“It is in the limit of height that the greatest difficulty of the Society lies. Could we be certain of breeding every animal between 14 hands and 14 hands 2 inches our course would be tolerably clear.... There is always, however, the danger that the best-looking and best-nourished of our young stock will, if some means be not found to prevent it, exceed this limit. The remedy is more or less within our reach by utilising the hardy little stocks of ponies which are to be found almost indigenous in those districts of the British Isles where there are large tracts of mountain or moorland ground. I refer to such ponies as those found in North and South Wales, the New Forest, Exmoor, Dartmoor, and the hills of the north of England and west coast of Scotland.... Perhaps it may not be out of place to mention that the present is not an inappropriate time for upholding the breeding of ponies on hill lands. The keeping of hill sheep is not so remunerative as of yore, the price of wool being so low and the demand for four-year-old mutton not being anything like what it was a few years ago; whereas, on the other hand, the demand for ponies, especially good ones, is likely to increase, and if farmers will only give them a fair chance they will amply repay them for their keep up to three years old. It is hoped that by careful consideration of their various characteristics, and by registering such of them as are likely to breed riding ponies, and by periodically going back to this fountain head of all ponies, we may be able to regulate the size of our higher-class riding ponies to the desired limit, while at the same time we shall infuse into their blood the hardiness of constitution and endurance, combined with a fiery yet even temper, so pre-eminently characteristic of the British native breeds.” The Shetland pony stands upon a different footing. In him we have a pony whose characteristics are equally valuable to it as a wild animal and as one in a state of domestication. It is the only one of our half-wild breeds which gains nothing from an infusion of alien blood; its value depends upon the careful preservation of distinctive peculiarities of size and make, which fit it above all others for special purposes. BREEDING POLO PONIES. With only the limited experience in breeding ponies for Polo possessed by all who breed stock, remarks hazarded under this heading must necessarily be guided by general principles of breeding, and readers must be left to take them for what they may be worth.