PONY, the common name of many small active breeds of horse (q.v.), belonging to different countries, from India and Africa to Iceland; but in the warmer parts of the world chiefly found in mountainous or sterile regions. They are in general the property of man, and not truly wild, although, in very many cases, they live almost in a wild state, and receive no care or attention except when they are wanted for use. They are in general very hardy, and their strength is great in proportion to their size. They are often vicious, or at least playfully tricky to a much greater degree than is usual with large horses. Ponies are very often covered with rough hair, and have large shaggy manes and forelocks. The Shetland pony is a very good example of these small races of horse. The Iceland pony is scarcely different from it, and is hardy enough to endure the winter of Iceland without shelter. The Galloway, Welsh, Dartmoor, Exmoor, and New Forest breeds are British races of pony larger than the Shetland. The progress of inclosure and cultivation in their native regions has so changed the circumstances in which they long subsisted, and in which, perhaps, they originated, that scarcely any of them is now to be seen of pure and unmixed race. Sardinia and Corsica have small
races of pony which have subsisted unchanged from ancient times. In the Morea there is a race of ponies, driven in herds to Attica for sale, exceedingly wild and vicious, but capable of being rendered very serviceable. But it is unnecessary to mention the many races both of Europe and Asia. They differ considerably in size, some, like the Shetland pony, suggesting a comparison with a large dog, some much larger. They also differ much in color; a dun or tan color, with a black stripe along the back, is prevalent in many of them. Ponies are seldom employed in agricultural labors• but they are of inestimable value in many wild and mountainous regions, from their hardi ness and surefootedness; and are often used as saddle-horses, the largest kinds being even employed as horses for light-cavalry.