Percheron

“ A few bottles of wine won their hearts; they proposed his health, and offered to elect him deputy at the next election. Speeches followed, and bitter complaints of a government that neglected the workman. Percheron was then called upon for a song, and gave parodies of the Marseillaise and of the Mourir pour la Patrie, which he converted into Nourris par la Patrie. When he came to the last couplet of the Marseillaise, his comrades called out for the flag accompaniment.
"'As at the Français, Percheron! as at the Français!
"'Really! What epicures! Nothing but the best will serve you, it seems. ”

“ 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, 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 grassy 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. ”

“ The Percheron, combining as he does a certain attractiveness [Pg 6] of style, very free action, considerable speed united to power, with astonishing strength for his weight, and the greatest kindness and docility, seems to offer to American horse breeders an exceedingly useful animal, either to be maintained distinct, or used for improving our stock of both light and heavy draft-horses by crossings. ”

“ The Percheron horse no doubt stands first among the draft breeds of the world. His value has been thoroughly tested in this country, and the fact is established beyond a cavil that with careful breeding, and probably an occasional renewal by the importation of fresh blood, the Percheron maintains his superior characteristics, and impresses them upon his descendants of only one-quarter or one-eighth blood to a very marked degree. ”

“ 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 ”

“ Percheron took Comtois aside to inform him that the clubs had decided on an outbreak. Comtois does not at first relish the idea, and is anxious to return to his hammer and pebbles, but Percheron, who, by reason of his superior intelligence, is one of six workmen to whom the plan has been communicated, bewilders the simple giant by the sunny prospects he exposes. This time it is the people who will reap the profits of the revolution. No more kid gloves and varnished boots; the blouse will be the passport to the good things of this life. No more wages. All Frenchmen are to be partners. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 everybody; 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, difficult roads, he made his three leagues to the hour easily, and sometimes [Pg 96] four ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ But, as he is, above all, intelligent [Pg 83] 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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.
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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 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 Décidée 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. ”

“ 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 separate them, presents an affinity as close as possible with the primitive horse, which is the Arab. ”

“ 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 Percheron cultivator does not wish even a single drop of it, and exerts himself exclusively in producing heavy horses. ”

“ The man wolfed his sandwiches and drank his scalding black coffee. Early Ann went into the stall, dropped to her knees beside the stallion and began to pet his quivering shoulder. His coat was rumpled and full of straw, his heavy legs listless. The girl got the curry comb and began to curry very gently. She put a gunny-sack over the Percheron's head to shade his eyes from the lantern light.
"You're quite a hand with a sick stallion."
"Got to pamper 'em like you do all males."
"You'll make a great wife for some lucky farmer." ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 900 or 1,000 francs, and sometimes more, according to his merit. But he does this only in order to buy other colts; and 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. ”

“ Armstrong’s hobby, and several times he has won prizes at the Effingham fair with his Percherons, and now has four thoroughbred Percherons registered. He is a shareholder in the Muscotah elevator. He is unmarried and has a man and his wife, who care for the household. Mr. Armstrong is a member of the Christian church and has affiliated himself with the Republican party. He is a member of the Percheron Society of America. He has received as high as $600 for Percheron horses bred on his place. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”