The Management of Shetland Pony Herds.
Almost no other domestic animal is so easily cared for as the Shetland
pony; and he appears to thrive and prosper in a bewildering variety of
conditions. On the bare shores and hillsides of Shetland, where moss
and seaweed must often supplement the scanty grass, he maintains as
full a vigour, though perhaps not so comfortable an appearance, as he
displays in the almost excessive luxury of some of the South-country
studs.
It must not, therefore, be supposed that, in describing what appears
to be the best system of management, we suggest that no less perfect
system will satisfy the pony’s needs. But, on the other hand, the best
results can only be obtained by giving the most suitable conditions of
development; and the fact that these conditions are not necessary to
the life, or even to the health, of the pony, is no good reason for
neglecting to provide them if they are really most favourable to its
excellence.
Ponies will thrive on a great variety of pastures, and only careful
management is needed to make any land serve their purpose; but it is
of the greatest importance that they should not be kept always on
the same ground. The need for a rotation or alternation of stock on
pastures is generally admitted; and it is specially recognised in the
case of horses, which are well known to make grazings “horse sick” if
they are kept too constantly on the same fields. Shetland pony breeders
are perhaps apt to be less careful in this respect than other owners
of horses; and it cannot be too much insisted on that ponies ought
to be kept in combination with cattle, either grazing with them or,
preferably, alternating with them in the fields.
The quality of grass required naturally varies with the condition of
the stock and the stage of its development. For in-foal and milking
mares it is desirable to have fairly good pasture, such as would
be suitable for dairy cows, so that mare and foal may be kept in
good condition without over-exertion. On the other hand, the chief
requirement of young ponies is abundant space; and large fields are
much better for them than smaller enclosures. They should, therefore,
naturally be run out on much less luxuriant grazings than are desired
for milking mares; they will thrive and develop well on such land as
is suited for hill sheep; and, if this be not available, fields that
have previously been closely grazed by other stock may be used to give
them the space and freedom they require. In whatever way it may be
obtained, this is one of the most important conditions of successful
rearing; and breeders who have not land available to provide it would
do well to board their young ponies out, in summer at all events, where
they can find large stretches of clean grazing; for youngsters of a
year old and upwards will maintain admirable condition in summer on
poor land; and their activity and vitality are greatly increased by
letting them find their living on pastures where the supplies of food
are not too abundant, and where they are induced to travel constantly
over fresh ground.
The foaling mares are the part of the herd to which most regular
attention should be given. They must be kept in vigorous condition; and
it must be remembered that they are under constant strain, giving large
quantities of milk, and at the same time maintaining and developing
the unborn foal. Horse owners are perhaps apt to forget that the mare
is really a very large milk producer—certainly not less so than the
average cow—and that provision should be made for this. It cannot be
too clearly understood that this provision ought to be made in advance.
Good pasture during the nursing season is, of course, desirable; but it
is not sufficient, unless the mare is brought to the time of foaling
in reasonably good condition. Foaling mares ought not, certainly, to
be fat; but they ought to be in a robust and well-nourished state; and
neglect of this must shorten their lives, both by general exhaustion
and by accelerating, through loss of muscular tone, that “falling” of
the womb which is the commonest cause of losses in foaling.
During the last few months, therefore, before the foaling season
begins, the mares should be kept under observation, and supplied with
hay if they seem to require it. Any which, from age or youth or other
causes, are in specially poor condition, should be fed separately and
receive perhaps some oats and bran.
So treated, the mares need usually give their owners no anxiety as
foaling approaches. Care should, of course, be taken by selecting
a proper date for mating, to have the foals born after the coldest
weather of spring is likely to be over, and when some growth of grass
may reasonably be expected. This time will vary for different climates.
In Scotland, the first days of June are usually the best time for
mating, most of the foals being thus born during May, and therefore fit
to be weaned in autumn.
It is the all but universal practice—and certainly the best and
safest—to leave the mare entirely to her own devices during foaling.
She should be left out in the field unless most unusual severity
of weather prevents it; and in almost every case she will foal
successfully without assistance,—indeed, when assistance is required
it is very often unavailing. Mare and foal should be watched to make
sure that the latter is sucking and is being allowed to do so; and in
the rare cases in which any difficulty arises, help must be given
by catching the mare and holding the foal to her. The only other
danger that besets the young foal arises from a stoppage of the lower
bowel which sometimes occurs. This is shown by the foal’s frequent
strainings, and can easily be removed by local action, when discovered;
but neglect of it will result in the death of the foal in a very short
time.
Most of the foals are likely to be born before the time for mating
arrives; but, whether foaled or not, mares should all go together
to the horse with which they are to run during summer. This is
particularly necessary in the case of some horses, which, retaining
the wild gregarious instinct, will not tolerate the addition of a
new mare to the herd. If it be thought that the first ardours of the
stallion are likely to disturb in-foal mares, or if he is suspected of
any tendency, when excited, to attack foals (a possible though rare
occurrence), he may be run for a few hours with fillies or barren
mares, and the herd safely introduced when his excitement has subsided.
The Shetland pony herd is to be treated as a natural—practically a
wild—herd of animals. The less the ponies are interfered with the
better, so long as they have sufficient clean grazing and an ample
water-supply. It is the experience of all breeders that the best
results in the production of foals are obtained from running the horse
constantly with the mares. The herd is kept together until a date early
enough to avoid all risk of next year’s foals being born too late for
autumn weaning.
While proper care and management of the stock are essential to the best
results, yet these results ultimately depend on the skill and judgment
with which the breeding animals are selected and mated.
It is not proposed to attempt here to give rules for the exercise of
the breeder’s art. The principles of breeding are very much the same
in every case. It is, above all, imperative—and especially in the
selection of sires—to insist on soundness and vigour of constitution;
and this becomes the more imperative the more we shelter the progeny
of our stock from the rigour of natural selection, and from such
severe tests of endurance as are imposed on race-horses. We have
seen how closely inbred the leading families of Shetland ponies are;
and, while it is wholly a mistake to suppose that this necessarily
causes enfeeblement or unsoundness, yet it is an additional reason for
exercising the greatest care in excluding these fatal taints.
In Shetland ponies also, as in other races of animals, the actual
excellence of an individual is not a sufficient reason for expecting
corresponding excellence in its progeny. Heredity is an element at
least as important as good individual quality in the selection of
sires and dams; and heredity itself—so complex are the elements that
compose it—is a test of merit far less valuable and complete than the
previous progeny of the animals to be bred from. Mating the best with
the best, and breeding from long lines of fine pedigree, are both
venerated rules; but the breeder who is fortunate enough to obtain
animals already proved to be successful in their offspring has a surer
ground than such rules give for expecting good results. It remains only
that he should discover, by careful study and close consideration, with
what type and heredity the animal he is about to breed from has been
most usefully mated; and he may then hope to produce some proportion
of stock approximating to the type he desires to embody. But he must,
above all things, have a clear idea of what it is that he aims at
creating or reproducing, not necessarily an idea to remain unaltered
by experience and criticism, but yet a view and an aim independent of
changes of fashion and of the varying fortunes of the showyard. Nothing
but failure in breeding can result when a dominating purpose of this
kind is absent.
The present-day breeder of Shetland ponies is neglecting to use the
chief instrument ready to his hand if he fails to take great advantage
of the admirable material created in and descended from the Londonderry
Stud; and he ought specially to remember the value of the combination
of Odin and Prince of Thule blood, which has already been referred
to. But he ought not to make this his only source. The Islands still
contain animals and strains well fitted to be a strength to the breed;
and one of the most interesting parts of a breeder’s work consists in
the careful and gradual introduction of these outside strains of blood.
The conclusion of the foaling period, and the completion of mating,
open a peaceful and pleasant season in the pony-breeder’s year—a
season during which troubles and mishaps are usually few; while the
contented mares, the antics of the foals, and the young stock in their
summer bloom, form a picture contrasting sharply with other scenes
in the passing of the year. The breaking up of the herds in August,
or thereby, and the weaning of the foals in later autumn, bring this
period to a close.
Weaning is a process requiring some little care and attention. The
foals should be taken from their mothers not before the end of their
fourth month, and preferably at least a month later; but weaning ought
not to be unduly postponed, since it is important that the foals should
have recovered from it before the severity of winter is felt. October
is late enough for this, and late enough also to release from her
nursing duties a mare which is to produce another foal in the following
spring.
[Illustration: FOALS IN SUMMER.]
The mares should be relieved, twice or oftener, of any severe pressure
of milk after the foals are taken away, and be kept on poor grass for
a day or two. The foals should be shut in until their first agitation
is over, and be taught to feed from the trough. Any which may have been
weaned earlier than is quite desirable are easily taught to drink
separated cow’s milk with some sugar added—the best of all substitutes
for mare’s milk. For the rest, there is no better food than bruised
oats and bran, at first given as a mash and afterwards dry, with the
addition of a small allowance of linseed meal, molassine meal, or
molascuit. This feeding, with good hay and access to rough grazing,
should be continued throughout winter. During this first winter liberal
feeding is desirable; and adequate shelter should be given in the form
of sheds or open loose-boxes, not to keep the foals warm, but merely to
protect them from rough weather and to secure for them a dry lair in
the long winter nights.
Older ponies need no such provision as this, though they are much the
better of some such shelter as can be obtained from trees, dykes,
good hedges, or steep banks. They should have ample grazing in fields
left rough for the purpose, and should be supplied with hay when
snow is on the ground, and at times when the winter grass proves
insufficient for their needs. It ought to be kept in mind that stormy
and wet weather are much more trying to them than hard frost or even
snow, from both of which they seem to suffer little. Prolonged beating
rain and damp ground to lie on tax their energies severely; and the
wet and innutritious grass requires to be supplemented by dry food of
some kind. In spring the rough pasture, which often seems to have been
wasted in winter, repays its cost, for under its tufts fresh blades of
grass spring early; and the ponies will be found eating old and new
together, and showing the effect of the new growth in the slackening of
their winter coats, which begin to fall off in large masses.
The period of weaning affords an opportunity of examining and treating
the feet of mares and foals. The former usually require nothing but
the shortening of the toes, and perhaps some paring of the hoof wall,
with the removal of any inequalities of wear that present themselves.
The foal’s feet, however, often require a good deal of attention,
specially in order to deal with cavities which are apt to be formed
between the sole and wall of the hoof. These cracks or cavities should
be freely opened up with the drawing-knife, explored and cleaned to the
bottom, sometimes to a depth of over half an inch, and carefully packed
with tow and tar. A similar examination should be made of all young
ponies’ feet twice a-year, and the teeth of aged ponies should also be
carefully inspected.
An essential part of good herd management is the breaking of the
ponies. No pony should remain unbroken; for, apart from every other
reason, there is no means, other than breaking, for securing that
combination of confidence and submission which every domestic animal
should have. Every owner must have had experience of the inconvenience
of having animals which cannot be handled without danger to themselves
and their attendants, because they have never learned to yield to
control, or to trust the ability and good intentions of man. With such
animals ordinary management is difficult; and the treatment of illness,
when it occurs, is hopelessly complicated.
But in addition to this sufficient practical reason, there is the
further fact that without breaking there is no means of discovering
whether an animal is or is not free from vice and ill-temper that make
it undesirable as a sire or dam. It is unfortunately impossible to work
all the Shetland ponies required to be bred from, although the ill
effects of this are mitigated by the almost unvarying docility of the
breed; but it is at all events desirable that the breeding stock should
be tested for temper at some stage of their development.
Breaking is usually no difficult matter. A couple of lessons in
leading, three in reins, and three in the shafts, with probably
one severe conflict of wills in the whole process, will generally
break a Shetland pony. A pony so broken is not of course a finished
child’s mount. Its mouth and manners are still to make; and they ought
not to be neglected, for both can be perfect; and the pony’s mouth
particularly is naturally light and pleasant, although too often ruined
by neglect and bad handling. All this should be carefully seen to
when ponies are to be sent out to work; but for the purposes of herd
management, the breaking just described is all that is needed.
Breaking is followed, in the case of show ponies, by preparation for
show. The pony must learn to stand, walk, trot, and turn under such
discipline as to present itself favourably to the judge. There is all
the difference in the world between a pony showing his paces on a loose
rein and going straight, true, and close, and one which must be held
on a tight rein so that his head is turned round, his fore-feet almost
forced to dish, and his hocks thrown out. The difference is sometimes
one of temperament,—more often it is one of education. Training cannot
turn a bad pony into a good one; but bad training may easily prevent
the best of judges from seeing a good pony; and the fault is not with
the judge but with the exhibitor.
The education of the show pony is a matter of time and patience—chiefly
of endless patience. Some grooms have a genius for it, and those who
have not must secure the result by greater labour; but in any case,
careful practice and regular and sufficient exercise are the chief
means by which the showyard results are obtained. As in every breed,
preparation for show tends to be overdone. Over-fattening, as has
already been said, is the most prevalent fault; but the employment of
bearing-reins is sometimes carried far beyond the point required for
that effective control which is the only justification for tackle; and
a prudent judge will never part from his work till he has seen the
ponies without their trappings, and made sure that his selected winners
can hold up their heads without the aid of straps. A more difficult
problem lies in the tendency to the use of heavy shoes—a practice
imported from the hackney stables to induce high action of the most
useless and unsightly kind. A time may come when weights of shoes will
have to be limited by rule; but it is to be hoped, rather, that firm
and wise judging may convince exhibitors that true, sure, and clean
action does not consist in the pounding motions produced by heavy
shoeing. Good conditioning, development of muscle by exercise, and
careful education are the legitimate preparation for show: everything
else is a more or less successful attempt to deceive.
The diseases of the Shetland pony are comparatively few; but one or two
are apt to occur even in well-managed herds.
Whenever the infection of strangles is brought in, it goes through the
herd, attacking all the young animals and some even of the old.[46]
If it occurs in winter it may be necessary, in severe frost, to bring
patients under cover to protect their wounds from frost-bite; otherwise
it is best treated by keeping them out of doors; and so treated it is
rarely a dangerous disease. Its symptoms are well known—the running
at eyes and nose, the abscesses bursting as they mature, and perhaps
forming and bursting a second time. Open air and liberal feeding are
its sovereign remedies. In the case of foals a special difficulty
arises from their inability to use the muscles of the swollen throat
to suck, and this difficulty—dangerous if ignored—can best be met by
milking the mare at frequent intervals and teaching the foal to drink
from a pail, which it remains able to do.
Other troubles arise from worms—the common thread-worm and the deadly
strongylus.[47] In all cases of the latter veterinary advice must be
obtained. But the best protections against these and similar troubles
arising through infection are, first, to keep ponies always on the
cleanest ground that can be given them; and, second, to supply them
constantly, in every field, with rock-salt to fortify their blood and
stimulate their digestion.
With these precautions and with ordinary care Shetland ponies give
little trouble or anxiety so far as their health is concerned. The
aim of herd management ought to be to supply the most natural life
possible, so as to reduce to a minimum the evils incidental to
confinement within fences. This, with watchfulness and a due but
not excessive liberality in feeding, will ensure health and long
life to the ponies, and, to their owners, a reasonable profit and an
unreasonable degree of pleasure.