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. The common and obvious suggestion is that the ponies of Shetland were individually made small by the severity of the conditions under which they lived—that they were and are dwarfs stunted by starvation. But this suggestion is inconsistent with the undeniable result of experience, that the Shetland pony remains small, and indeed shows no tendency whatever to increase in size, when it is reared in Southern climates and generously nourished. Twenty years ago even so experienced a breeder as Mr Robert Brydon wrote of the South-country studs: “I cannot help pointing out the difficulty their owners will have to contend with in keeping the size within Stud-book requirements.”[26] Experience, however, has shown this to be a wholly groundless fear. The apparent tendency of the breed in England and Scotland is not to increase but rather to diminish in size: the mainland—bred ponies are not larger but smaller than those on the Islands; and perhaps the present danger is that they may become too small for use and perfect symmetry. The fact is that there have always been small horses in Britain—at all events in Northern Britain. The remains recently found in the Roman camp at Newstead include horse bones which indicate that the native horses there were from 11 to 13 hands in height. In Shetland there have probably never been large horses.