The above subject, in my opinion, is a very difficult one to write on,
for the simple reason that there are so few men who are capable of
occupying the position of a judge of polo ponies. A man must be blessed
with a large number of capabilities to act in this position. He must be,
firstly, a judge of the horse in the abstract, of its formation,
building, &c., he must be a hunting man and a judge of hunters; he must
be, in a minor degree, a judge of a racehorse; he must be a fine
horseman in himself, and he must be a polo player, and an active one, at
the time he is occupying the position of judge.
In these days when the game of polo is taking such a strong hold of the
world at large, when county shows all over England and elsewhere reserve
classes for polo ponies, polo pony mares, polo pony stallions, young
stock, or ponies likely to make polo ponies, the office of judge of
these classes is a very important one.
Often one sees that a judge who is officiating in that position in the
hunter classes is deputed to judge polo ponies also, and I have even
known the hackney or carthorse judge put into this position. Probably
the official in question is a fine judge of a hunter and of a horse in
all respects, and yet he may be quite the worst judge one can have of
made polo ponies. He does not know what is expected of them, how he is
to test them, or what they are expected to do. Of their make and shape
he is probably quite capable of judging the class; he will know a
good-shaped pony from a bad one. Naturally, as a judge of a horse, he
will know a good “ride” from a bad one; he will know true action from
cramped action, but I very much doubt whether he knows a good polo pony
from a bad one. There may be a large number of ponies in the class, he
will only be able to spare a minute or so to sit on each pony. During
the short space of time he has to make up his mind very quickly as to
whether the pony is a good ride to start with; whether it has a good and
natural mouth; whether it is tractable or otherwise; whether it turns
easily or otherwise; whether when turning it does so on its hind
quarters or its forehand, and whether when turning it does so on the
proper leg both behind and in front. The majority of ponies, however
partially they may be schooled, usually change their legs in front,
viz., when turning to the right have their right leg in front, and _vice
versâ_, but how many men can tell in a second when the pony has changed
its leg in front, whether it has, at the same time, changed its hind
legs similarly? To do this a judge must have great and constant
experience.
When writing on this all-important subject I propose stating my opinion
and ideas on the made polo pony, or pony likely to make a polo pony, as
the judging of young stock, mares likely to breed polo ponies,
stallions, &c., comes rather under a different category than the actual
judging of the article that is to be ridden and so judged by the
official.
Allow me to give a few hints to judges who are setting out for the first
few times in this important position. They must remember that the time
for them to make up their minds is limited, therefore they must come to
their decision quickly, and having made it must abide by it. They will
probably have to judge two riding classes: (1) polo ponies; and (2)
ponies likely to make polo ponies. Let us consider these two classes
separately. When made polo ponies come into the ring let the judge
carefully watch them walking round; he must then make up his mind as to
what is a good made pony, a pony, pure and simple, and what is not; he
will see how they walk and how they carry themselves, and here he will
make his first impressions, and these first impressions are, in my
opinion, the best. Then they will trot round the ring. This will show
him little except that, as a rule, a good walker is usually a good
trotter; however, many of the best polo ponies are poor trotters, and
often will not trot at all. In my opinion, little is learnt from a polo
pony trotting except the fact as to whether it is sound or not. Next the
ponies will canter round. Then the judge will see a free goer from a
short, stilty-actioned one. He should then proceed to draw the ponies
into the centre of the ring, placing the good ones, or what he imagines
are the good ones, on the one side and the rubbish on the other. He
should then proceed to look the animals over quickly when standing
still; whether they stand straight on their legs, whether their joints
are true, and so forth.
He should then ride each pony himself, bending and twisting them himself
as much as the show-ring will allow him, letting them go top pace as far
as is possible. As soon as the judge is on the ponies’ backs he will
quickly alter his ideas formed when watching the ponies on foot. He will
find that what he fancied as being a good-looking pony rides all wrong
when he is on its back; probably bad mouths, or badly trained, change
their legs in front but not behind, a most common fault in polo ponies,
and a very bad one, as no pony can turn with the safety and speed that
he should do unless he changes his legs behind as quickly as in front.
Again, as soon as a judge gets on a pony, I advise him to back the pony,
just for three or four yards, quickly; all good polo ponies rein back
almost as quickly as walking forwards, and if they do not do so they are
not high-class polo ponies.
I also advise a judge to ride every pony in the class, whether his first
impression of it be good or otherwise; many a pony is missed over that
may not favourably impress the judge at first sight, but be a remarkably
fine ride.
By this time the judge must have made up his mind; he may have to
forgive a fault here and one there, in order to arrive at a proper order
of placing the ponies in their class, as no pony is perfect in every
respect.
When judging “ponies likely to make polo ponies,” the judge must not be
quite so exacting. He must lay greater stress on the good made pony when
standing still and the true-actioned and balanced one. He will probably
have to judge ponies at very different states of their education, and
will find it hard to bring a good young green pony with very little
education into competition with a pony that has been well and carefully
trained. In this class he must carry in his mind which pony is going to
be the most valuable in a year’s time.
There are certain faculties a pony must have, whether he be a made polo
pony or a young green pony; he must be built on true hunter lines, short
legs, short back, compact, good sloping shoulders and a well set on neck
(a pony with a bad neck seldom has a good mouth), his hind-legs and
hocks must be well underneath him, and straight. Hind-legs standing away
from a pony are a great fault, and generally denote a pony slow at
jumping off the mark. He must have essentially a perfect temper, and
also a good mouth by nature; this latter is to a large extent a matter
of breaking, and a pony badly broken, in my opinion, never gets over it.
Above all, let a judge go for quality; a square underbred pony well
trained may ride really well in a show-ring, but how will he manœuvre
and ride after playing ten minutes in a fast game of polo; he becomes
tired and beat; then his action, mouth, and training all go to the wall,
and he is as a sailing ship amongst torpedo boats.
Sport and Animal Life at the Royal Academy.
Works of the character that appeal more directly to us are more
remarkable for quality than for number this year; if shooting, yachting
and angling pictures are conspicuous by their absence, hunting and hound
works are, by comparison with previous exhibitions, numerous and
generally excellent. As regards angling, Mr. Frederick Yates’ picture,
“A Bite” (32), a boy stretched on the bank of a woodland beck, fishing
with a wand cut from the hedge, can hardly be regarded as an angling
work, though admirable in composition and drawing; the fox terrier who
sits by his master is taking quite a human interest in the proceedings.
In the same room hangs Mr. Peter Graham’s “Morning” (40), one of this
Academician’s familiar studies of sea-girt rocks with gulls; the sky on
the horizon is dark and forbidding, suggestive of a stormy night passed.
Mr. C. E. Swan’s “The Day of Reckoning” (59) gives us pause. His tiger
drinking in the foreground is excellently well drawn; but would a tiger
stop to drink when the elephant in the background is so near at hand?
And what are the two gesticulating coolies doing well in advance of the
sportsman’s elephant, among the tall grass? They are, moreover almost in
the line of fire from the howdah; we doubt much if the “day of
reckoning” has come! “Elizabeth at Wemmergill” (78), by Miss Annie L.
Swynnerton is a charming picture of a little girl in blue, astride a
rough pony, both well painted. In this room we find Mr. John M. Swan’s
diploma work (129) “Tigers Drinking,” boldly painted, with less finish
than usual; we like it much.
The place of honour in the Academy is occupied by Mr. Abbey’s remarkable
work, “Columbus in the New World” (143). Columbus, in armour, kneels on
the seashore, priests in their robes kneeling a few paces in rear. The
air is thick with scarlet flamingoes—the brilliant Florida species—in
flight. The blaze of vermilion dazzles and bewilders the eye, and the
indifference of the Discoverer, and his followers to the marvel of
bird-life strikes one as unnatural. A very fine piece of work is Mr.
James Beadle’s “Les Braves Gens” (150), a scene of the Franco-Prussian
War; the horses of the cavalry are cleverly modelled, and the grouping,
bound by military conditions, is very artistic. Mr. S. J. Solomon
(R.A.-elect) has a pleasing picture (151) of a little girl in pink with
a horn, astride a pony, with a couple of frisking terriers, which he
entitles “The Field.” Mr. Arthur Wardle takes us to different scenes in
“A Sylvan God” (157); the lithe suppleness of the leopard in the
foreground is beautifully rendered. Mr. Briton Riviere’s portrait of
Professor Frank Clowes (161) comes within our purview, inasmuch as the
artist has represented the Professor with his golf clubs. “Winter’s
Victim” (189) is the title of Mr. Edwin Alexander’s picture of a dead
stag stretched on the snow, with a carrion crow about to begin its meal.
The stag is in rather better condition than might be expected of one
that has been starved to death, but this, perhaps, is a concession to
artistic requirements. Mr. Max Bohm’s “Nearing the Bar” (226) is skied,
but its merits are too striking to be overlooked; in the stern of a
fishing boat rushing before the wind an old man sits, tiller in hand,
his gaze fixed on the unseen “bar.” The intentness of the man’s visage
compels admiration, and not less the mingling of excitement and
apprehension on that of the boy by his side; a very clever picture. Mr.
Edmund Brock in “The Spring-time of Life” (245) has a portrait group, a
young man pulling two girls in a skiff, restful and pleasing. In the
same room Mr. H. W. B. Davis, R.A., has one of his pictures of Highland
Cattle in “Ben Eay, Ross-shire” (279). Mr. Charles E. Stewart’s “Fire!”
(285) is a powerful piece of horse painting; the pair of greys harnessed
to the engine, approaching the foreground at the gallop, are beautifully
modelled; the action is at once vigorous and correct. Good, too, are the
horses in Mr. W. B. Wollen’s “The Sun of Austerlitz” (321). Mr. Edgar
Fischer has two tigers in “Dawn” (331), one drinking (why is the tiger
drinking so popular with the brethren of the brush?), the other growling
at some invisible foe across the pool. We might find some minor defects
in the equine anatomy in Miss Eleanor Wigram’s “Water Jump at Sandown”
(349), but regarded as a whole it is a very successful attempt to
represent horses in attitudes difficult to catch, save by instantaneous
photography; one horse has landed over the water, the rest are in air or
rising to the fence. There is a freedom of handling in the composition
which entirely satisfies.
In this gallery we find the most striking and successful horse picture
of the year in Miss Lucy Kemp-Welch’s great canvas, “The Joy of Life”
(356), a small mob of horses careering about the open fields in the
utter abandonment of vitality. They are splendidly modelled, and the
work is instinct with vigorous movement. Mr. Simon Vedder’s “King of the
Desert” (369) is not very easy to see, being skied. The lion is roaring,
with his head up, and the crouching lioness has apparently paused in
drinking to cast an enquiring look at him from her baleful green eyes.
Mr. Ernest Spence has a good portrait of “Sir John Wallington, K.C.B.”
(385), in the uniform of the Badminton Hunt, and hard by is Mr. Alfred
Munning’s “Ponies at a Horse Fair” (416), half a dozen cheap animals
tied to a low hedge; the blemished piebald on the right is not the class
of nag that satisfies the artistic eye, and the painter deserves much
credit for the unflinching accuracy with which he has treated a rather
sordid equine subject. “Newcastle Fair” (410), by Mr. John Atkinson, a
group of gipsy vans with their worn-out horses, is treated in much the
same spirit. Miss Mabel Hollams has chosen a rather depressing subject
in “His Last Fence” (468); the horse has evidently broken his back over
the rather insignificant hedge and lies prone, with his owner kneeling
at his head. The coats of the hunting men are rather too bright, but
otherwise the picture is a good one. Miss Maud Earl’s “End of the Trail”
(477) is a study of wolf-like sledge dogs on a desert of snow; the
texture of the coat of the principal figure is equal to anything Miss
Earl has ever given us. Mr. William Wall’s “Death of the Roebuck” (504)
satisfies as far as the greyhound is concerned; the dog, panting from
his exertions, has evidently pulled down the roe single-handed; it is,
perhaps, an open question whether a greyhound could do this in the
woodlands affected by these deer. Mr. John Charlton has a large and
admirably composed picture in (520) “Gone to Ground”; the earth is under
a sandy bank among tree roots, and the hounds are grouped round it,
their interest in the fox having, it would seem, evaporated. The
grouping of the hounds is excellent and the whole work satisfies the
eye. “Recuperation” (531) is a clever study of hounds in kennel by Mr.
J. Walter Hadland; the grouping here is also good and the artist has
been particularly successful with the heads of his hounds. Mr. Munning’s
“Meet at the Bell” (540) has merit, but is too crowded; or perhaps it
were more accurate to say the figures are too large for the canvas; a
pity, as the horse ridden by the master is the true hunter stamp and is
admirably painted, while the artist knows how to put a man in the
saddle. Mr. Charlton’s other work in the same room, a lady reining in a
good-looking chestnut in a woodland glade, “Hark! Back!” (557) shows the
artist at his best as a painter of horse-flesh. Miss Margaret Collyer
calls her clever and vigorous little picture (594) of two Irish terriers
fighting, “Home Rule”; the prophecy political may be overlooked in
appreciation of the merit of the drawing. Miss Florence Jay’s “Run to
Earth” (637) shows once again that she has studied foxhounds closely and
can paint them with fidelity. Mr. Harold Pearson, M.P., was formerly
Master of the Oxford Drag, and it is hunting dress that Mr. Glazebrook
has elected to portray him in No. 695. Mr. Sanderson Wells’ coaching
picture “Rushing the Hill, Derby Day” (714), is a strong and vigorous
piece of work; the whip is springing his cattle up the slope almost
directly at the spectator; it was no means an easy point of view from
which to paint a team, but the action of Mr. Sanderson Wells’ browns is
most lifelike. Mr. Charles Ward’s “A Coombe in the Quantocks” (821) will
appeal to followers of the staghounds on Exmoor.
There are in the Water-colour Room some pictures which should not be
missed; notably Miss Lucy Kemp Welch’s “Horse Drovers” (925); the scene
a country lane, with half a dozen carthorses in varying attitudes. The
horses in Mr. Sheldon Williams’ “Labourers” (951) are well done. In the
Black and White room we find Mr. John Emm’s clever hound study, “The
Pride of Belvoir” (1284), and Mr. Victor Focillon’s very successful
engraving of Mr. Napier Henry’s yachting picture of a year or two ago,
“Youth.” Mr. A. D. Greenhill Gardyne’s “Captain S. C. Crawfurd and a
Giraffe” (1356) shows the sportsman resting against the body of the
great beast which has fallen to his rifle. “Coaches at Ascot leaving the
Course,” by Mr. Arthur J. Gough, also deserves praiseworthy mention.
There is little in the sculpture room that calls for notice from us.
Miss Geraldine Blake’s statuette “The Stock Rider” (1706) is a good
piece of modelling, and Miss Katherine Wallis has been successful with
her bronze statuette of a dachshund (1753). So animated and clever is
the figure of a little girl delightedly but fearfully holding out a frog
by the hind-leg (La petite grenouillière), we cannot forbear to draw
attention to it. Herr Paul Hüsgen must be congratulated on the success
with which he has caught the likeness in his bronze medallion of Sir
Walter Gilbey.
Notes and Sport of a Dry-fly Purist.