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JOHNA.SEAVERNS

GILL16S BROTHERS & TURNURE

THE ART AGE PRESS
76-76 FULTON STREET, N, Y.

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HEAD OF A PERCHERON

THE

PERCHERON
HORSE

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TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF

CHARLES DU HAYS

AUTHOR OF "THE DICTIONARY OF THE
PURE RACE;" "TROTTERS;" "THE BOOK
OF THE RACES;" "THE MERLERAULT;"
"THE HORSE-BREEDER'S GUIDE;" ETC.

ILLUSTRATED

M DCCC LXXXVI

Copyright, i8S6, by W. T. Walters

'T^HIS Memorial of twenty years' experience as
Importer and Breeder of the Percberon Horse
is respectfully dedicated to my friends and others
interested in that Model Draft-horse.

W. T. Walters.

'Baltimore, 1886.

INTRODUCTION

LL my life I had taken a practical interest in the draft-horse, so that
during a number of years' residence in France, terminating in 1865,
I was not entirely unprepared to realize that in that country was to
be found still, where it had existed for centuries, a race of this noble
animal which possessed the requisite combination of qualities to
render it the most perfect draft-horse in the world.

I had been impressed, after my experience and attention to
the subject, that in America, whilst we had creditable breeds of
every other kind of horse, no race of draft-horses existed — that is
to say, none which "produced its like." The draft -horse was, on the contrary, an acci-
dental horse.

Imbued with a desire to correct this great disadvantage, I perfected my arrangements,
and in 1866 made the first importation of any sufficient number of Percheron horses to pro-
duce a distinct impression in breeding. At uncertain periods previous to this some three
or four stallions had been brought to our country, more as a novelty or fancy than with a
view to any practical result in breeding.

At short intervals I have continued my importations down to the present time.
For the purpose of diffusing intelligence in regard to this horse, and in the hope of
stimulating others to follow my example, I furnished the agricultural publishers. Mess.
Orange Judd & Co., in 1867, with an English translation, by consent of the author, the
well-known French writer, of his very interesting little book, " The Percheron Horse,"
a full reprint of which I present in this memorial.

I began where Mr. Du Hays' book left off, and after twenty years' experience as
importer and breeder I desire to add my full indorsement to every commendation he
makes of this model draft-horse.

That the pure Percheron horse is the Arab enlarged there can be, as I believe, no ques-
tion ; but, entirely aside from this opinion, there is not a characteristic possessed by the
Arab which should qualify the draft-horse that is not found in the Percheron. He has shown
himself preeminently adapted to our climate, reaching full maturity two years sooner than

our common horse, and lasting for serviceable work from two to five years longer. He is
more easily kept and will eat anything. Having excellent feet and legs sufficient to carry
his body, he enjoys almost entire exemption from disease consequent to insufficient bone and
limbs. Percherons are uniformly fast walkers, with or without heavy loads. In moving our
horses about from point to point, we have never experienced an occasion when they would
not walk fifty miles a day, without inconvenience or fatigue. Embracing my experience with
every horse I have either imported or bred, no instance has transpired of one in the least
degree vicious, having any tricks, or refusing to work when asked.

In importing I have been induced only in the instance of two black stallions to depart
from my opinion or prejudice in favor of the gray. I have found this color more reliable as
to their reproduction, as well as representing more closely the Arab type.

My importations have at all times been within such limits as enabled me to be assured
that my selections embraced only the pure Percheron examples, notwithstanding such
selections every year became more difficult. I esteem my last importation of ten stallions
and fifteen mares, which arrived in March of this year, as satisfactory as any I have brought
out. In consequence of their ambition for numbers only, it has not been possible, I regret,
for many of the large Northwestern importers to confine themselves to the same scrutiny —
though any French draft-horses are an improvement upon our ordinary American horse.

The number of mares I have brought out has always been in excess of the number of
stallions. This, I think, it is to be regretted, has not been the rule with other importers.
Had it been so, enough pure horses would by this time have been produced in our country to
supersede the necessity for importation.

I should feel it an act of injustice on my part not to make record here of my
appreciation of the integrity, practical judgment and strict good faith with which I have
been represented in the selection of my horses in France by M. Adolphe Simon, who has
presided as officer over the French Government establishment of the Haras and School of
Dressage, in the Department of L'Orne, at S6es.

All the illustrations in the present volume are of pure Percheron horses of my importa-
tion or breeding, and are from instantaneous photographs by Schreiber & Sons, whose
conscientious integrity, as well as long experience and artistic ability, places them foremost
in this department of their profession in our country.

It is much to be regretted these gentlemen have not been selected by my well-meaning
Northwestern fellow importers, to reproduce with exactitude the admirable proportions
of the grand Percheron horse, instead of the extraordinary ideal they have adopted,
which it is impossible they could have found any reasonable authority for in fact or fancy.

In presenting this memorial to my friends and others interested in this noble animal,
I cannot better convey my own appreciation than by adding that my twenty years'
experience leads me to confirm the following tribute, which is so much better conveyed
by Mr. Du Hays than it could possibly be by me :

" Almost everything that has been written about the horse may be reduced pretty
" much to— complaining that there does not exist a breed which unites, in an elevated
" degree, high moral to physical qualities ; modestly seeking and teaching the means of
" obtaining such a breed.

" It is reasonable that such statements should surprise us, here in the heart of
" France, where, for a long time, a race of horses has flourished which may be said
" to fill the requirements proposed in every way.

" The proof of this statement is easy ; a hasty sketch of the principal characters
" of the breed sufifices to furnish it.

" To no ordinary strength, to vigor which does not degenerate and to a conforma-
" tion which does not exclude elegance, it joins docility, mildness, patience, honesty, great
" kindness, excellent health and a hardy, elastic temperament. Its movements are quick,
" spirited and light. It exhibits great endurance, both when hard worked and when
" forced to maintain for a long time any of its natural gaits, and it possesses the in-
" estimable quality of moving fast with heavy loads. It is particularly valuable for its
" astonishing precocity, and produces by its work, as a two-year old, more than the cost
" of his feed and keep. Indeed, it loves and shows a real aptness for labor, which is the
" lot of all. It knows neither the whims of bad humor nor nervous excitement. It bears
" for man, the companion of its labors, an innate confidence, and expresses to him a gentle
" familiarity, the fruit of an education for many generations in the midst of his family.
" Women and children, from whose hands it is fed, can approach it without fear. In a word,
" if I may dare speak thus, it is an honorable race. It has that fine Oriental gray coat, the
" best adapted of all to withstand the burning rays of the sun in the midst of the fields —
" a coat which pleases the eye and which, in the darkness of night, allowed the postilion
" of former times to see that he was not alone — that his friend was making his way
" loyally before him. It is exempt (a cause of everlasting jealousy among breeders of
" other races), always exempt from the hereditary bony defects of the hock, and where it is
" raised, spavin, jardon, bone spavin, periodical inflammation and other dreaded infirmities
" are not known even by name.

"This truly typical race would seem a myth did it not exist in our midst. But every
" day we see, every day we handle, this treasure — the munificent gift of Providence to this
" favored region, to cause agriculture, that ' nursing mother,' to flourish, and with agriculture,
" peace and abundance.

" I need not name this breed; every one from this incomplete sketch has recognized the
" fine race of steady and laborious horses, bred in the ancient province of Perche (so justly
" entitled Perche of good horses), plowing in long furrows the soil of Beauce, and thence
" spreading itself over all France, where its qualities render it without a rival for all the spe-
" cialties of a rapid draft.

" Hence it is that all our provinces envy us the possession of the race, and even foreign
" countries seek after it with an eagerness amounting to a passion.

" The breeder — who is ordinarily a farmer not suflficiently rich to be beyond temptation —
" finds himself without strength, without resistance, in presence of this urgent demand. The
" finest types, not only of the males, but of the females also, are disappearing every day.

" This, tending incessantly to deprive Perche of that in which it is so superior, is so much
" more to be dreaded as the question of filling up the vacancies, and of saving this race from
" a tendency to degeneration and from inevitable destruction, becomes the necessary corollary
" of such commercial operations.

" Entered upon this course, if Perche does not adopt, without delay, salutary measures,
" if it does not make a vigorous efi'ort to place itself in a condition either to resist the ten-
" dency or to contribute to it in a well-maintained and uniform manner, the breed is fated to
" a complete eclipse at the moment even when the future belongs to it.

" Indeed, the future does belong to the Percheron horse if he can sustain himself in the
" first rank of the truly useful races until the not far distant day when that era of triumph

' will come. Everything now seems to incline to establish the truth of what, at first,
' appeared a paradox.

" I am aware that, for the moment, the Percheron has, in the class of fancy horses, an
' antagonist that seems to derive formidable strength from the prestige belonging to ele-
' gance. The English thoroughbred and its congeners are in possession of the scepter of
' fashion and ' bon-ton.' But this antagonism, more apparent than dangerous, on account of
' the elevated but rather limited spheres in which it exists, will last but for a time, and will
' yield before reason and the necessities of a difficult situation.

" Our age, factitious to excess, is governed by the demands and temptations of a luxury
' which is tending to ruin the most solidly established families. It wildly suffers patrimonies
' and fortunes to dwindle away under the lead of a vain and noisy ostentation, without per-
' ceiving that already they are decreasing and becoming less every day, under the continued
' action of the laws. A change will be brought about, and the effect of an inevitable
' reaction will be a return towards sobriety and simplicity.

" Recovering from the intoxication of city luxury, the best minds will, let us hope,
' recover their tone in the quiet of the fields, and agriculture will regain its too long forgot-
' ten rights. Tired out by allowing themselves to be eaten up by that elegant guest called
' the fancy horse, and by the army of evil-doing satellites following in his train, men will
' come back to the one which requires but little care and which returns good service ; to the
' one which does not object to work, the boon companion of every man desirous of following
' nature's law, which is that of labor.

" The value of the Percheron is more evident than ever. It is this, among the service-
' able races, which is called to the greatest fortune ; for, of all the ordinary breeds, it is the
' nearest to the blooded, in shape and qualities. His usefulness causes him to be everywhere
' in demand. If the railroads have driven him from the highway, they claim him as an
' auxiliary in the centres of population and at all their termini ; for he is eminently a trotter,
remarkable for the ability to move at a relatively rapid gait, and excelling in the valuable
faculty of rapid draft. Since the post-coaches have ceased to use these horses, the omni-
buses of the large cities and those communicating with the railroads require increasing
numbers.

" This leads us to seek for the means of improving the Percheron race and maintaining it
in its original purity and perfection in the land of its birth."

W. T. Walters.
Baltimore, 1886.

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PART I

Greatness and Decline of the Percherons

CHAPTER I

GLANCE AT PERCHE

)HE Department of Perche is too well known to need a description
here. We will limit ourselves to the remark that this region, which
has become so celebrated for its fine race of horses, represents an
ellipse of about twenty-five leagues long by nearly twenty broad.

This ellipse is bounded on the north by Normandy ; on the
west, also by Normandy, and by Maine ; on the east, by the por-
tion of Beauce including Chartrain and Dunois ; on the south, by
the Vendemois — three portions of the ancient Orleanais.

At the present time, enclosed in the centre of the four depart-
ments, Orne, Eure and Loir, Loir and Cher, and Sarthe, the terri-
tory of Perche comprises the following divisions :

First. — The district of Mortagne (department of Orne) ;

Second. — The district of Nogent-le-Rotrou, and a portion of those of Chartres, Dreux,
and Chateaudun (department of Eure and Loir) ;

Third. — All the western side of the district of Vendome (department of Loir and Cher) ;
Fourth. — The eastern portion of the districts of Mamers and Saint Calais (department of
Sarthe).

It is the summit region of the middle portion of the vast plateau extending between the

15

sea and the basins of the Loire and the Seine. It is here that the rivers Sarthe, Huisne,
Eure, Loire, Iton, Hoene, Braye, Avre, Commanche and Percheron Orne take their source
springing up from the same plateau and crossing it on their way to the Channel and the

ocean.

The country is, in general, uneven and hilly, cut up in every direction by small valleys
watered by springs or small brooks flowing into the rivers above named. All these valleys,
no matter of what extent, are natural meadows, and the most of them rich and fertile. But
drainage could here be usefully applied everywhere, to rid them of their surplus humidity
and to purge them of their too abundant aquatic plants. The finest valley is that watered
by the Huisne, which is second to none in France for length, extent, richness and beauty of
sites. Here are situated Nogent-le-Rotrou, Cond6, Regmalard, Boissy, Corbon, Mauves,
Pin-la-Garenne, Reveillon, etc., etc. — all centres renowned for the beauty of their horses.

The land is generally clayey, lying upon a calcareous subsoil of the secondary formation.
Some portions are silicious — the high and hilly points always so.

The Percheron country contains rather few meadows, in proportion to the total surface
of the soil, and to this circumstance, probably, is due the superiority of its horses. Here the
rearing takes place in the stable and the brood-mare is found under the hand of the breeder.
The idea of making use of her comes naturally to his mind. He works and feeds her well.
All the secret of his breeding lies in these few words.

Here, for many years, agriculture has flourished ; artificial meadows are everywhere cul-
tivated with success, and are necessary to produce the enormous quantity of fodder consumed
by the number of horses raised.

Among the plants for green and dry forage, clover first and then fenugreek are the
favorites of the Percheron farmer. He uses plaster and marl with care, and would tell you,
should the opportunity offer, that it is through system and superior cultivation that Perche
has been able hitherto to meet the large demands made upon her from the commencement
of the present century, particularly for the last fifty years. He is, moreover, laborious and
persevering. Disregarding the industrial arts, the glory of other districts, his true vocation,
his favorite occupation is cultivating the ground and raising horses, which he has practiced
with zeal from the most remote period. In fact, cannot this be inferred even from the
example of his early lords? The Counts of Perche, those old Rotrous, triple knights, had
they not adopted as an emblem of their nobility the stamp of their horses' feet ? . . . Not
content with a single chevron, they placed three upon their standards, to signify both the

Next in order of importation, and by far the most important
as regards numbers and influence of any we have hitherto con-
sidered, are those made by William T. Walters, of Baltimore.
This gentleman lived several years in France, and in 1866 made
his first selection and importation, consisting of both mares and
stallions. His acquaintance with government officers in high
positions gave him the advantage of the advice and cooperation
of Mr. Adolph Simon, director of the government breeding
estabUshment at Sees, Department of Orne, which he has ever
since enjoyed ; the importations made for this stud for the past
twenty years having been made in accordance with his selec-
tion. As a professional expert in the selection of breed-
ing horses, Director Simon has no superior. In these im-
portations the mares have always been in excess of the horses,
in some cases the proportion being as great as five to one.
So that Mr. Walters was the first in this country to establish

a breeding stud of considerable numbers of Percheron horses.
He had made the acquaintance in Paris of Mr. Du Hays,
distinguished as the author of several books on the horse — as
well as Gen. Fleury, then the head of the Cavalry Service and
Equery to the Emperor Napoleon III. The work which forms
the principal part of this volume was furnished by Mr. Walters
with Mr. Du Hays' approval. It exhibits a thorough famiUarity
with both technical and idiomatic French, as well as great
facility in rendering it into English. Importations have been
frequently made for this stud, and always from the highest type
of Percherons. The produce and many of the imported horses
have been sold, and its influence, which cannot be disassociated
from the personal influence of its proprietor, has been incalcu-
lable in extending the knowledge of this breed of horses among
the horse breeders of America. — From "The Percheron Horse"
(Orange Judd).

16

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superiority of their horses and their infinite number. For in symbolical language (and none
is more so than that of heraldry) the number three implies infinity ; and the oval form of the
Eastern courser's foot, to which the chevron is distinctly traced, was used in early times as a
sign of chivalry, replacing the ancient ring of Rome. Hence comes, as a distinctive mark of
nobility, the large number of coats of arms with chevrons, among those of the knights. The
simple chevron was the designation of the noble, and the particular marks which often accom-
panied the chevron served to recall some exploit, some distinguished feat of arms, the nature
of the tastes, or the possessions of the warrior who bore this blazon.

Perche is very much cut up ; the farms generally small ; the fields, likewise, small and
mostly enclosed by hedges. The temper of the Percheron breeder is invariably mild. He
knows all the importance of attention to the race which he rears, and nevertheless it must be
confessed that, with the exception of the mildness with which he treats it, he has done next
to nothing to ameliorate it or preserve it in its beauty. Nature, time and the climate have
done all.

Perche has a climate eminently favorable to horse-breeding. Under its influence, the
water is tonic and the food nutritious ; the air is pure, bracing and drier than that of Nor-
mandy. The sea is farther off, and its influence, in consequence, is less felt.

However, these can be but general attributes, for the country varies in aspect according
to the district. The portion near Normandy, which is watered by the Sarthe, is much the
same as that province. The grasses are, however, sparser, and especially do not have that
extreme sweetness and great tonic quality which distinguish those of the environs of Court-
omer and Merlerault, situated only a few leagues from the limits of Perche.

On the side of Beauce there are vast plains, sometimes undulating, and having much
similarity to that province.

On the Maine side, the country gradually assumes the characteristics of aspect and
cultivation peculiar to it, so that the transition between these two provinces is not an abrupt
change, but they blend like the tones of a picture. Upon some points woods, ponds in the
northeast, forage and grain upon the remainder, are the chief features, and are the sources
of the revenues of the country.

CHAPTER n
SKETCH OF THE PERCHERON RACE

THE height of the Percheron horse is generally fourteen and three-fourths to sixteen
hands ; he is of a sanguine temperament, mixed in variable proportions with the
musculo-lymphatic ; his color is almost always gray, and is, among the characteristic
features, that which first strikes the eye.

The early importations were all grays, and gray was pre-
ferred as the typical color. It is the prevalent color of the Arab,
the favorite color with M. Du Hays and other distinguished
breeders and writers ; in fact it is characteristic, and any other
color has been regarded with suspicion as indicative of impurity
of blood if not of an absolute " bend sinister." Nevertheless the
tendency of American buyers to select blacks, chestnuts and even
bays was so strong that, in order to secure the higher prices
which, so to speak, " fancy colored " horses would bring, it led

many breeders into a course of breeding, to say the least, criti-
cisable. Wlien the interest in Percheron horses grew so rapidly
at the West, many buyers visited France and bought horses
simply to sell again, with little regard to pedigree or points ex-
cept as they affected the sale of the animals.

This is the result of careful observation and record in two
counties of my State, where two of my stallions from all kinds
of mares but Percheron, produced seventy-eight colts, of which
seventy-four were gray. W. T. W.

19

According to their predominance, these temperaments constitute varieties which may be
thus classed :

First. — The light Percheron, in which the sanguine temperament predominates ;

Second. — The draft Percheron, in which the lymphatic temperament is the most fully
developed ;

Third. — The type intermediary between these two, partaking of the one by its lightness,
and of the other by its muscular force.

The latter is the most numerous, but it has much degenerated of late years ; and there
is a tendency to its disappearance since the post-coach service, which formed it, has
gradually given way to other means of conveyance. It has style, although the head is
rather large and long ; nostrils well open and well dilated ; eye large and expressive ; forehead
broad ; ear fine ; neck rather short, but well filled out ; whithers high ; shoulder pretty long
and sloping; breast rather flat, but high and deep; a well-rounded body; back rather long;
the croup horizontal and muscular ; tail attached high ; short and strong joints, and the
tendon generally weak ; a foot always excellent, although rather flat in the low countries and
natural meadows ; a gray coat ; fine skin ; silky and abundant mane. Such are the most
general characteristics of the old Percheron race. These are the points which are still
noticed upon what remain of some old horses, preserved from the transformation which
commenced long ago ; for at the present moment everything is much changed. Since the
time of the foreign crossings, the foot has become flatter, the head overcharged, the tendon
still weaker, the back longer, the shoulder has lost its direction, and the croup has become
shorter. The race has changed suddenly to fill new wants which have unexpectedly
sprung up.

Of course these different characters are modified by the varieties upon which they are
noticed, but the "ensemble" presents a striking similarity.

The light Percheron, suited to harness, is found particularly in the Norman portion, in
the district of Mortagne, near Courtomer, IVIoulins-la-Marche, Aigle, Mesle-sur-Sarthe, and
especially in the parishes of Mesni^re, Bures and Champeaux-sur-Sarthe. This is easily
accounted for, as here is the best blood of France, near the region where has been found
the best Norman type. Here, the soil, temperature and pasturage are pretty near the
same.

In going from Nogent-le-Rotrou to Montdoubleau, and following the limits of Perche-
Manceau, by Saint-Calais, Vilvaye, Fert^-Bernard, Saint-Corme and Mamers, we travel over
the birthplace of the heavy draft-horse. Here we meet with the heavy brood-mares.

In the centre of Perche, at Mauves, Regmalard, Lougny, Corbon, Courgeon, Reveillon,
Villiers and Saint-Langis nothing is bred ; the farmer brings up the horse colts of Eperrais,
Pin-la-Garenne, Coulimer, Saint-Quentin, Bur6, Pervercheres and the breeding parishes of the
district of Mortagne, Nogent-le-Rotrou, Montdoubleau and Courtalin.

Horses of different sexes and ages are never mingled in Perche ; they are there separated
with care. But it is not exactly the same in respect to kinds.

The post-coach and the heavy-draft horse are there to be met with upon the same

The publication of Du Hays' little work in i868 was simul- anxious to gain more knowledge about it. "The Percheron

taneous with the increasing interest in French horses, which the Horse " furnished them exactly the information they needed, and

importations to which reference has been made had awakened, each year since its publication the importations have increased. —

and it gave definiteness and form to the enterprise. Breeders From ' ' The Percheron Horse " (Orange Judd).
who were convinced of the practical value of the breed were

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ground. The post-coach horse is, to be sure, bred a little everywhere ; his temperament and
the conditions in which he is placed prepare him for this specialty.

It is, as we see, at the last two extremities of the ellipse (especially where the pasture
grounds are) that the mares are found. In the centre, at Mauves, Regmalard, Lougny, etc.,
etc., the inhabitants turn their attention to bringing up the colts.

CHAPTER III

ORIGIN OF THE PERCHERON

WHAT now is the origin of the Percheron ? Some attribute to him an Arabian
ancestry ; others, less explicit and without positively assigning to him so noble an
origin, hold him to be strongly impregnated with Arabian blood. M. Eugene
Perrault, one of the most extensive and skillful dealers in fancy horses in all Europe, has
frequently remarked to me that of all the various races of horses none were so interesting to
him as the admirable Percheron, and that, judging from his appearance and qualities, he was
satisfied he was a genuine Arab, modified in form by the climate and the rude services to
which he had for ages been subjected.

We cannot, however, find in history the written positive proof that the Percheron is an
Arab, but we believe it easy, by fair historical deduction, to prove what he is in fact.

It is well known that after the defeat of the famous Saracen chief Abderame by Charles
Martel, on the plains of Vouille, the magnificent cavalry of the foe fell into the hands of the
victors, since more than 300,000 infidels were killed on that day, and the horses which they
rode were, like themselves, from the East. Upon a division of the spoil a large number of
these were assigned to the men of La Perche, of Orleanais, and Normandy, who composed
the bulk of the French forces, and they must necessarily have left in their progeny indelible
traces of their blood.

La Perche, like all Christian countries, furnished, as is well known, her contingent of
fighting men to the crusades, and the chronicles cite several Counts of Bellesmer, Mortagne
and Nogent, barons and gentlemen of that province, who, with many of their vassals, made
pilgrimages to the Holy Land.

The Abbe Faet, in a letter addressed to the Congress of Mortagne, July 16, 1843, and in
his great work upon La Perche, cites in this connection a lord of Montdoubleau, Geffroy IV.,
and Rotrou, Count of La Perche, as having brought back from Palestine several stallions,
which were put to mares, and the progeny most carefully preserved. The small number of
the sires, their incomparable beauty and manifest superiority, must have led to the in-and-in
breeding so much deprecated by most breeders; but the qualities of the sires became
indelibly fixed upon their progeny.

The lord of Montdoubleau was, it is said, the most zealous of the advocates and breeders

The work of M. Du Hays, published in 1868, has been of street traffic. Edition after edition of " The Percheron Horse "

invaluable service to the draft-horse production of this country. has been printed, and the present one is preceded by a brief

Stimulated by it, many have become breeders, and many fine history of the introduction of the breed into this country. —

horses have been imported. The breed shows itself admirably From " The Percheron Horse " (Orange Judd),
adapted to this continent and to the needs of our agriculture and

27

of the new blood, and, being the most zealous, was the most successful ; hence it is that the
Montdoubleau stock is to this day the best in Perche. The Count Roger, of Bellesmer,
imported both Arabian and Spanish horses, as did Goroze, the lord of Saint Cerney, Courville
and Courseroult ; these are historical facts which have their importance. Like chronicles, it
is true, exist for other provinces — for Limousin, for Navarre, for Auvergne (the land of noble
horses), also for Brittany and Maine ; but in the latter not the least sign of Eastern blood is
perceptible. The fact is, the crusaders from all the French provinces naturally brought back
with them more or less of the Eastern blood, which they had learned to appreciate on the
plains of Palestine. But the truth is, it has not been preserved elsewhere ; and that we in La
Perche, after so many centuries, should be so fortunate as to be able to show the traces of it,
should stimulate us to its careful preservation.

From the time of the Roman domination, the horse in his Oriental forms was not only
valued by the Gauls, but was particularly prized in Perche. In 1861 a subterranean vault
was discovered in the middle of a field, near Jargeau (Loiret), upon the borders of Perche. It
contained a statue of Bacchus, surrounded by Bacchanals, with which were found a horse, a
stag, a boar, some fish, a grape vine, and other native products of the country ; but the horse
was indubitably of the Arab form, which goes to prove either that at that remote period there
were Arabians in the country, or that the native local race from which the portrait was taken
resembled the Arabian.

These historical data, these inductions, incomplete as they may be, lead to the belief
that for antiquity the Percheron yields to no other of our French races, and that the
soil which has nourished and preserved it must be one of the best in France for horse
breeding.

Under the feudal rule and inhabited by tenants ever at war, Perche must always have
been an equestrian country, and the horse must have been there in every age the companion
of man. He must have been really a first-class necessity. In those times of continued war
and hostile surprises, what property was more movable and so easy taken to a place of safety?
How glorious the possession of such noble coursers and, like the Rotrous, to own more than
could be counted, as was proudly shown by the heraldic chevrons upon their broad banners,
displayed from the towers of Mortagne and Nogent !

But had the Percheron then, as a race, the characteristics it now possesses? This is not
probable ; it must have been lighter, but still possessing within itself the character which it
now presents. The essential point is to prove that there was, at that period, a native race ;
and if the extraordinary life formerly led there — if the aspect of the country, which must have
been always fertile — if the historical inductions do not prove it — the universal tradition of the
whole country should not leave us in any doubt in respect to the fact.

Let us, then, take no account of the silence of historians. The silence is no proof of the
non-existence of the Percheron. Most of these writers were gentlemen of the equestrian
order; they prized the saddle-horse, while they ignored the equally useful breeds of
all work.

GOLIAH. — This staHion has for his ancestors the celebrated No horse could be more justly proportioned to his massive
Brilliant strain. He is a notable proof that you may find the structure — a fine head, remarkable limbs, great spirit and an ex-
true type in the largest examples. traordinary mover, without the clumsiness which characterizes

At three years he measured more than seventeen hands, and every other breed of horse but the Percheron.
weighed 1,840 lbs., without being overfed. W. T. W.

28

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CHAPTER IV

MODIFICATIONS OF THE PERCHERON RACE

THE Percheron race comes from the Arab; but it is useful to know the causes which
have separated it from the primitive type. How has it been modified ? How has
it lost the Arabian character, in which it must have been at first clothed ? A large
number of the French races have been even more profoundly modified, and have become
abject, miserable, puny and misshapen. All equine races have been changed by the effects
of climate, by the extinction of the feudal system, and by the inauguration of peaceful
habits which have made an agricultural and draft-horse of the horse primitively used for the
saddle and for war. The Percherons must have been especially modified by contact with the
breed of Brittany, where their striking characteristics are now met with in a large number of
individuals.

However, it has been vigorously attempted to offset the intrusion of the heavy horse by
the continued use of the Arabian horse. Indeed, we see, towards 1760, under the adminis-
tration of the Marquis of Brigges, manager of the stud-stables of Pin, all the large number of
fine Arabian, Barb and Eastern stallions, that this establishment owned, were put at the
disposition of the Count of Mallart for use at his mare-stables of Cdfesme, near Bellesme.
The arrival of the Danish and English stallions at the stud-stables of Pin put an unfortunate
end to the influence of the Arab horse in Perche, and it will now be many a long year before
the Eastern blood will be seen as before. It is only towards 1820, still at the same chateau of
Cofesme, with the grandsons of those old admirers of the Arabians, that we find again two
Arab horses from the stud-stables of Pin, " Godolphin " and " Gallipoli." These two valuable
stock-getters, both gray, again gave tone and ardor to the Percheron race, and transformed
definitely into gray horses the stock of the entire country, which had, it was said, become less
uniform, and of all colors.

The Brittany horses have been strongly attracted towards Perche by the immense outlet
offered by the public service, since the increase of the roads, to the Percherons. Mixtures
between the two races must have been frequent. And when a good Brittany horse was there
met with, he must have been made use of, and the old native type has gradually tended to
disappear and its traces become more and more rare. This mixture of Percheron and Brittany
blood, too well marked to be questioned, arises from several causes, which we will take up
successively in review.

There have been occasional importations of French draft-
horses into the United States and Canada, which, while they
have made their mark and been of benefit to the horse stock of
the country, have made no particular mark in literature. Per-
cherons of the lighter type have occasionally developed notable
trotting qualities. It is highly probable that the French stallion
imported from France into Quebec about 1816, and sold into
Washington County, N. Y., about 1825, where he was, in 1833,
the sire of a horse known as "Norman," or " Morse's Gray,"
was a Percheron. He was known as the McNitt horse. His get
were generally gray, and though with the exception mentioned
were unknown to fame, yet their excellence is conceded. The

color of the horse " Norman," his name, and the fact that his
sire was brought from France to Quebec, all indicated at least
Norman blood. The horse " Norman " had fame as a stylish
trotter.

This importation was of immense value to that part of the
country, teaching the farmers by actual experience that useful
horses of good weight, great activity and nerve, coupled with
great power of draft and absolute honesty in the collar, were
more profitable to raise than the high-strung, weakly things
they had been breeding from high-blooded horses, then fash-
ionable as sires. — From "The Percheron Horse" (Orange
Judd & Co.).

33

CHAPTER V
THE FIRST MODIFICATION, DUE TO CONTACT WITH THE BRITTANY RACE

PERCH E is bounded, in its whole length, by the immense plains of Beauce. On account
of this position, it was always traversed by the post-coaches for Paris, and by all the
supplies that came from the West.

Being the intermediate point between the principal home of the Brittany draft-horse and
the immense markets which Beauce and Paris offered, its territory was the necessary stopping-
place of everything that came from the West. It has been for many years the rendezvous of
the draft races of the whole West.

Now, see in what an exceptional position this country is placed. First and foremost, I
do not hesitate to say that there exists no French race which could have multiplied and
preserved its original type under such unhappy influences. We can but deplore the slight
care taken in preserving it pure and intact, and the want of judgment in the delicate operation
of crossing.

There has been no uniform and logical plan for improving as well as increasing it. To
make the greatest possible profit out of this hen with the golden eggs has been the only aim.

When the post-coaches, wagon transportation, and the public conveyances were organized
and generalized ; when everything requiring the use of the horse had undergone excessive
development ; when the improvements of our roads, the multiplicity of business transactions,
and the enormous internal trafific required increased and rapid locomotion, all eyes were
turned towards Perche, and it became necessary for her to satisfy the increased demand.

Let us see in what condition was the Percheron breeder to satisfy all these demands. As
for race, he possessed the best. Strong, yet quick, it was that, of all others, which contained
the most blood. It owed this to the soil and climate. It was the best to feed, the easiest to
raise, and the most favorably situated to be cheaply multiplied. And with all this, it had at
its door the best of known markets.

Wagons, diligences and post-coaches required horses such as the Percheron cultivator
loved to breed for himself. Hence that sympathetic understanding which developed itself
more and more between the Percheron producer and the consumer occupied in public trans-
portation. And the anxiety to meet the demand was one of the most active causes of
degeneration and of the drafts made upon this and neighboring breeds.

CHAPTER VI

CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH THEY ARE BRED

WE know how the sexes are divided in Perche ; one section of the province produces,
while another raises what the other has produced. No mater what may be the
class to which she belongs, light or heavy, or partaking of both, the mare is
expected to breed every year. If barren, she is sold ; and this fault continuing, she passes
into public use. During her gestation she works constantly. A few days of rest, before and
after foaling, is the only time lost. The remainder of the time her work pays abundantly for
her keep and the interest on her cost.

34

At the age of five or six months the colt is abruptly weaned and sold. Its price varies
from five to six hundred francs — sometimes more, but this is the exception — and so far it has
cost nothing.

Led into the interior upon the fertile meadows of Mauves, Pin, Regmalard, Corbon,
Lougny, Reveillon, Courgeron, Saint-Langis, Villiers, Courgeoust, etc., etc., it remains one
year unproductive. In winter it is fed upon hay, in the stable, and during the fine season
turned into the fields to graze. To sum up, it is rather poorly nourished on bran, grass
and hay.

The reason is, it is as yet unproductive to its master, and it feels the effects. Wait a
little ; its hardest time has gone by, and work will soon soften its lot. It reaches, in this
manner, the age of fifteen or eighteen months. What has it cost for keeping? Very little.
Estimate, about eighty or a hundred francs. At this age it was put to work. Naturally
docile and in the hands of a man always patient and mild, its training is generally easy.
Assigned to farm labor, it plows or draws a wagon. Harnessed with four or five colts of its
own age, together they pull what would be an easy load for two good horses. Put before
two oxen, or joined to three of its companions, it plows and is never overworked.

Now it is better fed and taken a great deal better care of. Its " morale" improves, and
its master seems to delight in contemplating the progress and the development of its
qualities. Thus in traveling through Perche, one involuntarily stops in the midst of the
fields to see it work, never tired of admiring the vigor it displays, and the gentleness with
which it is treated.

The bait is there. At the age of three the Beauce farmer buys it to work his soft and
light soil. For him, it must be preserved intact, its development uninjured — nay, encouraged.

Masters, servants, large and small, all deeply imbued with the love of the horse, unite in
this work with admirable skill.

It has thus worked during one year, abundantly fed, but receiving little or no grain.
Doing enough light work to pay for its keep, the master has received, besides its manure, a
heavy interest on the cost, as we will presently see.

This premature work, which would have been injurious under a careless management is,
on the contrary, beneficial when it is in the hands of a good master. This is so much the
general case that the contrary is the exception. The animal grows and becomes better
developed in size and strength.

Now, as we before observed, the Beauce farmer comes to buy. He lives in a country of
proverbial richness. The work there is abundant, but the nature of the soil renders it
extremely easy. The fields, very much divided, and distant one from another, make a rapid
gait indispensable.

In Beauce the horse cannot be replaced as a beast of burden ; no matter how dear his
keeping, his use is indispensable — the ox cannot be his competitor. But it is a fact of the
greatest importance to state, that it is to the ox that the Percheron horse owes a part of his
celebrity.

As is well known, Beauce is the exceptional country for cereals ; the horse and sheep are
pretty much the only animals which there produce a manure required by such husbandry.
Add to this the breadth of land under tillage, and the extreme fertility of the soil, and the
large number of horses kept by the Beauce farmer will be accounted for.

At three years old the Percheron dealer sells his horse for goo or i,ooo francs, and some-
times more, according to his merit. But he does this only in order to buy other colts ; and

35

the profit has been, in fact, sufficiently large to warrant him in this. He has had against him
only the chances of mortality. These are small ; the race is tough and hardy. Accidents
are more to be dreaded, and these sometimes occur. Living in the open air, in the company
of other animals, the young colt is a little exposed to the influences of chance. But the
fields are enclosed, the master's eye is upon it, and, to sum up all, the large profit covers
everything.

Reaching Beauce at three years old, he is subjected to hard work. The work is easy
enough, but there is much of it. He must be quick ; the breadth of land is very extensive, and
the work must be done. Sowing and harvesting — these two words sum up the Beauceron
agriculture. Otherwise expressed — plowing and hauling. As regards the horse, all must be
done promptly and quickly.

But if he be hard worked, on the other hand, nothing is denied him. He eats as much
grain and hay as he pleases. What difference does this make to the farmer? Do not his
labor and his manure pay for his nourishment ? And, moreover, how act otherwise ? As we
have seen, nothing can supply his place. Necessity has no law.

He lives in this way a year, with abundant food. Sometimes he succumbs ; the mortality
is quite large in this region. But the stock which remains after such a training offers many
guaranties to the dealer who buys it to transfer, when suitable, to the express and omnibus
companies ; or if they belong to the draft race, to the contractors, wagoners and builders of
Paris. At five, he is bought by the horse dealer at the annual horse fair on St. Andrew's
Day in the town of Chartres. There he is delivered, the farmer leading his horse upon the
ground. The prices vary from 1,000 to 1,400 francs. The profit is small, sometimes nothing,
the greatest gain being his work, which cannot be dispensed with. The feeble have perished ;
the survivors owe their lives only to their robust constitutions.

Before dedication to his final use, he has thus passed through four hands; all these have
shared the risks of his rearing. The most serious have been for the last owner ; but he was
also the wealthiest, and to him also has he been the most useful.

Thus, we see, the foal costs almost nothing, and his work pays for his keep. Perfectly
well fed, and exercised from his tenderest age, the Percheron has always been the first draft-
horse in the world, and he would have constantly improved, if his admirable qualities them-
selves had not led to his degeneration.

CHAPTER VII
CAUSES OF THE DEGENERACY OF THE PERCHERON HORSE

THE breeding of the Percheron horse has been so much the more stimulated, in conse-
quence of his situation, his well-known qualities, and the favorable economical circum-
stances in which he is placed.
Was not everything in his favor? Sure and increasing sales and great facility in
raising ?

Alene. — This illustration of this fine mare of the true type twenty years ; is the dam of many of the finest colts I have ever

was made the day she was twenty-five years old. She still lives bred ; has repeatedly walked five miles in an hour, and has

on my farm in good health, her limbs as straight and per- trotted a mile in three and a half minutes on a turnpike road

feet and as free from wind galls or defects of any kind as with two persons in an ordinary buggy. W. T. W.

when she was a colt. She has worked laboriously for more than

36

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In a word, Perche is not large ; the number of horses that it can produce is limited, and
not being able to answer all the demands made upon it, competition stepped in.

At first, the finest types, the males especially, were sold. Then, little by little, the traffic
increasing, the finest females, in their turn, commenced to appear upon the market.

The interior of France and foreign countries, Prussia especially, were anxious to possess
them, the latter country in order to form a race of draft-horses, which it absolutely needed, in
consequence of its own becoming too light.

It is the only race which has been accused of no faults, simply because it has satisfied a
real want and has been able to satisfy it fully.

The sale of colts becoming greater and greater, and all the farmers being interested in
buying them to raise, Brittany sent hers upon the markets. They made their appearance in
Perche and in the fairs of Mortagne, Courtalin, etc., etc., taking their place there alongside
the colts of the country.

The breeding-mares being sought after, and in consequence sold, it became necessary to
replace them. Their offspring sold too well not to think of increasing their number. Hence
the introduction, at first, of a large number of Brittany mares, and afterwards of mares from
Caux, Picardy, etc., etc., approaching nearest, both as to height and coat, to the race of
the country.

If there had been among them only the Brittany mares, I would but half complain ;
these are well bred ; and, moreover, has not Perche contributed to the improvement of the
Brittany race by sending into their country such famous stallions as " Pomme," " Bijou " and
"Tancrede"? But the mares from Picardy, from Caux and from Boulogne — the scrofulous
races of the North ! What can be said for them ?

This introduction is not of yesterday ; it is already of long date. But it may be boldly
advanced that it is only since 1830 that it has been effected upon a very large scale. 1830
was the era of the systematic infusion of the English pure-blood into our French half-blood
races. Having become, by this fact, less fit for service, they commenced to lose their credit
in the eyes of thinking men. The rich ran after the English, while others wanted the
German horse, and this made the latter's fortune. The majority addressed themselves to
Perche, and thus obliged her to multiply anew a stock already become insufficient.

In Upper Perche — that is to say, towards the Norman part, in the district of Mortagne
— the introduction (we are ignorant of the cause — perhaps from the presence of some good
stallions) was not so great ; but it did, nevertheless, take place, and its traces are discovered
at every step. It would be very difficult, if not impossible, to find there at the present
moment a Percheron completely free from mixture of foreign blood.

CHAPTER VIII

STARTING POINT OF THIS DEGENERATION

AS long as the post-coaches were flourishing and the diligences crossing France in every
direction, it was especially a horse fit for their uses that Perche devoted itself to
produce. But since these modes of transportation have been modified, the race, with
them, has undergone a complete transformation. As this country only possessed, as an
outlet for the light part of its stock, the expresses, omnibuses, and post-office services in the

41

interior of Paris, and later the private post teams, etc., etc., which only employed quick-
gaited horses, it became necessary to think of rendering the race heavier, in order to replace
the monopoly of the mail stages and diligences by another monopoly. Had it not before it
the necessity of satisfying the commercial wants — that is to say, the express cartage, the
heavy work of the contractors and builders of Paris, and in the provinces, the services of the
large towns, and the express and other business connected with all railroads ? The fear o
losing this important market oiTered to his qualities of speed, strength and honesty, tempted
the breeder to infuse too suddenly the blood of the heavy draft-horse. He might have
accomplished this more slowly and gradually, by means of a rational coupling with the
heaviest bodied native types ; but our age, eager to enjoy, did not leave him the time. To
answer to these wants, Perche opened wide its doors to all the heavy mares that it could
meet with. Many came from Brittany, others from Picardy and Caux, and some from
Boulogne. During this time the ancient stallion of the country, eagerly sought after by all
those who wished to create fine draft-studs, passed into the interior and even into foreign
countries.

The success of the Percheron race was very great. All the departments wished to accli-
mate it. The prices of these stallions had increased so rapidly in a few years that they had
tripled and quadrupled. Accordingly, the possessors sold them. The administrative author-
ities, aided by the ^lite of the proprietors, endeavored, however, to hinder this emigration.
They formed a stud-stable at Bonneval ; but this establishment was not composed of types
that were homogeneous and adapted to assure a regular and continuous improvement. Prizes
were given at Nortagne, Nogent-le-Rotrou, Illiers and Vendome. But an end was arrived at
contrary to what was desired. The prizes served as signs to the dealers. Perche was visited
to buy first-class horses. What surer guaranty than the prize? And then, how could the
breeders resist the prices of 3,000 and 4,000 francs, and even more, offered the proprietor of a
stallion.

It will be objected that these stallions, before disappearing, had already served ; I know
this. But how served? They had served at two or three years, before their complete
development, and it was at the age at which they would have been most useful that they
were withdrawn from their district, and the same thing was true with the best mares.

Several departments carried off great numbers ; they were sent everj'where. A great
many proprietors bought them. Thus disappeared, gradually, the flower of the breeding-
mares. The race was cut off in its prime. Perche stretched its sails to the winds of the
present without thinking of the future !

Stallions of all kinds now came forward stallions from Brittany, Picardy, Caux and
Boulogne. The heaviest were preferred. The change was so rapid that to-day in many
places there does not remain the slightest trace of genuine Percheron blood. It is a
mixture which betrays itself to the eye by coarse forms, foreign to the origina type, and in
the morale by a sensible loss of that generous spirit, and of that indescribable something
that we so much admired. Perche would formerly have disowned stock lacking the Eastern
character ; still, their presence is not without instruction. It gives the measure of the

Caliph. — This colt furnishes a striking illustration of the every Arab distinction of his ancestors reproduced in *' Caliph,"

claim that the parentage of the pure Percheron is Arab. His with additional size, a finely formed head, wide nostril, quick,

sire was "Sultan," and on his dam's side his grandsire was graceful movement, silky coat, never-flagging spirit, with great

" Morock," imported by me eighteen yearsago. " Morock's " sire docility and intelligence. One could only find in Arabia a more

was an imported Arab. Thus after five generations we find genuine Arab type. W. T. W.

42

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great climatic qualities of this province, and proves what it could have done with well-chosen
animals.

Such is its force of assimilation that, after nourishing some generations upon its soil, it
is able to reform them, and impart that sacred fire, and that build, which can only come from
the nourishment of its hills.

The department authorities, unwearied by the slight success of their first attempts,
renewed their efforts, from year to year, to oppose the progress of this degeneration, and
endeavor to combat it by the strongest measures.

The department of Eure and Loir, undeterred by the costly and disastrous failure of the
Bonneval breeding stud, continues still its patriotic work, and keeps up its encouragements
in the form of prizes to stallions and brood-mares — encouragements to which Orne and Loir
and Cher appropriate annually considerable sums.

There was formed, some years ago, at Chateaudun, with the most disinterested and
patriotic design, a powerful association of proprietors, known under the name of " The Horse
Association of Perche" having for its mission the furnishing of good stallions to the farmers.

Trotting matches at Illiers, Courtalain, Vendome, Montdoubleau and Mortagne have
been established ; but, with all this, a success worthy of such efforts has not yet been obtained,
on account of a lack of uniformity in the movement.

Competition at the fairs gives but too often the spectacle of size being systematically
encouraged ; while trotting, in consequence of the speed required, leads to the employment
of English cross-breeds. Would this operation were well directed ! But even then, would
this English blood be used in right proportions ? I doubt it. When it is used, it is used too
much ; for this blood, if it be not employed with extreme reserve — an extreme parsimony, if
I may so speak — results in injuring the honest traits and the valuable quality of early matur-
ity ; it destroys, in fact, that precocity of the breed which enables it at an early age to pay
for its feed by its labor. The breeders are almost invariably small farmers, and they cannot
afford to lose the time necessary to mature fancy horses ; they must have quick sales and
quick returns.

47

PART 11

Of the Means of Regenerating the Percheron Horse

ERCHE, in order to retain its best customers, and not drop to a level
with the common herd of horse breeders, must at once have re-
course to systematic means of improvement. Her breeders have
shown a deplorable alacrity in the downward course, which has
brought upon them the depreciation in the value of their stock, of
which they begin to perceive the effects.

" Facilis descensus Averno ; sed revocare gradum, hoc opus hie labor est ! "

Unanimity of will and unity of means are both necessary to
accomplish the ascent and regain the position which the breed has
lost. Two measures present themselves as each essential in accomplishing this result.
The first step is to restore the disturbed equilibrium by a well-planned and uninterrupted
series of crosses, effected within the breed. This would arrest the evil. The second step
should be, subsequently, to breed up by improving crosses, practiced with a wise and circum-
spect deliberation. This would be making progress.

At the very outset, and continued parallel with this course of breeding, a Stud-book
should be instituted, in order that all thus subjected to systematic improvement should be
brought together, and thus initiate a general improvement of the breed. The development
of these ideas will furnish matter for the following chapters.

CHAPTER I

REGENERATION OF THE PERCHERON BREED

THERE are two ways of crossing applicable to any breed, both of which have had their
earnest partisans. So much clamor has been made about them, I think, only because
they have been simultaneously used and often mingled, and the results have been
deranged by their use. This might have been avoided by commencing with the simplest and
continuing with the best.

The first may be called the renewal of a breed within itself, or interbreeding ; the second,
improving by foreign blood. We will pass them rapidly in review, trying to reach in the
results the solid basis of truth.

CHAPTER II

REGENERATION OF THE BREED THROUGH ITSELF, OR BY SELECTION

THE first manner, also called selection, consists in making, among the race itself, a rational,
judicious choice of the most perfect types ; those which are as free as possible from
the most prominent defects of the breed; those which best recall the primitive type,
if it possesses the superior qualities which it is required to reproduce ; those which, healthy
and vigorous, seem to have among themselves the most afifinity. This choice ought to be
severe and rigorous, nor should we be discouraged by the small number of the elect.

From the issue of this first selection, make a similar choice, and with them and their
progeny march perseveringly in the same way, without ever looking to the right or to the
left — that is to say, without ever listening to advice which would modify the work com-
menced, or to praises which might induce the desire for too rapid results. To proceed too
fast is perhaps a still greater error than to stop on the way, inasmuch as it often renders a
retrograde movement obligatory and reduces to nothing the results of several years of
success.

It is indispensable that the selections from which a good progeny is desired should be
completely grown — that is to say, the horses should be at least four years past, and the mares
fully three years old.

Sell, without remorse, to the trade the least successful types, and most carefully keep
the good. The horses, after serving some campaigns in their adult age, can be sold without
inconvenience ; a few well-proved types are sufficient for a district. But never part with the
mares when they are remarkable for their conformation, temper, aptitude to work, and for
their qualities as breeders.

Thus, in order to keep the breeders clear of temptations which are always dangerous,
and as a good means of guidance, prizes become a question of life or death for the future of
the race. It is, in fact, by means of prizes and rewards, liberally distributed for the class of
mares of three to ten years inclusively, that they can be kept in the region. It is by awarding
the prize at three years, after they have been covered, in paying at first but one-half of the
prize and the remainder only after they have foaled and have been again covered, that they
can be virtually controlled. After ten years, as they no longer meet with either a good or
profitable sale, special encouragement may cease. Moreover, the breeder who during eight
years has received in prizes a sum often superior to the money value of his mare, and recog-
nizing that he possesses in her a brood-mare of merit, will no longer commit the folly of
parting with her for a price which would be ridiculous.

There is such extreme delicacy in the manner of distributing these prizes that I scarcely
dare refer to it.

The members of the council-board, who have the appropriation for the prizes, should
have naturally and rightfully the honor of awarding them. I would then wish, that in each
district (what I am about to say excludes the public fairs, in which a jury, numerous, and

49

consequently never unanimous in opinion, opposes the execution of a uniform idea) the
council-board and the council of the district, charged at the same time with the establishment
of the Stud-book, of which I will speak in a separate chapter, should be willing to accept this
mission, which they would perform with the aid of the inspector-general of the stud-stables.
Each year, by their care, the mares of a district would be scrupulously examined and classed
for the prize.

These premiums should be granted for eight years, to the best three-year-old fillies, to
which this distinction would give the entrance upon the Stud-book. In the first year of the
establishment of this book, destined to contain the genealogical documents relative to the
celebrities of the race, the mares above three years, which have been found worthy to be
inscribed, should be likewise given prizes, and this same should be allowed them as a pension
up to the age of ten years.

These inducements should be annual and kept up as long as the prize-mare is kept as a
breeder and in proper condition, that is to say, sound of wind and exempt from the glanders.
Other blemishes, the natural consequence of work and age, might be tolerated.

Following the same system and conditions, similar prizes should be awarded to stallions,
without paying attention to rewards which they may have received from other quarters.
But as the resources of which a department disposes, augmented even by private contri-
butions, are not inexhaustible, it is urgent that the prizes, always liberal and remunerative,
being from two to four hundred francs for mares, and from four to eight hundred francs for
stallions, should be accorded only to specimens of real merit. Quality, when it affects the
regeneration of a race, is always preferable to quantity.

It is, especially, necessary to excite earnest breeders, by all possible means, to preserve or
to buy remarkable Percherons, presenting in their form and character the type of the
stallion. And, if the prizes of four to eight hundred francs, of which we have just asked
the institution, should not appear to the authorities of the departments a sufficient means to
impart the necessary impulse for the complete success of this measure, the departments
might themselves buy some remarkable types, and either use them themselves, in gratuitously
serving the finest mares, or in confiding them to good farmers, in whose hands they would
be given the prize and used almost for nothing, as long as their health permitted them to be
profitably kept. After a certain number of years these stallions might even become the
property of their keepers, or they might, from the beginning, be granted them at reduced
prices, with the obligation, on the one side, that they should be used with judgment and
preserved with care, and on the other side, with the promise of a largely remunerative prize.
Love of gain has driven the peasant to strip himself of everything he owned that was good ;
it now belongs to the authorities, by the incentive of gain, to induce this same peasant to
pursue a wiser course.

Oppose as much as possible the use of stallions before fully four years old, and the fillies
being put to breeding before reaching their third year. This can only be attained by giving
the prize, in the class of fillies, to such as have been served at the age of three years, by
stallions of at least four years old.

I have caused to be inserted in this memorial three illustra- opinion without a superior in all the qualities which combine to

tions of the stallion "Sultan." He obtained the first prize make a perfect type of the true Percheron. His get — the highest

awarded by the French Government two consecutive years be- qualification — without a single exception in transmitting him-

fore 1 purchased him. I refer to him after the opinion of the self, confirms this estimate of him. W. T. W.

most intelligent judges in France and this country as in my

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Crossing by selection has numerous advocates, and from all time the best-informed, the
most practical men, have been unanimous in proclaiming that blood is 07ily preserved and
improved by blood — that is to say, by selection. It is easy and not expensive, inasmuch as the
necessary subjects are always at hand ; it is natural, inasmuch as its simplicity is apparent to
every mind. And, if it does not bring the rapid results so pleasing to those too eager for
profit, it is, at least, always sure. For, without giving at first exceptional results, it never
fails in its effects, by reason of the affinity existing between the different individuals, and by
reason especially of their perfect conformity with the climate and soil. In fact, this con-
formity is not an indifferent matter, and it has been found by experience that animals, noted
upon their native soil for their sureness in reproducing, and for the invariable transmission of
their qualities to their descendants, frequently fail in these respects when imported into
another country. Often, several years roll by before they recover that equilibrium of health
and that tranquility of animal functions which permit them to reproduce in a sure, equal and
fixed manner, without which an improvement in the type cannot take place.

Selection has long been practiced in Perche, and it has there produced for a long time the
best results, which were interfered with only by the importation from Picardy, Caux and
Boulogne of animals of inferior blood.

Among the bovine species, we have curious examples of the value of selection, especially
those furnished in Cotentin, where a breed exists the finest, best and the most sought after
in France. Crossing with foreign blood, which fashion at one date or another had wished to
prescribe, has always been forbidden as a crime in this country. It is thus that the finest
herds of La Manche, and especially those of M. Mannoury, of Canisy, near Saint-L6, have been
formed. The success of this breeder began at Ebisey, near Caen, where he commenced a few
years ago and where the stock can be easily examined.

A bull of the Cotentin race, the most perfect and best bred that could be found, put to
heifers of the same breed, chosen among the finest types, was the starting point officially
recorded. Selection, operating upon this progeny, as it had operated in the beginning, was
continued without intermission, and by these means it has produced a herd all the members
of which are alike and constantly transmitting identical qualities.

CHAPTER III
CONSANGUINITY

CONJUGAL consanguinity has neither partisans nor friends. The physiologist, physi-
cian, priest and legislator have always launched against it the same anathema. All,
in making war against it, knew that it was the surest method of establishing a fixed
and permanent race; but all, preoccupied in seeking a means of universal fusion, thought
they had found in the prohibition of this a leveler destined to equalize everything.

It was feared that certain families would become too individualized, too marked in their
tendencies ; and all, without acknowledging it, endeavored to close a way which might lead
to the engrossment of fortunes.

Close interbreeding in the horse has not the same political inconveniences ; this is clearly
apparent ; but with us the desire to legislate upon and regulate everything, reducing all to a
common level, has prevailed. Equine consanguinity has not, any more than the other, found
favor.

One fact, however, strikes any one at the outset who has studied the equine races, fol-
lowed, step by step, their progeny, and made himself acquainted with their performances.
This fact is :

If a horse is remarkable over all others in one of the three following ways : personal
beauty, high qualities, or sureness of reproduction, go back boldly to his origin and you will
find yourself at each step face to face with close interbreeding — that is to say, the reforming
of a race by means of itself, the result of great qualities increased by drafts made at the
source of a generous blood.

The thoroughbred race in England, which has been formed but with a very limited num-
ber of primitive agents, and which, consequently, soon became consanguine, has anew, and
at two distinct epochs, absorbed in every degree and repeatedly the blood of two famous
groups, represented, the first by " Byerly Turk," " Darley Arabian " and " Godolphin
Arabian"; the second by " Matchem," "Herod" and " Eclipse." At the present moment,
it maintains itself, thanks to a universal consanguinity, and everything good which exists, by
going back inevitably to these sole progenitors, now forms but one and the same family.
Magnificent results have come from these alliances, and every day it can be proved that this
blood has not degenerated.

It is the same in all breeding countries, and it has been shown (for proofs see the journal
"Za vie h la carnpagne" of the 30th November, 1863), that especially in Merlerault, the
nursery of the fine French breeds, everything exceptionally good which exists, or which has
existed, is the result of consanguinity — that is, " in-and-in breeding."

The following is the conclusion of the author of this note :

These examples (the pedigrees of the best horses), collected with care, will perhaps
bring upon me the accusation of being a partisan of in-and-in breeding. In principle I con-
demn its absolute use ; but, within certain limits, I admit and advise it, especially in the
commencement, when it becomes a question of founding and establishing a family designed
to exercise a permanent influence upon the future improvement of a region.

Uniting together vices of conformation, character and temperament is rendering them
indelible for ever. Uniting quality, beauty and aptitude, it is preserving the monopoly of
these in a single family.

Hence, I would like, when there appeared, on the turf or elsewhere, one of those envied
types of which nature is generally so sparing, that judicious attempts, made with patience,
should fix the qualities so apt to disappear, and collect, so to speak, all the sources whence
they emanate.

The brothers, sisters and collaterals should be included, but once only, in these cross-
ings, which might even go back, if it were still time, as far as the grandsires and dams, on
account of the resemblance noticed between ancestors and their grandchildren.

" Kate," one of my first importations (1866), was sold to
Hon. Columbus Delano, of Ohio, a few years ago. With his
consent I insert the letter herewith. The sire of the colt he
speaks of was of my stock. " Kate " was twenty-two years
old when she dropped the stallion colt referred to ; an example
of the endurance and long continued strength of the pure race.

W. T. W.

Mt. Vernon, O., July 20, 1886.
Dear Mr. Walters :

The Percheron mare " Kate," which I purchased of you a few

years since, died last April. She was in all respects the most
valuable animal of her race and sex I ever saw.

She had three colts whilst I owned her. One is a stalUon two
years old past. I call him Paris. He was exhibited at the Ohio
State Fair, and the Tri-State Fair, at Toledo (for Michigan,
Indiana and Ohio) , and received the first premium in his class
on each occasion. He is regarded by good judges of the
Percheron horse as a phenomenal animal.

We have seen no one who believes a finer colt exists.

Respectfully, etc., C. Delano.

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Finally the true, valuable and completely successful results of a family thus strengthened
should be coupled according to the rules of intelligent crossing to the equally confirmed
representatives of some other excellent family, fit to form new offspring.

CHAPTER IV
OUGHT THE GRAY COLOR OF THE PERCHERON TO BE INFLEXIBLY MAINTAINED?

FORMERLY I liked the gray horse very much, and have more than once praised this
color.

But time has dissipated my illusions.

Thus, while acknowledging my former preferences for the gray horse over the horse
of a different shade, I am now very far from showing myself exclusive, and quarreling with
the mass of enlightened persons who seem desirous of adopting the dark colored coats I only
desire one thing, and that is to save the Perch eron race, and to preserve to Perche its pros-
perity and its glory.

If I have liked the gray horse, it was from conviction, and not to court those who saw
no safety outside the gray. But when the wisdom and the extreme intelligence of masters
of science, preferring a less showy color, demonstrated to me that Perche might find an era
of new glory and prosperity in changing the coat of its horse and thus enlarging the circle
of consumption, I bowed meekly to their opinion. I liked the gray horse because I thought
that Providence had created it gray in order that it might be able to withstand, during its
work, the heat of the sun, and not be prostrated under its rays. I liked it gray, as the Arab
likes his horse gray and his bournous of a whitish color; as the American planter likes his
white cotton suit and his panama ; as our soldier, in the field, liked, under the African or
Mexican sky, the havelock which protected him against the rays of the burning luminary. I
liked it gray because it seemed to me to recall more than any other the Arab, the primitive
horse; because Perche having always possessed gray horses, I thought there was much more
chance of finding, under this coat, the type of the country ; because I had been rocked to
sleep to the tune of that old ballad of our ancestors, celebrating Charles de Trie, the
Percheron Seigneur, going forth to combat the English at the battle of Poitiers :

" On charger white
The sire of Trie
Against the foe
Has gone to war," etc,, etc.;

because, in a word, during my infancy I had breathed the dust of the old manuscripts
making mention of the white Percheron mares. I liked it gray because, for the service of
the post-coaches and couriers, in their long stages, in the middle of the night, the gray horse
appeared to me more easy to guide than the horse of a dark color. Finally, it has always
seemed to me that this coat was more becoming than any other the powerful form of a
vigorous worker. Does not a good-looking, stalwart and honest peasant please you better —
is he not infinitely more at ease — with the Gallic blouse covering his broad shoulders, than
under the dark folds of a fashionable coat, which makes him appear awkward and abashed ?

77

But everything is much changed. The country has no longer any special type in the
midst of all this gray amalgamated with Brittany, Picardy and Caux, of which the equine
stock of Perche is now composed. If the Percheron should cease to be bound by this law of
gray, if he should become of all shades, at the same time remaining good, and such as Perche
knows how to make him, he would cease to be dishonored by those everlasting plagiarists,
shamelessly calling themselves Percherons because they happen to be gray and have traveled
across the Perche country. If he should become of all shades, in preserving the qualities and
movement which are a feature of everything that the tonic grasses and the fine and vivifying
air of Perche produces, he would not be reduced to the simple role of furnishing the 6,000 or
7,000 horses that the omnibuses and teamsters each year require, plus the 600 or 700 typical
ones that foreign countries demand of Perche. He might, little by little, contribute to the
satisfaction of the half-fancy and to the wants of the hunting and army equipages ; he might
advantageously replace the German horse, which we are obliged to employ in want of a better.
Post-coaches no longer existing, there is no longer need of gray horses for the night in the
midst of the darkness of the highways. Steam machinery, the indispensable substitute for
the lack of human hands in the country, being destined to execute, in part, the labors of agri-
culture, the horse will be less employed there, and the one that will be called for, having
fewer difficulties to overcome, can be lighter, more distingud, faster, and more fit for adapta-
tion to the exigencies of trade and fashion. Finally, fashion wishing, positively, no more
gray horses, and the Percheron finding no longer a sufficient employment in the omnibuses,
will soon find himself in a tight place if he do not take a fresh start, and make himself accept-
able— if he do not conform to the exactions of the age, and become more stylish and darker
colored.

It is settled, then, that he must put upon his back a less showy covering ; but he can
only do this on condition that he become, thanks to good crossings, more presentable and
have a more stylish air. And, really, what is more ridiculous than a vulgar and common
beast decked out with the livery of the fancy and private horse !

Let us occupy ourselves, then, seriously in looking up breeding stock of dark coats; the
time to do this appears to me to have come. But where will we go to find them ? Let us
look about us and seek for this in Perche.

If you there find, under a dark coat, a fine Percheron, possessing all the qualities and
specialties of the race, make haste, take him and color your horses. Sincerely, I give you
this advice. Still, as in the present state of things it is rare that the fine and the sombre are
met with together among the working races, by reason of the horror which has been pro-
fessed, up to the present moment, for everything not gray, the best expedient would be to
color the coat by means of fine, dark-skin Arabs, or with good, well-chosen Norfolks, a subject
that we will treat upon in the chapter of crossings. As to doing it otherwise, it is not to be
thought of, the elements not existing in Perche.

This, however, is only a minor matter. The essential point is to unite the heavy to the
distingue, weight to gait, mildness to vigor, hardiness to energetic temperament, steadiness

" Myra " and " Neva," which we have worked and treated as York are in whole or part Percheron. At last we are cultivating

a pair, have walked on an ordinary country road together four a strain of horses which have limbs to carry their bodies on our

and a half miles in an hour—" Myra," by herself, five miles. hard pavements— a deficiency which applies to all horses used

In all our Eastern cities the effect of the breeding of on our unyielding streets in a greater or less degree.
Percheron horses in our country may be remarked. Possibly W. T. W.

already one-third of the heavy draft-horses employed in New-

78

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and precocity; in a word, to repeat myself for the hundredth time, add a Httle more dash and
style. Correct the defects of conformation, the imperfections of color, without weakening,
without breaking up the harmony of the admirable qualities which have made of the
Percheron the first horse of the age.

CHAPTER V

PRESERVE PURE, AND WITHOUT INTERMIXTURE, THE THREE TYPES OF THE PERCHERON
RACE — THE LIGHT HORSE, THE DRAFT-HORSE, THE INTERMEDIATE HORSE

WE have spoken in Chapter II., Part First, of the three types which the Percheron race
presents — the light horse, the draft-horse, and the intermediate or post horse.
These three breeds come of the soil and are the product of ancient crosses. There
is reason for their existing and for their marked peculiarities ; and reason requires, then, that
they should be preserved, and, in maintaining them always in their proper functions, we obey,
in that progressive spirit which urges us to embellish everything. The first is destined to
become the post-horse and horse for private use, the surest and most agreeable means of
locomotion. The second cannot be replaced for express carting, and for the builders and
contractors of Paris and other large towns. To the third, the omnibuses also offer a steady
market. Consequently, it is important to keep them without intermixture and to continue
them uninterruptedly each in its respective class. Hence in seeking to add weight to a class
it is necessary to avoid crossing it with a race superior in height, and different in conforma-
tion and temperament.

The heaviest and strongest of a class, united among themselves, will produce more
surely the kind demanded than a too precipitate crossing. Nothing is more risky than
crosses made without judgment. It is by them that harmony of form is destroyed, and a
degenerate mongrel race is produced as the inevitable consequence. It is then important,
in the reunion of types, never to lose sight of equality and similarity of conformation
and qualities. But, at the same time, it is necessary to march with the age, study its
tendencies, and be always ready to guide a movement which otherwise might drag you in its
wake.

We must not lose sight of the fact that the services required of the Percheron horse are
not the same as formerly. The omnibus service, especially, which, scarcely ten years ago, was
considered the mildest, has, at present, become the hardest, and the one which requires heavy
horses, uniting speed with strength.

On the other hand, as a consequence of the great changes in the life and means of
conveyance of the wealthy, the Percheron race has been most prominently brought
forward. Almost all ranks of the upper classes have now adopted the Percheron horse
of the light kind for their private uses, hunts and drives in the country. The fondness
for rapid traveling rendering these classes more exacting than formerly, the necessity has
arisen of finding in Perche specimens with weight and speed with a light and stylish form.
Accordingly, it becomes necessary to find means of adding the greatest possible speed to
the other valuable characteristics of the Percheron horse. To reach this result promptly,
we should have recourse to the Arabian stallion, and this, surely, would be the quickest

85

means. But as I do not find this Percheron race, in its present state, sufficiently prepared
for this alliance, and as I think that it still needs two or three generations of preparatory
crossings with itself, it will be necessary to commence, in order to attain this end, by
close interbreeding.

We should, at first, commence by exploring the Percheron centres devoted exclusively
to the rearing of mares, and, in these places, we should particularly visit the localities in
which they have no great development as to height. Here we would select a group of
from fifteen to twenty fillies, the best, the finest limbed, the most compact, the fastest
trotters, and having for an extreme maximum the height of 15^ to 16 hands.

The same course should be pursued in the regions where the colts are raised, and there
choice should be made of some light stallions, approaching as much as possible to the mares
in form and qualities.

All the best foals, then, should be in their turn subjected to couplings conducted with the
same care, and among the third generation would be found types sufficiently confirmed, either
as founders of a race among themselves, or for crossing with the Arab, of which we will
speak in the following chapter.

If a little larger size be required, it would not be necessary to have recourse to other
types than those which I have just indicated. Well-balanced horses favor every modification.
More tonic, substantial nourishment, and more fertile meadows would increase the height and
weight, as well as the strength and spirit.

Do you desire omnibus horses? — You can obtain them by selecting in the regions which
best produce the post-horse, the strongest types, the heaviest bodied, the most favored as to
height, and the fastest trotters. But never yield any of these three points : weight, spirit
and speed.

The animals the nearest alike in size and form should then be coupled together, after
the manner indicated above, and when weight, spirit and speed are found without failing in
all the progeny, it will then be time, but not till then, to add style. The Arabian stallion,
whose tendency, as we will see later, is to produce heavier and stronger than himself, while
at the same time imparting his mark of supreme distinction, might then be introduced to
embellish and confirm our good results.

The heavy draft and the express wagon horses should have weight ; this is a sine qua non
condition ; but it would be a great mistake to confine ourselves exclusively to mere size.
They should possess powerful limbs and muscles, joined to great spirit. This crossing,
although the easiest, would also present great dangers should we be satisfied with weight
alone ; we would soon arrive at the mere lymphatic horse. It is therefore urgent, for
the breeds possessing requisite strength, to choose those which are the most distingue, the
most nervous, the finest limbed and the most spirited, and to avoid the sluggish and
lymphatic. These will be found in the elevated and dry centres, where the food is plenty
and nutritious.

If Perche proper, Beauce, and the environs of Chateaudun should not be capable of
furnishing their complete contingent in this specialty, as I believe they cannot, some good
specimens could be met with among the Percheron colts raised in the environs of Bernay
and on the plains of Sens.

Nannie. — I have driven this mare single in a full-sized coupe has never evinced the slightest fatigue. No horse in my city is

for several years. She will move ten miles an hour day after more remarked for superiority in these qualities,

day, presenting an unflagging spirit, distinguished style, and W. T. W.

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This variety (the draft-horse) demands a great deal less care in the choice of the dams
and sires. It is infinitely more elementary, since weight is principally sought after. Still, it
is well, even indispensable, to select individuals short coupled and with good quarters, to
hold out under the enormous loads they are obliged to draw. The means resorted to accom-
plish this are judicious crosses, constantly made with a well-determined and always identical
idea, tending to increase weight and strength, while preserving spirit and vigor, abundant
nourishment, and breeding in those sections naturally most propitious to style and size. Soon
Perche, placed in a situation without a rival for the present and, above all, for the future,
might forever avoid asking anything of foreign crossings. For though the choice of the
stallion and the mare is so important in the production of the foal, the climate, the kind of
food, the agricultural habits and, finally, the adaptation of the region to horse breeding, are
of a great deal more importance in the development of the animal. It becomes, then, some-
what difificult to indicate accurately to what types, in such particular cases, the preference
should be awarded. The best are those which most nearly meet the wants of the section.

CHAPTER VI

IMPROVEMENT OF THE BREED BY MEANS OF FOREIGN CROSSINGS

HOWEVER, if with strength acquired and faults corrected style is not attained, it may
be sought after by judicious crosses with well-chosen foreign types.

Two different breeds present themselves to us as a means of improving our stock
by the introduction of foreign blood : the Arabian, and the English, with its variations.
Starting from this point, let us study both and endeavor to discover, by analogy, which one
would best suit, or rather, which one is the least unfavorable to the purpose.

I will examine, one after another, these two methods in detail, leaving to the cultivator,
who is most interested in the question, the choice of employing that which seems to him the
best and the most appropriate, taking into view the fertility and the nature of his section.
But I must, from the beginning, lay down as a principle that both are more expensive than
is interbreeding. A race to become fit to receive a foreign cross should be prepared for it in
advance, in order to shorten as much as possible the distance existing between the breed so
formed and proved and that which we seek to create.

In fact, the foreign cross can do no good, unless the desired qualities in the race upon
which it is made are permanent, fixed and characteristic.

Why not think also of increasing our resources by better cultivation, by liberal feeding,
by choosing, as I have said above, among the race of the country, the most perfect types and
those most likely to correct what is vicious while they impart their own good qualities ?
Methods of this kind, pursued for a long time and persistently, are alone capable of
preparing, without inconvenience, for a foreign cross.

Drain your wet meadows, irrigate your hill-sides, fertilize your soil by the use of
improving manures, make productive fields everywhere, create meadows, grow heavy oats,
enlarge your stables and make them clean, healthy and airy. When you have done this,
then, but not before, you can cross your races with foreign blood, more delicate than yours
and accustomed to and requiring greater care and attention.

93

I know that this slowly progressive manner does not possess the sympathies of those
who, at the commencement, are restless at not having already reached the goal. But it is
sure and free from errors, whilst the other (France has but too many examples of this), after
money squandred and years wasted, reduces the breeder who has recourse to it to a more
miserable condition than that from which he wished to escape.

Onr furia francese, which renders us irresistible in war, our fancy for new fashions, which
gives birth to those wonders which the world hails with ecstacy, and our proverbial incon-
stancy, cause us almost always to go astray in breeding. Fashion has no sooner praised
horses of such and such a race, of this or that model, or such and such a coat, than we must
immediately produce the like, without first ascertaining whether or no our race be prepared
for crossing with them. The result of such crosses would be about as valuable as a discus-
sion between a fish-woman and an academician !

Nature, left to herself, is a thousand times more intelligent than the man of systems.
Are there ever found, among the wild animals, among lions, tigers, stags, chamois, etc.,
either spavin, tumors, periodical inflammations, or any of those thousand infirmities with
which our domestic horse is inflicted ? And here is the reason : in the rutting season the
possession of the females becomes the incitement to bloody battles. It is always the
strongest, the most vigorous, the bravest, the most venturesome and the best-made stallion
which receives, as a reward for his victory, the submission and the admiring love of the
harem.

But I assume Perche prepared, by numerous and good crossings of the race within
itself, to try, with more sureness, foreign crossings. Two principal types, as we have just
seen, are presented for this : the Arab type and the English, which is itself derived from the
Arab.

The foreign cross I only speak of with diffidence, because with it I enter unknown
regions of inductions and perhaps, alas ! into ways of deception and ruin, if it is not effected
with the greatest prudence and judgment.

Foreign crossings, systematically effected from the north to the south, and from the
south to the north, have had Buffon for their apostle, and, under the cloak of his genius, and
thanks to the authority of his word, they have reached everywhere. But how enumerate the
evils brought about by a school whose disciples are still numerous, thanks to a perseverance
irritated but not deterred by failure ? These evils have been branded in large characters on
all our breeds, since that day when they became the objects, not of constant and uniform care,
but considered as subjects of no consequence, upon which individuals might experiment in
order to test their theories and set themselves up as teachers.

Since then, we have no more types properly belonging to distinct districts, but a confused
assembly, combining with rare qualities the defects of this or that cross and twenty others
more. Everywhere in turn, from one region or another, were stallions employed of different
types and races ; those of the south transported to the north, and those of the north to the

A man who simply imports stallions for sale is certainly not aim to give them force and to reproduce them in this country,

entitled to be considered a breeder of Percheron horses, though the breed has nothing to fear ; while, from the merely com-

he may breed horses extensively. And so it is not the mere mercial men who buy and sell, and perhaps breed, simply to

possession of a few imported mares that should distinguish the make money, and with no love for the horse except as a means

breeder, par excellence^ from the dealer. The distinction is of gain, the breed has everything to fear ; and in dealing with

important, because from those in whom the breeder's instincts such the old Latin law term, caveat emptor (" Let the buyer

prevail, who love and admire the Percheron race, who know its look out for himself") is peculiarly applicable. — From "The

grand qualities, and in their importations and in their breeding Percheron Horse," (Orange Judd & Co.).

94

south ; and that without preparation, and without attention to the differences of soil and
cHmate of the various regions. Ail these practices have injured our breeds without success-
fully retaining their own native qualities.

CHAPTER VII

THE ARAB CROSSING

I COMMENCE with the Arab crossing. Two motives have induced me to follow this
classification.

First. — The Arabian is the type horse, and the type should be examined before its
derivatives.

Second. — The Percheron shows a very great analogy, by his coat, conformation, character
of race, mild disposition and endurance, to the Arab, of which he seems to be the son, not-
withstanding certain differences, the result of time, climate, and the region in which he is
bred and in which he lives.

I have said that the Percheron horse exhibits in common with the Arab numerous marks
of a common parentage and relationship : these marks are very obvious. A Percheron, a true
Percheron, for some still exist (as the famous " Toulouse " of M. Chdradame, of Ecouch^ ;
and the renowned " Jean-le-Blanc " of M. Miard, of Villers, near Sap, in the department of
the Orne, etc., etc.), placed alongside of an Arab, presents, notwithstanding his heavier and
grosser form, analogies with him so striking that we are easily induced to believe them
undoubted relations.

The Percheron of the primitive type has a gray coat like the Arab : and, like him, an
abundant and silky mane, a fine skin, and a large, prominent and expressive eye ; a broad
forehead, dilated nostrils, and a full and deep chest, although the girth, with him, as with the
Arab, is always lacking in fullness ; more bony and leaner limbs, and less covered with hair
than those of other draft-horse families.

He has not, it is true, the fine haunch and the fine form of the shoulder, nor that swan-
like neck which distinguishes the Arab ; but it must not be forgotten that for ages he has
been employed for draft purposes, and these habits have imparted to his bony frame an
anatomical structure, a combination of levers adapted to the work he is called upon to
perform. He has not, I again acknowledge, such a fine skin as the Arab, nor his prettily
rounded, oval and small foot ; but we must remember the fact that he lives under a cold

A couple of years since a so-called Percheron stallion pur-
chased in the North West at a high figure went to Virginia. His
appearance justly entitled him in the competition at one of the
most important fairs in our State to the first premium — but
when his colts made their appearance they were of all colors and
kinds, and his owner said :

" I sold him, as he proved to be an impurely bred horse and
unworthy of the Percheron name." W. T. W.

One word more to finish. I fear that the extent to which
the Percheron horse is being imported to America has given
place to frauds, and some importers try to sell you as Percheron
horses those that are not such. Keep away from these as if they

were a pestilence; and though the owner may tell yon, "My
horse is fine and good, buy it," if he is not a Percheron, however
fine he be, do not take him to breed him with your Percheron
race. This Percheron race possesses in itself all the substance
for improvement and for beauty, provided you look well for it
and work intelligently. A horse of a good breed, should he
have grown inferior on account of a thousand reasons — of
hygiene, of food, and others — will always give better produce
than a horse of inferior breeding, though he may seem superior
to him in his present beauty and conformation. Everything is
in the race. Charles Du Hays.

Paris, Oct. 24, 1885.

95

climate, upon elevated plains, where nature gives him for a covering a thicker skin and a
warmer coat, and that he has been for ages stepping upon a moist, clayey soil.

In all that remains in him we recognize a heavy Arab, modified and remodeled by
climate and peculiar circumstances. He has remained mild and laborious, like his sire ; he is
brought up, like him, in the midst of the family, and, like him, he possesses in a very high
degree the faculty of easy acclimation. He acquires this in the midst of the numerous migra-
tions he accomplishes in Perche, the counterpart of those that the type horse makes upon the
sands of the desert. A final comparison, which has not, as yet, been sufficiently noticed, is
that, like the Arab, he has no need of being mutilated in order to be trained, managed
and kept without danger. In a word, the Percheron, notwithstanding the ages which sep-
arate them, presents an affinity as close as possible with the primitive horse, which is the
Arab.

From this similarity of form and probable relationship comes the thought of new alli-
ances. But in order to form a more easy estimate of their effects, it will not be without
interest to classify the horses with reference to their origin. This classification produces
three very distinct groups: the primitive horse, the natural horse, and the compound horse.

The Primitive Horse, Oriental in its origin, is the pure Arabian horse ; no other is
acknowledged.

During the time of the crusaders, as we have already said in our first part, in consequence
of wars and all kinds of excursions, individuals of this race were spread over almost all parts
of the globe. Although at first the prestige which their superior merits deserved led to their
being bred in-and-in, these exiles were placed under different latitudes, in different atmos-
pheric and hygienic conditions, which gradually modified their qualities and led to the
degeneracy of the race. And it became more or less degenerate in proportion as the soil
upon which the colts were foaled was colder, poorer and more inhospitable ; for the horse is
as much, and more, the soft of the soil upon which he is foaled and reared as he is of his sire and
dam.

This fact has no need of proof. We see it every day before our eyes in studying at home
the changes that our French breeds themselves undergo when transported from one province
to another. It might, however, be thought that these new latitudes, these new regions, would
differ but little from those in which they lived.

The first change that the primitive horse undergoes, from the difference of the regions
into which he has been transplanted, being due to nature itself, we call the result the Natural
Horse. — Here it is proper to remark how wise nature always is. If it modify the primitive
horse for the worse, it modifies him, however, under conditions better adapted to his wants.
In rendering him more puny, it renders him more temperate, and enables him to live and to
nourish himself upon the food that the locality is able to furnish. Submitted to the trials
and the fatigues of war, and to all the miseries in its train, the natural horse — badly built,
ungainly and puny as he is — endures fatigue almost as well as the primitive horse.

The Cross-bred Horse is, as his name indicates, the issue of a sire and dam of different
breeds. This crossing, made with a view to improvement, may give, when judicious, more
elegant, better-made and finer-bodied progeny, and also quicker in their various gaits, but
always requiring, especially if derived from the English, exceptional care, and so much the
more particular as they are of a more distingue nature.

Abandoned to himself — deprived of blankets, shelter, grooming and oats — the cross-bred
deteriorates early, and in war perishes miserably ; while the natural and the primitive horse

96

thrives in browsing upon the scantiest herbage. On this score, our two campaigns of the
Crimea and Italy have furnished unquestionable proofs.

Such is the result chiefly obtained with the too distingui English horse, even when deliv-
ered to the best working mares. In the army, especially, is this point settled ; they have
there recognized and proved that the worst subjects were always the issue of authors having
too much blood and to impressionable. No horses are more apt than these to provoke and
render ill humored, and, if I may so speak, ruin the temper of the men placed over them.

When a working race is crossed with the English, it is indispensable that the stallion
should be well bred and be but a quarter blood — a quarter at the utmost. And the manner
of balancing the blood is neither an indifferent thing nor a thing to be neglected. We
should be very careful not to accept as such the product of a full-blooded or even half-
blooded stallion and a common mare, but should rather take the product, ameliorated
through generations, of strong races that have been gradually perfected, such as, for instance,
certain Norfolk horses, certain roadsters and trotters, of which old " Jaggard " was a type,
and of which " Performer," although not so marked, vaguely recalled the memory.

Since I have mentioned the name of Norfolk, let me say that after the Arab race, of all
the foreign ones, the Norfolk trotter is the one which seems to me to offer the greatest
advantages in an alliance with the Percheron. With both, good qualities and defects are
diverse, so that they can complete and correct each other by means of a wisely combined and
carefully studied connection.

The Norfolk horse has, it is true, an ugly head, and his eye is small and destitute of
expression ; but his neck, with good lines, starts well from his breast ; his shoulder is fine and
well sloped ; his chest magnificent and his girth enormous ; his loins broad, well sustained
and well attached ; his haunches long ; his croup horizontal ; his buttocks well filled out and
low ; and his limbs strong, but not quite free enough from fat ; nor is his action always suffi-
ciently stylish, yet he has a quick and free gait.

Give to this horse a mare having a fine and expressive head, lighted up with a large,
intelligent, well-opened eye ; let her possess lean, elegant and perfect limbs, and a hundred
to one you will get a valuable colt. But, with the Norfolk, as with all others, there are
degrees, and if I cross the Channel in search of a stock horse I should wish him to possess
the following qualities :

This stallion should be rather large, have thick and strong limbs, chest fully developed,
the girth as great as possible, very heavy in the hind-quarters, buttocks descending well, fore-
head broad and open, and the eye large and expressive. He should be always shorter in
height than the mares, but quite as broad, and, I repeat it, as short-limbed as possible, on
account of an invariable, innate tendency of the English horse to height and thinness. He
should be neither cross, nor, above all, affected with that nervous sensitiveness too common
in the English breeds. His action should be quick, well kept up, bold and square. He
should have, if possible, a decided and well-pronounced color, either a dark bay or a chest-
nut. Breeding stock of his get should be chosen under identical conditions, and then they
would be on a fair footing with him, although, logically speaking, there would be always an
inclination to prefer the type to the sub-type.

But, at present, it is easy to be deceived, even in England, in regard to the stock of the
country. There is less risk in using, if he can be found, a good, heavy, Anglo-Norman horse,
bred and reared under our eyes in Merlerault or on the plains of Alengon, than a spurious
English one, which is often none other than a forlorn hope of some nameless region. In

97

fact, from certain appearance, there is reason to fear that persons from the other side of the
Channel visit the continent to do a smart thing, and purchase heavy, lymphatic colts to
bring up on some English farm, and then resell them as Norfolk horses. What kind of
improvement is to be expected from such means ? We should always respect the will of
nature, which allows us to assist her in her course, but we should never violate her laws.

Man vainly wishes to force nature with all these crosses, at which she takes exceptions.
To all this so-called science she opposes her relentless logic ; these products are an unnatural
brood, which she refuses to acknowledge as her own. She stops short, and, no matter
how good these results may appear in themselves, the error crops out, and it is known by
experience that they almost all fail when put to the test of breeding.

But suppose every measure of prudence taken, even suppose there has been no mistake,
most of the produce resulting from this first crossing will be, generally, lighter built than
their dams. However, among the number there will be found some which, uniting weight to
beauty, will constitute good types with athletic and regular forms. The latter only should
be preserved, and these only can be usefully employed, either among themselves or outside of
their own families, in the improvement of our stock.

At the second crossing, the imperfections observed at the first will disappear in a great
measure, and from the third crossing, with constant care, unflinching attention, and unwearied
patience, the difficult problem will be solved : size combined with vigor, hardiness of consti-
tution with style, and weight with elegance.

If, on the contrary, by wishing to make too quick progress, there should be too much
difference between the stallion and the mare, the resulting stock, although in appearance
successful, will always prove bad breeders, giving ungainly results, with blemishes which
would never have occurred in proceeding wisely, especially not in improving by means of the
primitive horse, all of whose ancestors are of the same race.

This latter crossing, that is, with the Arab, may sometimes give slower, but with it we
are always sure to obtain finally better results. Thus in making choice of the best Percheron
mares and crossing them with fine, but the stoutest possible Arabs, we would advance
towards certain improvements, and at the end of a few generations we would be sure to find
at each foaling season fine types, combining with the strength and docility of the dams the
style, spirit and intelligence of the sires. For, it must not be forgotten, work requires
intelligent horses ; the more they are gifted with this quality, the longer they last and the
more useful their services.

If the drunken driver of the Lyons Railroad, whose adventure is known the world over,
had not had for his working companion a brute as nobly intelligent as the old horse " Lapin,"
employed in hauling dirt carts, he would surely have perished. The driver having fallen in a
state of intoxication on the railroad, before a train descending a grade, was on the point of
being run over, when the horse, seeing him in this perilous situation and at the risk of being
himself crushed, seized him by the waist and lifted him off the track. This deed, performed
under the eyes of several squads of workmen, was soon known over the whole line, and won
for " Lapin " the title of The (invalid's and workingmen's) Adopted Son, a nobly-gained title
and well-merited reward, if ever there was one.

In the legends of all times are to be found examples of the intelligence of the Oriental
horse ; but I have never heard quoted a single one in regard to the English thoroughbred,
which seems only formed for pride, gluttony and brutality. As an example of the sagacity
of the Arab, I will limit myself to mentioning a fact witnessed by all the officers of the

98

\'

■^^•^^m'^.

PERCHERON STALLION DUKE

Imported (1878) by W. T. Walters

i6i^ Hands. 5 Years

school of Saumur. At this school there was an old Arabian known to the whole army. One
day a lady, having her handkerchief scented with I know not what perfume, passed in front
of the veteran, caressing and feeding him with dainties. From that time on, the ofificer who
accompanied the lady could never enter her parlor, although the odor of the perfume was
imperceptible to all, but the horse, on his return, was aware of the fact, and bore witness to
it, each time, by neighing and by a hundred expressions of pleasure.

The vigor and pluck of the Oriental horse have passed into a proverb. There is not a
soldier in our army who cannot bear testimony to this.

The horses of the English cavalry almost all perished in the Crimean war, whilst our
Algerian horses almost all returned. In the Italian war our Algerian horses bore well the
fatigues of the campaign, where the horses springing from the English were decimated.

It appears impossible that these two proofs should have no signification and should not
teach a lesson. Ought it not to be concluded from them that the war-horse, that is, the
horse for endurance, should only be of Arab blood, or, at least, derived from the Arab?

And are we not justified in believing that what has taken place with the war-horse
applies also to other horses destined for continuous work? Hence are we not right in always
preferring the Arab to the English stallion, when it is a question of improving the different
breeds of work and draft-horses, as well as the war-horse ?

The Arabian stallion would seem so much the more fit for this use, as a long experience
has proved that his get upon our native mares are much heavier than himself ; they, at the
same time, always transmitting a rich, unblemished blood and a solid frame — qualities which
are preserved indefinitely.

The Arab horse imparts, also, great endurance to his progeny, and without going back as
far as the turf, where we see figuring on the top round of the ladder " Arlequin," "Zephyr,"
" Valencia," " Corysandre " the Lorraine, whose dam was an Arabian of " Deux-Ponts,"
" Anthony," " Eylau," " Kasbas " and " Palmyre," let us be satisfied with citing, in mass, all
the fine and spirited breeds of Limousin, Navarre, Bigorre, Tarbes and Auvergne, showing in
every pore the presence of the Oriental blood.

It is also especially to be remarked, although the Arab does not trot and only gallops,
that all his get are quick, square trotters. We can produce numberless examples of this,
although Arab blood has been infinitely less disseminated than any other in our Northern
districts.

We can cite the famous " Eclipse," of M. de Narbonne, the no less famous ", Herminie,"
of M. Forcinal, all the descendants of " Bacha," " Asian " and " Gallipoli," which were
matchless, and the noble sons of " Massoud," " Eylau " and " Noteur." But, as all these
have a certain amount of English blood joined to the Arab, we shall be answered : It was
the English blood that trotted and gave them their winning points. We will confine
ourselves to citing only the sons of " Bedouin," all admirable trotters, though all coming of
poor Brittany mares, the " Kerims," the "Avisos" and the " Moggys," whose fine action
invariably attracts the attention of every one.

But the endurance possessed by the Arab in so eminent a degree is not the only quality to
be considered. It is also the opinion of the best breeders that the race is good tempered,
docile, patient, of great precocity, and easily raised, all of which qualities it invariably
transmits to its get.

No steeple-chase horses have shown themselves more intelligent than " Pledge,"
" Raphael," " Senora," and, above all, the immortal " Franc-Picard," by whom the best

riders found themselves excelled in the art of measuring an obstacle and mastering it
skillfully; also, these were deep in the Arab blood. If "Auricula," notwithstanding he was
a son of " Baron," with his variable and peevish temper has shown himself to be, when
he chose, one of the best leapers of our age, it is because through his dam he is of Arab
blood.

From all these considerations the Arabian seems greatly preferable to the English horse,
which exacts, moreover, too much tact and skill on the part of man. The education of the
wagon driver is not yet sufficiently advanced for him to be able to reap all the advantages
claimed of the working races. The irritability of the English horse, his impatience, and his
nervousness, which are, doubtless, of utility on the turf, are transmitted to all his descendants,
which for this very reason are less fit for work, less governable, and more trying to the
patience of the raw and ignorant driver during protracted service.

All who have raised colts out of common mares by Arabians are unanimous in opinion,
and we have ourselves proved it, that their get is generally even tempered, of a mild, willing,
and quiet disposition, easily and cheaply reared, and fit for work at three years old, thus paying
for their keep.

It is quite the contrary with the colt of English blood. He, by reason of his fractiousness,
his nervous ardor, his exacting nature, and his slow growth, requires a degree of care and man-
agement which does not permit him to render any essential service before the age of five years.

It results from this that the Arabian progeny, even at the first crossing, which is always
the most difficult and critical, pays for its nourishment from the age of three years, whilst the
English does not pay until he has reached five years, and this without counting the greater
expense of his raising and the difficulty of finding men capable of breaking and training him
without accident and bringing him safe to that quinquennial period.

Were their qualities the same, the Arabian would cost much less to the breeder than the
English horse. To the former, then, should always be given the preference in moderately rich
countries where agriculture has not arrived at great perfection. Thus it was by means of the
Arabian that Limousin, Navarre, Bigorre, the plains of Tarbes and Auvergne, all countries
neither very fertile nor wealthy, have formed their unrivaled horses, the hardiness of which
suited the productions of the soil. These being unsuited to the more delicate and less vigorous
English horse, its introduction was an injury to the native stock. In our days, Limousin has
been ruined by the introduction of English blood, as formerly, in the district of Tarbes, three
important breeders, Messrs. de Gontaut, de Bouillac, and de Montreal, ruined their studs with
the English cross.

The Arabian can be used without fear upon the undulating slopes of elevated hills, and
upon thin, stony lands, where agriculture is but little advanced ; but the English horse requires
rich, well-cultivated meadows and grassy valleys.

As regards form, the Arab cross is the surest. The sire being, if I may so speak, sui
generis, of a confirmed race, and possessing for ages a like shape, his get always resemble him,

A characteristic incident, illustrating the reputation of the
horse dealer fraternity, occurred in one of my interviews with
Mr. Du Hays, in 1865. Being cognizant of his intelligence and
familiarity with all matters connected with the horse in his
country, I enquired if he could designate to me a respectable and
honest horse dealer^ whom I might secure to assist me. " I
know them all," he replied, *' and I can assure you no such per-
son exists in all France. You may have honest and respectable

ones in your country, but I can assure you none are to be found
here ! "

Impressed with my representations of the importance that
I believed the export of Percheron horses from France would
assume in a few years, through the influence of Mr. Du Hays
and General Fleury I have enjoyed the intelligent, honest and
practical aid of Government officers, which for twenty years has
resulted in peculiar advantages to me as an importer and breeder.

no matter what may be the race, color, shape, and derivation of the dam. Only, in conse-
quence of the warmth and strength of his blood, the progeny is always larger and heavier than
the sire.

It is not so with the English horse. Made up, and not having the same confirmed nature
as the Arab, he has not the same sureness in generating. Sometimes his get is large and some-
times small. His progeny may be spare or may be stout. This comes from his ancestors
being at times of one height and at times of another, and often resembling different types.

We have dwelt, perhaps, at too great length upon our preference for the Arab cross;
it now remains to put it in practice. The method to be pursued in making this cross is
simple.

Having an Arabian of pure race, the heaviest and finest bodied that can be found, put him
to the heaviest and strongest short-limbed mares. Sell the male produce of this cross, unless
it has been a perfect success. Be less strict with the fillies, reject a smaller number, and use
the good for breeding. As much as their conformation will permit, and in order to fix the
Arab blood in a deeper and more indelible manner, some choice specimens may be put either
to their sire himself, or to such of the half-brothers as should have proved themselves the best.
But beyond the first trial, consanguineous crossings should never again be contracted, except
under exceedingly rare circumstances, or under great temptation. The dam of one of the
most justly celebrated horses of our times is the result of breeding a stallion to his dam. From
and after the second generation, colts and fillies, provided their merit had rendered them
worthy of being used as producers, might be taken as types, and as a starting point of a solid
and sure improvement of the race of a country.

When, in consequence of age and numerous generations of his own get growing up
around him, the common sire might be exposed to alliances with his grandchildren, it would
become indispensable to transfer him to a distant district by proceeding in the manner indi-
cated above.

After such an infusion of warm blood many years might elapse without the necessity of
recurring again to Arabian stock. But if it should be remarked that its distinctive character-
istics commenced to disappear from the breed, and the action became less free and light, it
should be again resorted to immediately, following the same method as before.

The light draft types at first obtained, might, according to the districts in which they are
raised, be transformed into the posting, omnibus, and even heavy draft types. But all should
be done with time and without haste nor even wishing to depart from a wise and prudent
moderation.

I cannot terminate this chapter without warning the breeder against a peculiarity which
hardly ever fails to strike a person who, for the first time, makes a trial of the Arab cross, and
which has even induced some to abandon this method without reaping its fruits. I desire to
speak of a certain disproportion, more apparent than real, of the limbs with the body. It is
thus explained : The Arabian, born and raised in a poor and barren country, is no sooner
transported to a more fertile region than a certain fullness of the body is an immediate
consequence of this change. His progeny, easily fattened, rapidly become corpulent. It
results from this, that although strongly limbed, they appear, for a large body, to have but
weak extremities. But have patience ; oats will draw in and strengthen those inflated flanks,
and, after the second generation, the stomach of the colt will enlarge on account of the food
being more abundant than concentrated, the fat will disappear, and his compact and solid
limbs will appear what they really are.

103

CHAPTER VIII

THE ENGLISH CROSS

ENGLISH blood, infused with judgment, allies well with the Percheron race, and we have
met with perfectly successful results in the midst of the disappointments which have
been the consequences of injudicious crossing. Too often these crossings have been
effected in violation of common sense, without any attention to the distance which separates
the blood-horse from the common, low-bred Percheron mare, she having no afifinity with him.
But these trials require science, wealth and perseverance, and are far from being within the
reach of ordinary breeders. Those who would succeed must possess the talent of waiting, for
unfortunately the rearing of the resulting progeny is a burden. Their slow development
renders them but little fit for the labors to which the farmer is in the habit of consigning his
colts. Then, they cannot, like the young Percheron, pass from hand to hand, and thus they
find themselves stripped of the only advantage which renders the raising of the draft colts so
profitable : avoiding embarrassment and affording a prompt profit to all through whose hands
they pass. In fact, it can easily be conceived how favorably, at present, are these chances of
profit distributed among several hands. The capital invested is soon returned ; and thus this
operation is within the reach of all purses.

The issue of English blood, if judiciously managed, will some day be finer than the
unimproved Percheron. But, although carefully looked after and abundantly fed, he will
remain puny during his early growth, and therefore his account can only be closed at a distant
date. By whom, then, is he to be raised ? By the farmer rich in ready money ? In every
country such men are rare. By the large landed proprietor? But he is not a breeder, or if he
be, it is only of race-horses.

Some half-blood English stallions noted for strength and weight, standing at Mesle-sur-
Sarthe, Courtomer and Nogent-le-Rotrou, have produced fine coach and draft-horses, but their
number has always been rather limited, and they have nearly all been raised without care, like
the half-blood colt, simply at pasture ; consequently, the profit accruing has been nothing, or
nearly nothing, and these have been able to add nothing useful in the way of example and
imitation.

On the contrary, in lower Perche, commencing at Nogent and extending as far as
Vendome, the draft-horse, properly speaking, is the only one that has been raised. The
wagon-horse is there only met with as an exception, and the cultivator is far from being the
worse off on this account. Witness the prosperity of Montdoubleau, which has become the
first market of Europe ; witness the splendid and spirited trotting mares it produces every
year, and of which the " Julies," of M. Derr6, and the " Sarahs," of M. Lamoureux, are
glorious specimens.

Perche has seen but twice, to our knowledge, good and irrefutable results obtained from
the English crossing with her race — the first, with " Sandy " ; the second, with " Bayard."
" Sandy " was a draft stallion, with a long and silky mane, a perfectly white coat, and with a
high and graceful gait, like that of an Oriental horse ; lean and strong legs, a short head,
dilated nostrils, and a large and intelligent eye. Although foaled in England, this horse was
evidently not English ; he must have come of Eastern blood, as this is so often seen among
our neighbors who successfully use the Arab blood in the formation of their draft and hunting
races.

As for " Bayard," he was a son of a Percheron mare belonging to M. Viel, of Chiffreville,.

1C4

near Argenton, one of the finest and purest ever seen. This mare had been bred to " IdaHs,"
a small and well-knit wagon-horse, son of " Don Quichotte," who descended from the thorough-
bred brood-mare " Moina." Consequently, " Bayard " had in his veins some of the best
Oriental blood, and it is to this circumstance that is attributed the vigor, gait and beauty of
all his progeny.

Perhaps the two stallions " Benvenuto " and " Fandango," which passed for Anglo-
Percherons, and which have been cited as types of draft-horse stallions, will be held up to
me as a refutation. " Benvenuto," the stallion from Pin, which has produced well in Perche,
was not the son of " Eastham " and a Percheron mare, as was said at the time in order to have
him accepted by the government, but was really out of a Percheron mare by a Percheron
stallion coming from the neighborhood of Bellesme, and the descendant of Arabian stallions
which had been standing in that district.

" Fandango," the other crossed Percheron, uniformly a successful stallion, had double cross
on the sire's side, of the blood of the of the Arabian " Dagout," and his dam, whose pedigree
has also been explained to me, came likewise from near Bellesme.

A Percheron stallion called " Jean-le-Blanc," native of Mauves, and sold about the year
1825 to a M. Viard, of Villers, in Ouche, near Sap (department of the Orne), has been the sole
improving agent of the equine race in Ouche, which, up to that time, was reduced to miserable
small horses without any stamp or value. Although heavy, powerful, and, indeed, a shaft-
horse, his gait and an indescribable something pervading his whole body recalled so thoroughly
the idea of the Oriental family that one was disposed to take him for an enlarged Arabian.
This fact, often related to us, excited our curiosity. We did not rest until, pressing inquiry
upon inquiry, one after another, we ascertained that this family had been crossed with a stallion
from the Pin stables, standing at the Chateau of Cofesmes, near Bellesme. And what was this
staUion ? The Arab " Gallipoli " !

What can be inferred from these facts, if it be not that the crossings which have best suc-
ceeded in Perche have been those of the Arab, and that the English crosses have only suc-
ceeded when tempered by contact with the Arab ?

But if the absolute want of stallions for improving the breed be felt among the pure Per-
cherons ; if it be impossible to procure either good Arabs or heavy English, freshly tempered
with Arab blood ; if important and powerful considerations compel a recourse to the English
cross, the latter should only be accepted intelligently and under good and wise conditions.
Therefore we ask leave to refer the reader particularly to what we have already advanced in
the preceding chapter upon the choice of an English stallion.

In Brittany, in the department of Finisterre, we have often heard it declared by quite a
large number of breeders, that for having wished to proceed too fast in that way, they had,
from the commencement, experienced numberless disappointments, the second generation
from the English cross being always inferior to the first. From stout sires and dams, who,

A noted horse of the true type — " Marc Anthony " of my first mare, he was certain to transmit his qualities to his get. I guar-
importation (1S66) — was sold by me and went to Shiawassee anteed his colts in every case to be gray, and never had a pen-
County, Michigan, where he stood for service many years and alty to pay.

died as recently as July, 1885. His owner in a letter to me in " I will attend your sale and ask nothing better than to secure

September last says of him : another such horse."

" He will be long remembered by his friends and patrons, " Marc Antony" will be found as one of the illustrations fur-

and quoted as the strongest blooded horse that ever was in nished Messrs. Orange Judd & Co. in 1868 for the first edition

Michigan. He was of extraordinary strength and wonderful of " The Percheron Horse." W. T. W.

action. No matter what was the color or characteristics of the

from their general appearance might be classed in the category of heavy-draft, there daily
came ungainly stock, thin, lanky, leggy, and without weight in the hind-quarter, unattractive,
of a difficult sale when young, and proving a veritable misfortune to the small farmer count-
ing upon the sale of the colt to pay his rent and having neither the place nor means to raise
him. This stock was, moreover, the object of another disappointment quite as serious as the
first ; rarely was a good worker to be found among this burdensome race.

Is not this tall, lank, weak — in a word, this abortive progeny — issue of strong and hardy
parents a strange and discouraging result? " Oh ! why is this?" exclaimed the Brittany culti-
vators. There was a simple reason for it, of which they had not learned the value. They
proceeded with race-horse speed in the way of crossing, and gave no oats. They were
ignorant of the requirements of the distingue horse ; they did not know that in the sire
and dam, or at least in one of them, there was circulating more or less English blood,
which produces strange results in proportion as it leaves its native place and reaches a poor
country or one of hard work, and in which it no longer receives the prodigal care of its native
land.

We have said that the Arab preserves indefinitely his warm blood and constantly gives
what he has not even himself — although this truth resembles a paradox — that is : a powerful
appearance and a strong frame. It is not the same with the English horse and his derivatives ;
they become thin and always degenerate. If their progeny be not fed with oats without stint
— they require this, and are heavy eaters, like everything which comes from the north — their
blood grows poorer rapidly. In successive generations of these families, born in a dull and
damp atmosphere scarcely ever visited by the sun, the legs become lean and lanky. It is
necessary to recur incessantly to new drafts of English upon English, always expensive and
requiring additional care, without taking into account that the result of too great an infusion
of this peevish and often irascible blood would be to destroy the heavy-draft race — a race that
I would like to see preserved intact alongside of the two others, though he be not suited to a
country as hilly as Perche. He might, doubtless, plow successfully the vast and smooth plains
of Beauce ; but this not the lot of all. I look for him in that busy country called Perche,
where he must, without rest or pity, with a shoulder free from all tenderness, drag heavy
vehicles to the tops of hills, and it will please me to see the play of his haunches and limbs in
descending with these loads bravely and without flinching to the bottom of the valleys.

Do you expect, also, from a horse derived from English blood that cool, restrained and
ever fresh energy, that courageous patience of which the Percheron, every day, gives an
example in the omnibuses of the streets of Paris ? Dragging at a trot heavy loads, the weight
of which frightens the imagination ; stopping short, both in ascending or descending ; starting
off freely and always without balking ; never sulking at his work or food, and fearing neither
heat nor cold : this is a specimen of Percheron qualities.

Do you expect from an unjudicious cross with English blood a good, heavy draft-horse, a
a good shaft-horse, or a true wagon-horse? No one has now any illusion on this score.

In London, a traction of only about 2,000 lbs. is required of a draft-horse. In Paris, the
horses harnessed to the heavy stone carts are required to drag as much as 5,000 lbs. each, and
often even more.

What will dealers in heavy draft-horses do ? The trade is already taxed to supply the
demand. For long experience has taught, and unjudicious crosses have proved the English
horse and his derivatives to be unfit for this purpose, for they are too nervous and not
sufficiently staunch. Thus, the trade avoids them by instinct, and by instinct avoids every

106

thing resembling them. And, on the other hand, it seizes hold of and clings eagerly to every
indication that can serve it as a sign or mark — every thing that can guide it in the search for
what it likes, and everything that can guard against its opposite.

Hence, it repels and proscribes the dark-colored coats without examination and reflection,
because they are considered the colors of the English horse ; it accepts the grays with confi-
dence, because with them it perceives the absence of the dreaded blood, and in them it has
found that which satisfies all its wants. Would we have arrived at this point if we had been
prudent, and had the cross-breeding been better understood ?

Finally, what is there at the end of this negative pole and this positive pole ? There is
the Percheron on whom has devolved, and will devolve for a long time yet, the rude and killing
mission of executing the feats of strength exacted of him by modern civilization. The profits
in supplying the demand accrue, and will accrue for a long time, to the producer.

Thus so long as machinery does not replace the horse in the traction of heavy carriages,
so long as the necessity for hard labor remains, requiring strength, intelligence, endurance, and
willingness, so long to the Percheron alone will be reserved the dangerous honor of being the
great draft power, and the price of this matchless agent will increase in proportion to the
growing impossibility of finding his substitute.

It is now the time, while crossing the active and trotting breeds with the Arab or with the
well-chosen English horse, to carefully preserve the heavy draft-horse, and, by means of
preserving and judicious crossing, retain for him his marked superiority.

These crossings, which I will sum up in concluding, may find a powerful aid in the
creation of a Stud-book of the Percheron breed.

CHAPTER IX

IMPROVEMENT BY MEANS OF THE STUD-BOOK

THE Percheron breed is old enough, is propagated with sufficient uniformity, and
presents sufficiently marked typical qualities to authorize us in claiming, in favor of
its members, the characteristics and the title of a separate and distinct breed.
Consequently a Stud-book, recording its pedigrees, would not be out of place. This book
would have the effect of concentrating the efforts of all the breeders, giving them a definite
direction, and at the same time it would designate staUions foreign to the race, and which, up
to the present time, have been presented with impunity as Percherons.

England exhibits a curious example of the influence of the Stud-book in the improve-
ment of a breed. The equine and bovine races of that country, before the establishment of
the Stud and Herd-books, were but rudimental.

The small number of colts of the Royal mares by Eastern stallions would have been lost
had they not been classed together in families in a special book.

The discovery of the value of the bull " Hubback " would have been to no purpose had
his descendants not been classified by themselves in an authentic manner.

For it is especially, and only, in the reproduction by family that a breed is formed.
Consanguinity alone can form, in the beginning, a bond of cohesion and connection among
the descendants of the primitive families. By it alone they acquire that great similarity
of shape and adaptation to particular ends, that great ancestral power, which they transmit

107

to their posterity, and which, even in a commercial point of view, gives them a superior
value.

If it be permitted me for this purpose to select an example within our reach among the
bovine races, I would say that, in Nivernais the celebrated Charollaise breed of cattle, only a
few years ago, was diffuse, without uniformity, and without commercial value. The idea of
classifying it by means of a Herd-book was no sooner put in practice than good crossings,
being all made with system, no longer lost their significance. The breed has visibly
improved, and, at present, it has acquired a value which gives it a rank immediately after the
Cotentin.

The Stud-book might be established, as we have indicated above, by inscribing therein
all the stallions and mares which had received prizes for years back, continuing this operation
for a dozen years to come, and adding therein also the animals which had not taken prizes or
had not been shown in the fairs, but which public attention had classed among the number
of types valuable on account of the beauty and sureness of their reproduction.

Parallel to the mode of improvement which I have already shown (Chapter ist. Part
Second), and which has as its agents the members of the Council-boards and the district
members of each canton, there might be formed, as a means of embracing all, a great annual
Department Fair, to be held alternately in the best towns of Perche at the time of the fairs
which attract the most people ; in Orne, at Mortagne and Alengon ; at Chartres, Nogent-le-
Rotrou, and Chateaudun, for Eure and Loir ; at Vendome and Montdoubleau for the depart-
ment of Loir and Cher. The departments of the Cote-d'Or, Nievre and Youne, which
possess the best Percheron stallions, might likewise enter into the association of the
Percheron Stud-book, for which they have all the elements.

This book would give increased value to the breed, as is easily understood, for it is the
surest of all the means of improvement and perpetuation of valuable qualities. It would
drive off, forever, the defective stallions, and those corrupted with hereditary blemishes, as
well as those coming from tainted families, which, I feel sure, would be refused a record in its
pages. The prices of colts would likewise gain by this measure, the effect being a powerful
impulse given to breeding. But it would be necessary to be very careful about ever
admitting any foreign blood, in order that the recorded herds might accumulate more and
more an ancestral force.

The Stud-book would offer still another advantage, that of permitting us to find again
the good types, should Perche some day, in consequence of bad crossings, or from want of
judgment, deviate from the true way. In fact, desire of gaining too much and of enjoying
too fast at the present tempts everybody into innovations. Our age, so eager to enjoy, and
so quick in all enterprises, has no longer the patience to wait for the im.provements that time
and study can alone confirm and solidly establish. It wants things off-hand, and for this it is
often satisfied with adulterated products, hence these injudicious crossings, hence this mania
for mixing together without discernment — a mania which threatens to destroy our valuable
national breeds.

In the midst of all this, the opposition of the army, of the government stud-stables, and
of the trade in heavy horses, bring forth new complications. The army, neither occupied in

I saw the representation of Percheron horses, drawn from (France) ; to purchase for me the best Percheron stallion he could

life, in the American Agriculturist for April, 1868, and ob- find. We can learn of no breeder of experience who does not

tained Du Hays' book, and soon after commissioned a friend think that we can raise just as good Percheron horses as we

who had lived near us and who had returned to his native land can import. W. T. W.

108

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breeding nor raising, and naturally remaining beyond the consequences it causes, encourages
these crossings, obtaining thereby, more rapidly, the horses it needs. But how many of the
horses bred by these means are not only unfit for army service, but also unfit for any service !
Indeed, with a blood stallion and a common mare, if at the first crossing, among the thin-
flanked, imperfect ones, there happen to be a passable horse, good, and with a certain degree
of style, ordinarily all progress ends there. For, by the use of the latter as a reproducer, an
animal ungainly and without value will most certainly be the result, except by chance.
The races of the south afifiliate with the Arab, and those of the north with the English ; but
the English, by the infusion of his blood, destroys the race of the south. This mode of
crossing tends, then, to cause our old French races to disappear.

At the government studs, with elevated views and with a disinterestedness to which all
delight in rendering full justice and homage, they constantly encourage the crossings in which
they see the realization of their views. They offer rewards, the most powerful of all
incentives — giving but very modest prizes to the heavy horses, proscribing the light coats
and reserving their encouragement for the light horses of dark colors.

As for the trade, it adopts but slightly the views of the army and the government
stables, and it gives its money to what has remained outside of these impulses.

With the Stud-book we will be able, without giving offence, to satisfy the army, the stud-
stables and the trade — the army and the stud-stables, which want the light, stylish, dark-
skinned horse ; the trade — omnibuses, consumption of the large cities, and agriculture — which
require weight, vigor, action, honesty, docility and endurance.

The Stud-book will furnish the means of finding types fit for all services. But the
breeders will divide themselves into two opposite parties. Those who wish the dark-skinned
light horse will breed him on the uplands and in the more barren districts. The others, in
the rich, fertile and abundant meadows, with a more nutritious food, will apply themselves to
the opposite type.

Each will work in his own sphere ; the profits, losses, successes and failures will soon be
summed up, and will soon become, on both sides, the object of minute comparisons. If the
light horse produce the most profit, his empire will soon extend over the domain of the
heavy one.

But if, on the day of reaction, it be recognized that this crossing is incapable of ever
making a good omnibus, a good shaft, or a good team horse ; if the crossed breed be set
aside for the primitive horse ; and if it come about that the Percheron of pure race is
better paid for, the fashion will soon return to him. There will the utility of the Stud-book
be felt, for it will be by means of the families preserved authentically pure, in the cantons
which had chosen them, that it will alone become possible to remold a race, compromised in
a moment of hasty judgment, and render it plentiful upon the market.

It would suffice to bring together these types, and encourage the start in order to rees-
tablish Perche in all her glory. They might even, in the end, bring back to a good condition
the lanky race that a better system, a more abundant nourishment, and more appropriate

Similar influences to those which caused the development of towards Flanders on the northeast, it is not surprising that

this noble race of horses in Perche have tended also to the some of the horses of Normandy resemble the close-knit,

ennobling of the ancient Gallic breeds in other departments of nervous Percherons, on the one hand, and others the heavy

France, through the intermingling of Arab and Andalusian Flemish cart-horses, which have been famous for their unwieldy

blood. Especially have the horses of Brittany and Normandy ponderosity for a thousand years, upon the other. "The Per-

been thus improved, as also by intermixture with the Percheron. cheron Horse," (Orange Judd & Co.).
Joining ancient Perche upon the south, and stretching out

classification, would be called on to restore to its primitive form. Some generations would
suffice to restore to it that homogeneousness that it formerly possessed, when the post-
service required of it its vigorous and swift mail-coach horses

In summing up, the Stud-book seems to me a useful agent in a triple point of view,
namely : in the preservation, perfection, and restoration of the Percheron breed.

RECAPITULATION

PRESERVE the Percheron race as pure as possible from all mixture not perfectly homo-
geneous ; respect all its varieties due to the districts where they have been bred and
raised ; improve by crossing the best types of the country, and in such a manner as to
correct defects, while preserving intact qualities and character.

If it be necessary to give more style to the action, and more richness to the blood, ask
these qualities of the Arab, which has the privilege of imparting style and tone, while pre-
serving weight hardihood, vigor and docility. The Arabian is kind, intelligent, reliable,
laborious, and easily kept.

If, in obedience to urgent considerations, and in the absence of Oriental horses, it
becomes necessary to have recourse to English blood, choose quarter-bred stallions — at the
most half-bred — but of an ancient race, and well confirmed, with a well-opened and expres-
sive eye, fine action, high spirit, and especially a total absence of irritability, and with all
the appearances of honesty and aptitude for work.

For the innate defects of the English, generally impressible, susceptible and unintelli-
gent, cannot be too carefully guarded against. Delicate, a great eater, and requiring great
care, he must, if honest, be well worked ; if not, he pays ill his cost, and robs the hand which
nourishes him. He should always be selected from a working family, and be himself a free
worker. He who wishes to embark in horse-breeding will avoid more than one shoal by
observing these simple considerations.

The delicate English horse, fond of his manger, bearing but little continuous and
monotonous work, requiring of those that have charge of him tact, mildness and an
advanced equestrian education, is the horse of the rich man, and the man of pleasure, of the
the lover of the turf and chase, and of the wealthy farmer, who looks more to the beauty of
his stock than to the quantity of its work.

The Arabian — sober, energetic and laborious — is the horse for the small proprietor, the
soldier and the laborer. He is the wealth of the poorer and less improved countries.

The draft-horse is only suited to the farmer, and his size should be adapted not only to
the district in which he is to be used, but also to the standard of cultivation of the country,
and to the means of the person requiring his services. He may be improved, may be a
trotter, and may be more stylish, but should always be adapted to the means of the breeder,
and to the richness of the country. A large and fine animal would only vegetate in the
hands of a person whose land is scarcely sufficient to support his family. He should only
be owned by the wealthy farmer. And, on the other side, the latter should never raise his
eyes to the blood horse, which should be left to those who have been a long time accus-
tomed to the risks inseparable from his breeding and training.

A final word will make my thoughts better understood.

I desire to speak of the financial question, which is everything in breeding and in agri-

culture. The best and the only manner of considering this is to compare the breeder at the
start, at the beginning of his career, and when his career is ended, to verify the results. This
operation is nothing short of a settlement of accounts.

In my travels I became acquainted with two neighboring districts. One was rich, fertile
and productive, eminently suited to breeding superior fancy horses. But they were poorly
raised therein ; the farmers disdained rearing horses suited to the soil, and the horses they
did breed, already bad from the very start, were raised in idleness, and poorly fed, on account
of their earning nothing. The other district was poor, and the soil produced only what could
be wrested from it by force. However, by dint of labor, agriculture flourished. The horse,
chosen with care, suited the country, worked well, and all prospered.

The fancy struck me to compare the settlements of estates in these two districts, and
here are the results of this examination :

In the first district the breeders all commenced and entered upon their career with
capital. Notwithstanding this, eighteen out of twenty died over head and ears in debt.

In the second, they were almost all former servants or farm hands, possessing only their
savings with which to establish themselves. In spite of these difficult beginnings, seven-
teen out of twenty left fortunes to their children, who, the reverse of the children of the
former, were early accustomed to labor and to a regular life. It is useless to say that in these
examples I always excepted the cases where trade, to carry on its business, sheltered itself
under the cloak of the breeder ; for this does not constitute breeding any more than the trade
in bread stuffs carried on in a farm house constitutes agriculture.

Finally I would call the attention of the Percheron farmer to two suggestions. Suppose
the supply of horses from the departments of Orne, Eure and Loir, Loir and Cher, Eure and
Sarthe, and from the district of Mortagne, now amounting to about sixty thousand head,
should outrun the demand of the omnibuses and wagons; the remedy for this would be to
aim at greater style and beauty, at the same time preserving the qualities required by the
omnibuses and express companies. We would thus create another outlet for our stock,
through the demands of the dealers in fancy horses, and the consumption of the army, and
bring the Percheron race very near to perfection.

No disappointment need be feared in crossing the Percheron with a foreign stallion,
either a heavy Arabian, a strong, well-bred Merlerault, or a dark colored Norfolk, on the
express condition that this stallion should be selected with care, and be of the best stock of
his breed. The Arabian can be placed everywhere, both on poor land and in the hilly
districts ; where the progeny of the other stallions would not thrive, his will succeed well.
The get of the Merlerault, and of the English horses especially, require the most fertile and
the best cultivated districts.

If the results of these crossings, male or female, be successful, they may be well employed
in breeding, and, after some generations, in the districts where breeding is carried on with
care, they may become the starting point of a choice stock. Commencing with the qualities
of good and substantial post-horses, the Percheron could be elevated to the dignity of the
carriage-horse, and in other less fertile localities to staunch and compact hunters.

Those showing no improvement (too many of which are met with) would find a market
open to them in the trade, among the moderately rich, and in the army, especially in the
artillery. The males, when castrated at an early age, would be more acceptable to the trade,
and, while ceasing to dishonor the privileged class and the class destined for reproduction,
could be used for numerous purposes. For the gray horse the outlets are necessarily more

"3

limited. When tlae omnibuses and teamsters have taken their complement of 6,000 or 7,000
horses, and when the foreigner has gathered up his 600 or 700 choice specimens, there no
longer remains a sufificient demand for the second-rate stock.

As there now exist neither dihgences, couriers, mail nor post-coaches, for which the
gray Percheron was formerly required for the night road service, there is no longer any
imperious reason for preserving his old coat ; henceforth he may be bay or dark colored.
And, provided he becomes so by the aid of a dark-coated Arabian, or a heavy, well-bred
Merlerault, or by a fine specimen of a Norfolk, the type of his race, I see therein no
inconvenience.

When steam machines, to supply the hands which are wanting, will plow our fields and
perform the hardest work, we will have no longer to regret that our Percheron laborers have
not the gray color which possessed the property of turning the scorching rays of the sun.
One of our greatest writers, one of our lights in equestrian science, has, however, written :

" The use of stallions of mixed blood, borrowed from foreign races, left but regrets in
Perche. It has produced vices of disposition and blemishes which did not belong to the
Percheron horse, and has given him in exchange no good quality. It has disturbed the
structure of the progeny without any gain in form or endurance."

Notwithstanding all my respect for this high authority, let me be allowed to ask him if
he has ever seen the progeny, too rare, it is true, of some well-chosen stallions in close afifinity
to Percheron blood, called " Gallipoli," " Sandy " and " Bayard "? Never did finer results
gratify the pride of a breeder, never did trotters drag heavy diligences with more power and
ease, and never did sons transmit more faithfully to their descendants the image and
characters of their ancestors. Doubtless he was only shown the numerous and hetero-
geneous progeny of even the best full-blooded stallions " Sylvio," " Eylau," " Reveller," and
others by Percheron mares — crossings so surprising in their absence of afifinity that I am still
astonished that the thought of them ever entered a reasonable mind.

When in the absence of stallions of our own, such as we wish, I advise the use of foreign
ones, I do not give this counsel blindly, but select the types appearing to me the best
adapted to the purpose, and instead of proceeding with giant strides I would pursue the
work with a patient and prudent slowness.

PART III

Information to Strangers Wishing to Buy Ferchertn HorseS

LTHOUGH I consider Perche an exceptional country for the pro-
duction of good horses, I attribute to its air, to its water, and to
the nutritiveness of its grasses the admirable qualities of the
animals bred therein. I am convinced that the excellent care, the
wise management, exempt alike from pampering indulgence and
from the harsh treatment which irritate the disposition, and from
which the good teacher never departs in his intercourse with his
pupils, contribute a great deal to the success of the result. Start-
ing from this point, I think I can assert that with care and this
identical management, horses can be elsewhere produced that
Perche would not disown. It is, then, the recapitulation of this method and management
which should be presented to the stranger desirous of raising the Percheron horse. I will
tell him what the cultivator of this country does, and in doing like him, provided he make
the attempt in a high, healthy district, a district with a sharp air and one often refreshed by
winds, presenting some analogy to the rugged hills and the excellent grass valleys of Perche,
no doubt he will arrive at magnificent results. Several suppositions may be presented to the
consideration of the stranger wishing to raise Percheron horses. Either he should buy in
Perche a mare in foal, or purchase four or five months' old colts, which he wishes to wean in
his own country, or his purchases will be made of yearlings, or, finally, he will carry with him
full-grown males and females, or only one or the other sex for the purpose of breeding.

Each one of these suppositions can be determined by the practical knowledge of
breeding, and by the study of the methods practiced in Perche, and may suggest as many

"S

chapters. But, before undertaking anything, I will ask this amateur if he really loves the
horse, and if he admits the qualities needed in the Percheron breeder. If he answers in the
afifirmative, I will enter upon the subject. If, on the contrary, he be not sure of himself and
of the agents that he is to employ, I might as well throw aside my pen and not write another
word.

The disposition of the Percheron breeder towards his horses is that of a never-changing
mildness ; and this is why his horse is so gentle and so docile. The Percheron loves his
horse, but not with an affection resembling that hearty passion, that sudden blaze of regard,
too explosive to last long, of certain amateurs ; he loves the horse with an hereditary love, a
family love, if I may so express it, and the horse, on his side, loves him hereditarily. The
women and children have generally the care of the horse while the men are in the fields.
Hence the even and amiable temper of the horses raised under this system. The Percheron
cultivator possesses, above all, great patience and a supreme control over himself, indispen-
sable qualities in training young colts, which, if treated with harshness, would soon lose their
heads, and become infallibly nervously timid if subjected to violence and impatience. Here
lies the secret of good training and the art of uniting in the horse a cool and calm temper
with a decided character. He is laborious and loves to stir the soil ; hence his practice of
early working the colts, which renders them laborious and honest. But as he is, above all,
intelligent and loves in a rational way, he only requires of them work in proportion to their
strength, and gives them good nourishment. This management, uniting work and good food,
is an admirable means of giving strength, health and a good constitution. Finally, the
Percheron inhabits a broken country, where he must constantly ascend and descend. This
circumstance is most favorable in giving strength and suppleness to his shoulders, haunches
and hoofs, which, by turns, work and rest in this unparalleled district.

This portrait is not only applicable to the large proprietors and to the farmers, but
to all the Percheron population. There is not a man in this district who has not been
a working man, who has not raised, trained and driven colts, and who, even in his tenderest
age, when he could walk and hold a little whip, has not lived among the horses and played
between their legs. It requires no searching here to find a man acquainted with the horse,
a good farm hand ; the first face you meet with is that of an intelligent agent, and a trust-
worthy one in the difficult art of training colts.

If you have such men at your disposal, undertake boldly your task ; but if the proper
men are wanting, forbear, for you will arrive at nothing satisfactory.

CHAPTER I

FOOD AND BREEDING

The stallion, in the districts inhabited by mares, is, with some rare exceptions, a "rover,"
that is to say, he visits the farms at stated periods. His standing season lasts six months,
from January to July, and he generally returns four times to the same place. The foal
is dropped, ordinarily, very early, and always in the stable, where it constantly remains until
weaning time. The dam goes to work every day and leaves its foal each morning, to see it
again only in the middle of the day and at night. Green clover or other green forage is fed
to keep up her supply of milk.

ii6

At six months the colt is weaned. If it be a filly, it remains in the canton where it was
foaled, to be put to breeding when it reaches the proper age. If it be a horse colt, it is sold
to the farmers of the raising districts, of which we will speak in the chapter devoted to the
trade.

The stock of these districts is recruited from two sources, the southern region principally
(in the vincinity of Montdoubleau and Chateaudun), on account of the great reputation of its
mares. The cultivator desirous of rearing good colts traverses these districts as early as the
month of June, and makes his choice of colts from under the dams and out of herds of estab-
lished reputation. This manner of selecting stock to raise is the most logical, as also the
most expensive. It is much in favor with the farmer carrying on a large business in the
neighborhood of Mauves and Regmalard. Some cultivators of the other cantons follow his
example ; but, not so rich as he, they have but the second choice.

The second source, and the most abundant, is the purchase of gang colts — that is to say,
those which in Perche have not been sold during the summer ; but principally those from the
neighborhood of Coulie, to the northwest of Maus, and those of lower Maine. They are
brought, entirely weaned, to the fairs of Perche about the end of autumn. St. Andrew's
fair, at Mortagne, offers a curious specimen of this operation. The farmers select from the
gangs. The origin, in this case, is no longer of any account ; there is neither sire nor dam to
weigh down the scales; the merit is all exterior — of the individual. If this way of buying
be not so dear, it is likewise not so sure, unless the purchaser be acquainted with honest
dealers, accustomed to bring in only good colts.

There is but little trouble taken in weaning the colts. This passage from one period of
life to another, always so serious with thoroughbred colts, takes place quite simply with the
future field laborers. They wean themselves in the trip from their birthplace to their new
destination. The farmers in the neighborhood of Regmalard, who ordinarily buy them very
young, give a little cow's milk on their arrival, to strengthen them, and to serve as a transi
tion ; but even this method is far from universal.

The colts, when they come upon the farms, are put five or six together, pell-mell, into
an indifferently ventilated stable, which receive its light through a lattice door. Their nour-
ishment consists of a very thin mush, made of barley flour and bran, frequently renewed.
The solid portion of their food is composed of dry clover and hay, with which their cribs are
regularly filled.

Some farmers feed aftermath, which is sweeter ; but as this is apt to load the stomach, in
order to render it more easily digested, it is mixed with oat-straw.

It is very rare that these colts, changed from one district to another, often making long
stages, and exposed to the inclemencies of the weather, are not attacked with strangles.
Many raisers at this period have the pernicious habit of giving them some kind of grain, in
order to warm them up, and cause them to throw off the disease. But this food has the fault
of thickening the blood too much, and exposes them to numerous ailments.

This diet is continued until the spring, at which time the colts are given green fodder in

An inspection of the horse will convince any one that this northern section of New York. This it is which makes the

race is the origfin of the Canadian pony, about the valuable horses of those regions so highly valued all over the Union as

properties of which little need be said, as they are well known road-horses ; while it is a remarkable fact in those States where

and highly prized in this section of the country, and still more the attention of breeders has been exclusively devoted to the

to the north, where they have undoubtedly given stamina and English race-horse, the carriage-horse and stage-horse is almost

character to the horses of Vermont, New Hampshire, and the universally supplied from the North. W. T. W.

117

the stable. Later, they are turned into the clover fields after the first cut, or into the
meadows after they are mowed.

At eighteen months they commence their apprenticeship ; passing their necks through
the collar, they are harnessed to plows or wagons with horses already broken, although of an
age at which, in many countries, their equals are as yet ignorant of all labor. The food,
composed of clover principally, hay, millet straw, corn salad {Feticus), and cracked rye,
baked in loaves, becomes from this time forth a little more nourishing. They also com-
mence to eat oats, but, as yet, sparingly. This is not given them pure, but with the chaff —
that is to say, it is not winnowed. The quantity of this food used by day is not less than ij4
to i^ gallons, yielding not much more than one-third of a gallon of oats. On the other hand,
the meal and the mush are increased, to give them body and strength. At thirty months old
they are still kept upon this food, in the midst of all the farm work, which they daily perform
(with, however, a great deal of moderation), and in dragging very light burdens ; for, truly, it
is but a training, to confirm the hereditary mildness of their character, and to teach them,
little by little, to become willing and fearless.

In the meanwhile the dealer, who roams constantly about among the farms, arrives. He
buys and resells immediately to the farmers of Little Perche and Thimerais. More stimulat-
ing feed is given them, in consequence of more constant and harder work. This life lasts a
year, and is terminated by the passage into Beauce, or the Chartres country, where their
work is again increased. With the work the feed increases, and this combination leads to the
perfection of the horse.

It is at this time that the horses, having attained their maturity, and the maximum of
their strength, are bought for Paris, whither they are called by relentless labor, which they
are enabled to endure by their unconquerable will, great muscular force, energy and courage.

"This mode of training," to borrow the words of a noted breeder, "represents the divi-
sion of labor, which gives such happy results in the manufactories, and its advantages
cannot be well appreciated, except by those who, having raised horses, know what embar-
rassment an assemblage of colts of all sizes and ages produces. Unfortunately, it would be
very difificult to introduce this excellent custom elsewhere, which has probably existed for
ages in Perche without the knowledge of its source."

The colts destined for breeding are generally devoted to this purpose at the age of two
years, and continue, on an average, until they have attained the age of four. I speak of Little
Perche, for in Great Perche, since the foundation of the Equestrian Society, the seat of which
is at Chateaudun, and which extends its action to quite a distance, the covering is done by
adult stallions. At four, they are sold either to Paris, or to foreigners, should their merit
render them worthy of such a choice.

This total emigration of the male colts at the age of six months renders it very difificult
to procure good stallions of this breed. From Great Perche they are scattered among the
trade, often before the age of a sure selection. When they are sought after in Perche, they

The price of genuine Percherons has been advancing steadily are now absolutely excluded from it, Percheron breeders in this

for some years. The result has been that almost any kind of a country will be obliged to keep the blood of their breeding

draft-horse bought in the French markets may have been, and horses and mares strictly within the herd-book limits. The

actually has been, bought and imported, if not under the name tendency will be, of course, after a few generations, to breed

of Percheron, then as Norman or as Percheron-Norman — un- out the evidences of alien blood. This will take place except in

less, indeed, they may have come from Boulogne or Flanders cases of careless breeding and feeding and the neglect of the

and gone by their true names. The value of our Percheron well-known conditions which have contributed to the formation

stud-book will be perceived when one sees that, as these horses of the race as we know it.

Ii8

are no longer to be found ; they must then be followed and hunted up on the Beauce farms,
and this pursuit is extremely difficult. It, however, offers greater chances of success than
the Chartres market, where the greatest number of mature Percheron horses are to be found.

As for the fillies, their experience is the same as that of the colts, with this single
difference, that their life is exempt from migration. They are raised in the region in which
they are foaled. They work from a very early period, bear two or three colts, and then
disappear, like the males, in the vortex of consumption. For, beyond some exceptional
cases and remarkable productions, it is rare that they grow old upon the farm. The farmer,
in order to lose nothing of their value, sends them off at the age of five, six and seven years.
It would be a happy thing, as we have already said, if sufficient inducements in the way of
prizes could be offered to retain the fine breeding-mares upon the soil, and put an end to this
custom, so inimical to progress.

The farmers who have pasture grounds, as in the environs of Regmalard, make use of
them for raising their colts, as is done in Merlerault and in the Auge Valley. Instead of
letting them loose in the fields, they are sent to pasture.

The hay of the valleys is good, but insufficient for the supply of the farms ; the deficit
is made up by the use of artificial fodders ; in which clover enters for three-quarters ; the
remainder is composed of fenugreek, lucern and some roots. Millet or barley and oat straw
are also given as food, and in certain cantons they are stacked in alternate layers with the
meadow grass, in order to give them the odor and fragrance of hay — an ingenious method of
making an unattractive food acceptable.

The stables, although much better than formerly, in the good old times of the race, still
leave a great deal to be desired. They are not furnished with stalls, but the horses are tied
alongsde of one another without any separation. But such is the gentleness of character of
this breed that an accident was never heard of.

The whole of the management which we have just described has a marked tendency
towards constantly enlarging the horse at the expense of his nervous system.

This diet, completely out of place in a mild, grain producing country, has reason for
existing in Perche, and the Percheron cultivator knows too well what he does in employing
it, not to have understood this. The climate and the products of Perche, the air and the
water, affect too exclusively the nervous system not to require being constantly combatted.

For this I desire to take an example in the whole animal kingdom stocking this country.
Everybody to-day well knows the influence of climate upon animals. No one now any
longer doubts that it is to the sharp and healthy air of the Percheron country, to its elevated
hills and to its atmosphere constantly renewed by the powerful ventilators of its valleys and
forests, that this country owes the eminent qualities of its fine race of horses, which has won
for it the right of displaying this significant title: "Perche, the land of good horses."
Everything surrounding us inclines us to adopt this opinion. The domestic animals brought
here are transformed, in a short time, by the contact of the air breathed and the nourishment
furnished. The marked types of the Billot and Crevecceur fowls are no sooner brought here

There have been large numbers of stallions imported which This second period of the history of the Percheron horse in

ought to have been altered on arrival. They are doing little this country may be considered to begin with the issue of Mr.

good, if not mischief, somewhere to-day. They seemed just the Walters's translation of Du Hays' book, " The Percheron

ones described by Du Hays as having wrought such injury to the Horse." Enough had already been seen and known of this

pure Percherons on their home pastures. American breeders breed to create an interest in the subject which took definite

should beware of them, even though they may have been regis- form at once. " The Percheron Horse " (Orange Judd &

tered both in French and American stud-books. Co.).

119

than at the first generation a total change is effected in their looks. From the second
generation it is difficult to recognize them in the thin, lean and nervously formed fowl, with a
wild look and always ready to take wing.

The bovine race of Perche is also far inferior to the improved race. It is the opposite of
the kind prized nowadays, the race which is mild, lymphatic and short-legged, always inclined
to fat, and having in its bony frame only just enough to serve it for its locomotion, forming a
quadrilateral of flesh, mounted on four small legs, a rump bending with its haunches, a broad,
smooth back and a low brisket. Its horns, which are seemingly useless in a country from
which man has driven out the wild beasts, fall overlapping one another, like a useless
ornament, upon the head.

Such is not the Percheron breed of cattle ; on the contrary, it is dry and bony, of a
nervous temperament, long legs, angular haunches, contracted chest, lank thigh and thin neck
with a long, thin head. Two long horns of a greenish white stand up in the air, always
threatening, as in a savage country infested with dangerous animals. An expressive word
designates them fully : a cattle dealer will tell you they are " staggy," and will pass on without
bestowing upon them a glance. They are hardly fit for quick fattening and are recognized
without trouble by their color, which, in terms of the trade, is said to be " a little weak" and
by their skin, which is dry and harsh. The dealers appropriately express their condition by
" no good points." The bulls, especially, are tough, with big horns, bony limbs, large joints, an
ugly head and the whole difficult to fatten, which well entitles them to the full application of
the epithet, ''boorish beasts," invented to express animals of inferior quality.

It is in vain that Maine, the district which joins it, has given to Perche its race of cattle ;
they have degenerated, have become taller, lanker, less easy to fatten and have preserved no
trace of the fine head and the good fore-quarters that are to be found in Maine. In vain has
Normandy poured out a generous blood. The Norman type hardly appears ; it is degenerated
and entirely loses the agreeable color, fine head, good limbs, white horns and other good
points.

For several years the fashion of crossing with the Cotentin race has become universal
and continues to make rapid progress. From the second generation, nevertheless, there
remains almost nothing in the conformation and in the quality of the stock to show the
cross. It is only by dint of always crossing with the Cotentin that Perche has been able to
make for itself her present passable stock.

The sheep, sufffciently delicate for the table, are small, and form a degenerate and
nameless mixture of the breeds of Maine, Caux and Trennes, crossed for several years back

I have frequently been questioned as to my reasons for select-
ing this horse for farmers' use in preference to the English
draft-horse. My reply has always been, that the draft-horse of
England, whenever brought to this country, must prove a
failure. He wants the go-ahead principle ; he cannot move out
of a walk, which is saying quite enough of him, without dwell-
ing upon his defects of form, which can only be concealed by
loads of fat, and not even then from the eye of the horseman.
The true Percheron, or Norman diligence horse, on the con-
trary, combines more strength with activity than any horse I
ever sat behind. All travelers, on entering France, are struck
with the properties of these horses as displayed in drawing the
ponderous machine called a diligence, by which they are con-
veyed through the kingdom at a rate fully equal to the average
of stage traveling in this country. English horsemen confess

that their road-horses could not hold out the same pace before
the same load.

I will close this letter with an extract or two from an able
article on the Norman horse in the British Quarterly Journal
of Agriculture : ' ' The horses of Normandy are a capital race
for hard work and scanty fare. I have never seen such horses at
the collar, under the diligence, the post-carriage, the cumbrous
and heavy voiture, or cabriolet for one or two horses, or for the
farm cart. They are enduring and energetic beyond descrip-
tion ; with their necks cut to the bone, they flinch not ; they put
forth all their efforts at the voice of the brutal driver or at the
dreaded sound of his never ceasing whip ; they keep their con-
dition when other horses would die of neglect or hard treatment.
A better cross for our horses cannot be imagined than those of
Normandy." "The Percheron Horse'' (Orange Judd & Co.).

with the Merino. They present the same conditions as the horned animals. Like them, they
are difficult to fatten and are not lymphatic, notwithstanding the frequent importations of
the heavier and fleshier breeds.

Such predispositions can only come from the soil, and the constant sway of the nervous
over the lymphatic system produces all the qualities of the Percheron horse. This is why
tradition has painted such a seductive picture of his construction and qualities. This is why
the old inhabitants, who had seen that fine breed before its degeneration, speak of it with so
much warmth. This is why, notwithstanding the incredible crossings, it has withstood such
mixtures. And this is why it is always energetic, in spite of the diluted nourishment without
tonic properties which is given it, and which would be enough to bastardize a race with
characteristics less fixed and permanent.

Let us, however, beware of utterly condemning the management of the breeders, and let
us not entangle, with an imprudent hand, the threads of his traditions. The horse is his sole
fortune, and in the raising of this aid of his agricultural labors, he gains to-day his livelihood.
His management has a fixed end, to which he always tends with an incredible perseverance,
and that is to increase the size of his horses without prejudice to their good qualities.

Now that the country is covered with excellent roads and highways ; that railways have
accustomed us to great speed ; that diligences and mail-coaches are forever gone ; that the
stylish carriage horse, the hunter and the half-blood have reached great perfection, the role
of the Percheron is completely changed. He is no longer the hunter, the saddle-horse, nor
the motive power of heavy wagons over new and broken roads ; he remains exclusively both
the quick and mettlesome draft-horse, and the heavy burden and express wagon horse. He
must possess superior strength, speed, docility, temper and honesty, and a complete absence
of irritability. It is for this reason that, after having listened to enthusiastic advisers and
allowed himself to be led astray by men too eager to enjoy the result of their ideas, he to-day
is no longer to be cajoled by the solicitations of the amateurs of foreign blood. The Per-
cheron cultivator does not wish even a single drop of it, and exerts himself exclusively in
producing heavy horses. Encouraged in this way by the dealers of all countries paying
excessively high prices for the big and heavy Percheron horse, while leaving upon his
hands, without the offer of a farthing, the horse in which a few drops of "blood" can
be perceived, he has spread his sails and stretched them boldly to catch the breeze of
the day.

We shall carefully avoid following the example of numerous famous doctors, the display
of our little bundle of receipts. Let it be, however, permitted us to touch again slightly
upon the question in expressing the fear that, should he not take care, the breeder of heavy
horses will in the end render them too heavy and weighty. Stallions having a small touch of
blood, well applied, and sufficiently latent not to excite mistrust, having action, good limbs,
strong loins and deep chest, are indispensable for warming up the Percheron blood and giving
it tone. Look at "Sandy," and afterwards at "Collin," "Bayard," and some others whose
influence was immense. Their progeny, magnificent in every respect, did not show too much
blood in their exterior, but revealed it vigorously by action and high spirit. The crosses
which have best succeeded with the Percheron are undoubtedly, as shown by numerous
example, those derived themselves from an Oriental cross. This fact, which cleariy proves
that the Percheron race has a great affinity with the race of the desert, should not be
neglected in foreign alliances.

As for the English alliances, these have not given as yet all the results promised ; but

from this nothing must be inferred against new trials. Too much blood had constantly been
used, and consequently the end was missed by wishing to proceed too rapidly.

Little blood, at first, but blood well chosen, from the Norfolk race, blood patiently
infused into Percheron veins, is the means of triumphing over old prejudices and opening to
this country an extensive and successful future.

CHAPTER II

TRADE. — GLANCE AT THE MOST CELEBRATED BREEDING PLACES

THE good horses are generally bought upon the farms, and among these the dealers are
constantly roaming. The trade of the whole of France, and the numerous and
intelligent amateurs from abroad, visit them carefully, beating the country and
searching it in all its farthest corners. Still, notwithstanding the purchases there made,
the fairs are not wanting in numerous and good animals. We will, like these strangers,
run over the best breeding places.

As an equine country, " Perche, the land of good horses," is divided into three very
distinct districts.

That in which the colts are foaled — stocked exclusively with mares and fillies ;

The district in which the male colts are weaned and raised ;

And that in which they are brought to perfection — a privilege which it shares with
Beauce and the Chartres country which it bounds.

All the territory north, west and south of the district of Mortagne (Orne) comprising
the cantons of Moulins, Bazoche, Pervenchferes, Bellesme, Theil, and part of Noc^, possesses
breeding-mares as well as fillies. In Sarthe, the canton of Montmirail ; those of Mont-
doubleau and Droud in Loir-and-Cher ; those of Alluye, Bazoche, Cloyes, Authon, Brou and
Nogent-le-Rotrou, in Eure-and-Loir, are likewise centres where only fillies and breeding-
mares are to be met with. Courtalain, on the south border, is also celebrated for this
specialty.

The raising of male colts occupies all the east, centre and north of the district of
Mortagne — that is to say, the cantons of Mortagne, Tourouvre, Lougny, Regmalard, and
part of Noc6. This division, however, is not always distinctly marked upon the borders.
The parishes upon the confines of each district, such as Bazoches, Courgeoust, Pin, Saint-
Ouen, Noc6, Berdluis, etc., have farms stocked exclusively with fillies, whilst others possess
only stallion colts.

The region for the mares is itself divided into two cantons : that of the north and that
of the south. The southern is the most renowned, inasmuch as its mares pass for having
retained the characters of the old Percheron race more closely. It comprises the cantons
outside the district of Mortagne. Montdoubleau is the capital.

The northern, enclosed in the district of Mortagne, counts three very distinct varieties,
namely :

The pure Percheron races in the south, and in the canton of Bazoches ; in the west, in
the parishes which border on Mesle-sur-Sarthe, mares possessing in various degrees some
English blood, got from the government stud of Mesle-sur-Sarthe, which is composed
exclusively of thoroughbred stallions ; the canton of Moulins, in the north, nourishes

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another high-spirited variety, endowed with excellent action, but deficient in height.
Accordingly it is more valued for furnishing good horses for service than for furnishing
ameliorating types.

The best centres for stallions colts are : Regmalard, which is, if I may so say, the
principal place for good stallions ; Mauves, which furnished, thirty years ago, the famous
stallion, Jean-le-Blanc, of M. Miard. For fillies, Villers-en-Ouche, which stocked this
country with magnificent Percheron mares ; Verrieres, Corbon, Comblot, Courgeou, Loisail,
Reveillon and Villiers.

As for the rest of Perche, it supplies Beauce and the Chartres country, on account of the
great similarity existing between them. A country of transition, it buys colts to plow the
fields, keeps them only a year, and sells them grown to the cultivators of Beauce, to be sent
to Paris after a sojourn of a year or so upon their farms. The environs of Courville —
Chateauneuf, Brdzolles, La Loupe, Champroud, Thiron, Pontgouin, Verneuil, etc. — are
celebrated for the taste of its farmers for fine horses. Illiers, which formerly possessed this
specialty, has occupied itself for several years in weaning colts.

CHAPTER III

SPEED AND BOTTOM OF THE PERCHERON HORSE

WE have said that one of the distinctive qualities of the Percheron horse, and one which
has won for him universal esteem, was fast trotting while drawing a heavy load. It
would be, however, an error to suppose that this faculty of fast trotting puts him on
a level with the blood-horse. The latter draws little, it is true ; but he has a long stride, and-
as regards mere speed, he beats the Percheron out and out. For the presence upon the turf
of such horses as " D^cid^e " and " Sarah," who have trotted against blood-horses of the first
order, sometimes honorably beaten and more often victorious — the presence, I say, of such
horses is but a happy and rare exception.

The specialty of the Percheron, quick draft, has, then, its limits, and it is these limits that
I wish to make known by means of numerous examples collected with care.

What the Percheron has done in the diligences, mail and post-coaches is known to every,
body ; and it is useless to repeat it. From one relay to another, never dragging less than
two, and more often three thousand pounds, in hot weather and cold, and over hilly, diflScult
roads, he made his three leagues to the hour easily, and sometimes four; but this was the
" ne plus ultra" beyond which it was not reasonable to go.

What he does in the omnibuses, the world that visits Paris realizes and admires. And
this is one of the three principal attractions of the Percheron horse to the intelligent
stranger.

It now only remains for us to follow him upon the turf and sum up the time made in the
trots won by him.

The courses, for some time frequented by him, are those of Illiers, Courtalain, Mont-
doubleau and Mortagne; and here he is always to be found. It is, also, indispensable to
notice, in order to be strictly impartial, that these tracks, except the new one at Mortagne,
finished two years ago, were only plowed fields, hard in dry weather, but cut up like a peat-
bog in wet times; that the track of Mortagne, as is well known, is placed on a steep side-hill,

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and joins to the above defect the one of offering three steep inclines, up and down, like the
roof of a house, within a distance of 3,000 feet. The horses which had done the best else-
where failed on this track, and took a long time to make the distance. It is to this circum-
stance that is to be attributed the low average time, but it is this also which shows us the
courage of the Percheron. When a colt of thirty months (and of these there were a number)
had bravely accomplished his task and had gone two or three times around this killing track,
it could be boldly predicted that there was in him the making of a staunch and valuable
horse. To all this let us add that, either under saddle or in harness, the Percheron is almost
always placed in an unfavorable situation. Mounted, he is put into the hands of a youth,
ardent, without experience and without calculation, who pushes him without discretion in
the beginning, and is totally ignorant of the jockey's art. Harnessed, he is covered with
heavy and inconvenient gear, and he drags either a big, heavy-running wagon, or a poor, low,
traveling tilbury.

The following list shows the result of 196 trotting matches, officially reported upon the
turf, and two trials to prove bottom, likewise certified with care, and will give an average
of what the Percheron is capable of doing either upon rugged, cut up, or hilly tracks, or
upon the highways of a densely populated district.

CHAPTER IV

SPEED OF THE PERCHERON HORSE
MOUNTED PERCHERONS

ij Miles 29 Results

THE best two are those of "Julie," at Montdoubleau, in 1864, time, 3 minutes 50
seconds; and of " Godius," at the same place, in 1857, time, 3 minutes 58 seconds.
The poorest two results are those of " Vidocq," at Mortagne, in 1865, time, 7
minutes 37 seconds ; and of " Lansquenet," same place, in 1861, time, 7 minutes 48 seconds.
The average time of 29 recorded trials is about 4 minutes 12^ seconds.

i| Miles 31 Results

The best two are those of " Vaillante," at Mortagne, in 1864, time, 4 minutes 38 seconds ;
and of "Julie," at Montdoubleau, in 1864, time, 6 minutes 14 seconds.

The poorest two are those of "Mouche," at Mortagne, in 1855, time, 9 minutes 18
seconds; and of " Biche," at Mortagne, in 1855, time, 8 minutes 30 seconds.

The average time of 31 trials is about 6 minutes 40 seconds.

2 Miles 40 Results

The best two are those of " Cocotte," at Illiers, in 1861, time, 6 minutes 5^ seconds;
and of " Sarah," at the same place, in 1865, time, 6 minutes 2 seconds.

The poorest two are those of " Balzane," at Illiers, in 1859, time, 9 minutes 40 seconds;
and of " Renaud," at the same place, in 1850, time, 10 minutes 30 seconds.

The average time of 40 trials is about 7 minutes 20 seconds.

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2^ Miles 65 Results

The best two are those of "Sarah," at Langou, in 1865, time, 7 minutes 35 seconds;
and of the same at Mortagne, in 1865, time, 7 minutes 40 seconds.

The poorest two are those of " Marmotte," at Mortagne, in 1865, time, 13 minutes 26
seconds ; and of "Julie," at Courtalain, in 1863, time, ii minutes 30 seconds.

The average time of 65 trials is about 9 minutes 15 seconds.

2|- miles were made at lUiers, by " Bichette," in i860, in 12 minutes 15 seconds.
2f miles at the same place were made three times, and gave an average of 1 1 minutes 25
seconds.

3f miles at the same place were made by " Champion," in 1857, in 12 minutes.

HARNESSED PERCHERONS

^ of a mile was trotted to harness in 1855, at Bethune, by " Grise," in 4 minutes 2
seconds.

i^ miles were made at Mortagne, in 1856, by " Battrape," in 5 minutes 4 seconds.

2 Miles 8 Results

The best two are those of "Achille," at Illiers, in 1865, time, 7 minutes 17 seconds;
and of "Julie," at Illiers, in 1863, time, 7 minutes 40^ seconds.

The poorest two are those of " Championnet," at Illiers, in 1858, time, 7 minutes 53
seconds; and of "Bichette," at Illiers, in 1849, time, 8 minutes 13 seconds.

The average of eight trials is about 7 minutes 36 seconds.

2^ Miles 14 Results

The best two are those of "Vigoreux," at Illiers, in 185 1, time, 8 minutes 30 seconds ;
and of "Bibi," at Mortagne, in 1865, time, 9 minutes 54 seconds.

The poorest two are those of "Bichette," at Courtalain, in i860, time, 11 minutes 30
seconds; and of " Artagnan," at Mortagne, in 1850, time, 11 minutes 55 seconds.

2| Miles Loaded

Two trials were made at Rouen, by " Ddcidee " :

The first time, in 1864, drawing 386 pounds, 2|- miles in 9 minutes 21 seconds ; the second
time, in 1865, drawing 408 pounds the same distance, 10 minutes 49 seconds.

CHAPTER V
ENDURANCE OF THE PERCHERON HORSE

A GRAY mare bred by M. Beaulavoris, at Almenesches (Orne), in 1845, belonging to M.
Montreuil, horse dealer at Alen9on, performed the following match : Harnessed to a
traveling tilbury, she started from Bernay at the same time as the mail courier from
Rouen to Bordeaux, and arrived before it at Alen^on, having made 55f miles over a hilly and
difficult road in 4 hours and 24 minutes.

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This mare is still living, and now belongs to M. Buisson, hotel keeper at the sign of the
White Horse, at L6es (Orne), where she still draws the omnibus plying between the railroad
station and the hotel.

A gray mare 7 years old, belonging to M. Consturier, of Fleury-sur-Andelle (Eure), in
1864, harnessed to a tilbury, traveled 58 miles and back on two consecutive days, going at a
trot and without being touched with the whip. This was over the road from Lyons-la-Foret
from Pont Audemer and back, a difficult and hilly way. The following time was made : The
first day the distance was trotted in 4 hours, i minute and 35 seconds ; the second day, in 4
hours, I minute and 30 seconds. The 13I last miles were made in one hour, although at
about the 41st mile the mare was obliged to pass her stable to finish the distance.

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MEMORANDA

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MEMORANDA

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