The chief defects of the Island ponies are to be found in the movement and conformation of the hocks—“cow hocks” being common, and also a tendency to excessive bending of the joints. There is, in fact, a look of “curbiness” about many of the ponies which renders it surprising that curb itself—like almost every other unsoundness—occurs but rarely. How far these hock defects are caused or aggravated by undue hardship in early life cannot easily be estimated, but they can certainly be greatly mitigated by more generous treatment. Apart from them—and from a tendency to roach backs, undoubtedly aggravated by poor rearing—the Island ponies present few common defects that are practically serious; but their general appearance is often much deteriorated by insufficient care in early life. In colour the pony is much more variegated in the Islands than on the British mainland, where black and brown increasingly predominate. In some parts of Shetland—notably in the western district of Sandness—piebalds and skewbalds are more common than self-coloured ponies; while chestnuts, yellow duns, and mouse-duns (sometimes curiously called “greys”) are exceedingly frequent. But we still find as “The Druid” did in 1865: “Duns are in great request; but the colour is not so much an object if the bone be only good. Greys and chestnuts are scarce; bay has not its wonted supremacy; and bays and blacks are most common. Some buyers began to go against piebalds from a belief that they had Iceland blood in them, and were softer and slower in consequence.”[37] The employment of Shetland ponies in Shetland is now much less than it was formerly. Speaking generally, they have become a breeding stock, kept for sale rather than for work. Somewhat larger ponies—from 11 to 12½ hands—are in very common use in carts; and these are probably cross-bred ponies partly of Shetland ancestry. But the introduction of wheeled vehicles in the latter part of last century almost made an end, in practice, of the pony as a means of transport in its own home. [Illustration: COMING FROM MARKET.] The fact—apt to be forgotten in controversies about Shetland pony type—is that the pony never until quite recently was a draught animal. Roads did not exist in Shetland until they were made, in and after 1847, in order to give employment for the relief of distress caused by the potato famine. Till then wheeled vehicles were practically unknown, and the ponies were used only as pack and saddle animals. We read of them “travelling through the country among the rocks and mosses”;[38] and Edmonstone gives us a luminous glimpse at once of Shetland society and of the stature of the riding ponies:—