The Welsh Pony Described in two letters to a friend   By: Olive Tilford Dargan (1869-1968)

THE WELSH PONY

[Illustration: HERD OF WELSH MOUNTAIN PONIES GRAZING Brecon, Wales]

THE WELSH PONY

DESCRIBED IN TWO LETTERS TO A FRIEND

By OLIVE TILFORD DARGAN

BOSTON: PRINTED PRIVATELY FOR CHARLES A. STONE: 1913

Copyright, 1913, by Charles A. Stone

PINKHAM PRESS, BOSTON

To ANNE WHITNEY

ILLUSTRATIONS

HERD OF WELSH MOUNTAIN PONIES GRAZING Frontispiece MY LORD PEMBROKE xii A MORNING RIDE xiv IMPORTED WELSH STALLION RAINBOW 4 SEARCHLIGHT PONY MARE 6 THE FAMOUS WELSH STALLION GREYLIGHT 8 A FULL BROTHER OF DAYLIGHT 10 LONGMYND FAVORITE AND HER FOAL MANOMET WHITE STAR 12 MY LORD PEMBROKE WHEN THREE YEARS OLD 14 LONGMYND ECLIPSE ON A RAINY DAY 16 A WELSH COB 18 MARE AND FOAL 20 LONGMYND 22 LONGMYND COMMONS 24 IMPORTED WELSH STALLION MY LORD PEMBROKE 26 LONGMYND ECLIPSE AND GROVE RAINBOW 28 LONGMYND CASTOR 32 LONGMYND ECLIPSE AND MY LORD PEMBROKE 34 BRECON 36 THE BEACONS 38 LONGMYND POLLOX 40 FOREST LODGE PASTURES 42 MY LORD PEMBROKE 44 KNIGHTON SENSATION, LONGMYND ECLIPSE AND MY LORD PEMBROKE 46 KNIGHTON SENSATION 48 MY LORD PEMBROKE IN HARNESS 50

INTRODUCTION

While living in Devon about a year ago, I first became acquainted with the Welsh pony and found great pleasure in riding and driving with my children through the charming lanes and by ways of Southwestern England.

I was so fortunate as to have at that time an attractive little gray mare which was loaned to me by a friend who was spending the winter in France. This little mare, partly Welsh, was so cheerful and friendly, and seemed so much to enjoy our excursions into the country, that I felt sorry to leave her behind when I left Devon.

The following spring, at the London Horse Show, I saw some splendid specimens of thoroughbred Welsh mountain ponies ridden by children, and my wife and I were so attracted by them that we determined to get four or five and bring them to America. Later during the same season, at the Royal Agricultural Show, which is the best fair of its kind in the world, I saw many splendid ponies of the Welsh breed, and had an opportunity to find out more particularly about them.

A trip to Wales was then planned with a view of visiting the ponies on their native hills and arranging with some owners and breeders to help me select a small herd for shipment to Boston. On this trip I found the Welsh country so charming and the ponies so attractive and so different from any ponies I had known before, that I spent altogether several weeks in Wales and the border counties selecting a herd which finally amounted to about twenty five of the best of the true mountain type that I could obtain.

[Illustration: MY LORD PEMBROKE Welsh Mountain Pony Stallion. Winner of First Prize at Brockton Fair, 1912, for best pony thirteen hands or under shown under saddle]