The pixies regularly make nocturnal visits to fields where horses are kept, and race the animals around until dawn. These Pixy Ridden horses are discovered the next day, to be tired and drawn as if they have been racing around all night. Which of course they have.

Occasionally people have caught the pixies in the act, as this story demonstrates.

About the year 1816 a farmer, near Lostwithiel, had a pony which he was in the habit of turning out into one of the fields by night. One morning the animal showed signs of being ill. It recovered during the day, but developed the same symptoms during the following night. The farrier was carred in, and pronounced that the pony was 'pisky-ridden'.

A watch was accordingly set, and that night five little men, the tallest of whom was not more than six inches high, were seen to go into the field and engage in wrestling. The contest was long and, for some time, very equally maintained. At length one of the small men succeeded in throwing each of the others 'a fair throw'. The victor thereupon jumped on to the pony, and began dancing in the most grotesque manner, and singing very obscene songs, whilst the others, howling, so terrified the poor animal that, in wild affright, it galloped furiously around the field for upwards of an hour, at length falling breathless and exhausted beside a hedge.

In consequence of this the pony was afterwards kept in the stable at night, the door being fastened with a green twig of 'scaw', in order to keep out all unnatural intruders. The result was that in a very short time the animal had recovered its normal health.