Charles Du Hays

“ 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. ”

“ 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 heterogeneous progeny of even the best full-blooded stallions Sylvio, Eylau, Reveller, and others by Percheron mares—crossings so surprising in their absence of affinity that I am still astonished that the thought of them ever entered a reasonable mind. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 trustworthy one in the difficult art of training colts. ”

“ The value of the Percheron is more evident than ever. It is this, among the serviceable 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 centers 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 atmospheric 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 son of the soil upon which he is foaled and reared as he is of his sire and dam. ”

“ To no ordinary strength, to vigor which does not degenerate, and to a conformation 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 inestimable quality of moving fast with heavy loads. ”

“ The Percheron cultivator possesses, above all, great patience and a supreme control over himself, indispensable 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. ”

“ 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 possess the superior qualities which it is required to reproduce; those which, healthy and vigorous, seem to have among themselves the most affinity. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 discussion between a fishwoman and an academician!
Nature, left to herself, is a thousand times more intelligent than the man of systems. ”

“ The essential point is to unite the heavy to the distingué, weight to gait, mildness to vigor, hardiness to energetic temperament, [Pg 44] steadiness and precocity; in a word, to repeat myself for the hundredth time, add a little 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. ”

“ The breeder,—who is ordinarily a farmer, not sufficiently 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ Preserve the Percheron race as pure as possible from all mixture not perfectly homogeneous; 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 preserving weight, hardihood, vigor, and docility. ”

“ 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 present tempts every body into innovations. Our age, so eager to enjoy, and so quick in all enterprises, has no longer the patience to wait for the improvements that time and study can alone confirm and solidly establish. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 affinity 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. ”

“ We know how the sexes are divided in Perche; one section of the province produces, while another raises what the other has produced. No matter 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. ”

“ 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 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 maturity; 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 Juggard was a type, and of which Performer, although not so marked, vaguely recalled the memory. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 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. ”