became numerous. But the ponies were not dwarfed in vain, for small as they are, they are useful in many ways, and always become favorites, no jnatter in whose poss.ssion they fall. They have passed through the critical stages, and are now distinct as a breed.— Farm, Field and Fireside.