th a griffin is to get him shod, which is not
quite so simple a matter as one might imagine, for he has hitherto
never passed through the farrier's hands and will be certain to
fiercely object. No attempt is made to perform the operation by
gentleness, and he is forthwith led under a kind of oblong, wooden
arch about six feet high, constructed of four firmly-planted posts,
connected on top by cross beams.

Ropes passed under his belly and over the cross beams keep him from
throwing himself down, while each leg is securely lashed to one of the
posts, and thus being rendered absolutely powerless, the work is
quickly put through.

There is generally a struggle in mounting each new arrival, but with a
couple of mafoos hanging on to his ears, and sometimes by enveloping
his head in a horse-cloth, it is eventually managed.

The first timidity soon wears off, and you find that after a short
distance there is no more trouble, the animal being probably in poor
condition and lacking the nervousness of finer breeds.

Several days of scraping and grooming having removed the dust and dirt
with which his shaggy coat was filled, he is clipped and his tail
shortened. The transformation is almost startling. You now have quite
a smart-looking mount as China ponies go, and while riding him daily
to improve his condition you will soon discover any marked
characteristics.

He rarely gets over his dislike for Europeans although perfectly
docile with Chinese, and it is seldom that he will allow even his own
master to enter the stall. A black griffin which I bought at Peking
seemed to me so quiet that on an expedition of some days into the
country I fed, groomed and saddled him myself, until quite convinced
that we had become friends, and it was not till after my return that,
in passing through the stables, he rushed at me with open mouth, only
the strength of a raw-hide headstall saving me from being savaged.

What applies to one applies to all. Their tempers are untrustworthy.

Many have the disagreeable trick of "cow-kicking," which usually
occurs on mounting, when they kick forward with the near hind leg and
may inflict a nasty blow.

Invariably hard-mouthed, occasionally buck-jumpers, altogether
without manners, and in trotting mostly slow and jerky, they are but a
poor apology for the gentle and graceful horse as found in Western
countries. On the other hand, they make capital race-ponies, for they
are fast gallopers, and for t