A K Hamilton Jenkin says that the Piskeys of Cornwall did not confine their unwelcome attentions to humans, they would often ride and torment animals such as horses and ponies. In this story, a pony takes ill and a farrier says he is 'piskey–ridden' so that night they watch the pony. A group of piskeys arrive and wrestle until one wins over all the rest. He then rides on the back of the pony in a grotesque dance and obscene song. The other piskies howled in pain and anger, scaring the pony so that it ran around the field furiously for an hour and fell exhausted. After that, the pony stayed in a stable at night with the twig of a plant and the pony regained its health.

About the year 1816 an intelligent 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 like apes', 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 with wrath and pain, 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' (elder), in order to keep out all unnatural intruders. The result was that in a very short time the animal had recovered its normal health.

This story shows the darker side of piskies; they are not creatures of goodness and light. In fact, they act brutally and are mean. I'm not really quite sure the twig of scraw is, but I believe it is broom, heather, or a similar plant. The Cornish believed a twig of broom had protetive powers against the fairy. If you have a story that tells of scraw and such powers, I would like to hear from you.