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Title: The percheron horse
Author: Charles Du Huys
Release date: October 27, 2023 [eBook #71972]
Language: English
Original publication: New York: Orange Judd & Company, 1868
Credits: Bob Taylor, deaurider and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PERCHERON HORSE ***
Transcriber’s Note
Italic text displayed as: _italic_
[Illustration:
THE
PERCHERON
HORSE.
]
THE
PERCHERON HORSE.
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH
OF
CHARLES DU HUŸS,
AUTHOR OF THE “DICTIONARY OF THE PURE RACE;” “TROTTERS;” “THE BOOK
OF THE RACES;” “THE MERLERAULL;” “THE HORSE-BREEDER’S GUIDE;” ETC.
ILLUSTRATED.
NEW YORK:
ORANGE JUDD & COMPANY,
245 BROADWAY.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by
ORANGE JUDD & CO.,
At the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for
the Southern District of New-York.
LOVEJOY, SON & CO.,
ELECTROTYPERS & STEREOTYPERS,
15 Vandewater Street, N. Y.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
[Illustration: Decoration]
PRODUCTION, REARING, AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE PERCHERON HORSE 7
PART FIRST.
GREATNESS AND DECLINE OF THE PERCHERONS.
CHAPTER I.—Glance at Perche 11
CHAPTER II.—Sketch of the Percheron Race 14
CHAPTER III.—Origin of the Percheron 17
CHAPTER IV.—Modifications of the Percheron Race 20
CHAPTER V.—His first Modification due to contact with the Brittany
Race 21
CHAPTER VI.—Conditions under which they are bred 23
CHAPTER VII.—Causes of the Degeneracy of the Percheron Horse 26
CHAPTER VIII.—Starting Point of this Degeneration 28
PART SECOND.
OF THE MEANS OF REGENERATING THE PERCHERON HORSE 32
CHAPTER I.—Regeneration of the Percheron Breed 33
CHAPTER II.—Regeneration of the Breed through itself or by
Selection 33
CHAPTER III.—Consanguinity 38
CHAPTER IV.—Ought the gray coat of the Percheron to be inflexibly
maintained? 40
CHAPTER V.—Preserve pure, and without Mixture the three Types of the
Percheron Race—the Light Horse, the Draft-Horse, the
Intermediate Horse 44
CHAPTER VI.—Improvement of the Breed by means of Foreign Crossings 48
CHAPTER VII.—The Arab Cross 51
CHAPTER VIII.—The English Cross 64
CHAPTER IX.—Improvement by means of the Stud-book 71
RECAPITULATION 75
PART THIRD.
INFORMATION TO STRANGERS WISHING TO BUY PERCHERON HORSES 81
CHAPTER I.—Food and Breeding 84
CHAPTER II.—Trade. Glance at the most celebrated Breeding Districts 93
CHAPTER III.—Speed and Bottom of the Percheron Horse 95
CHAPTER IV.—Tests of Speed of the Percheron Horse 97
CHAPTER V.—Tests of Endurance of the Percheron Horse 99
INDEX.
Arabian, The type horse, 51
Good tempered, 60
Cross imparts endurance, 59
Qualities obtained from, 75
Cross-breeds easy to raise, 61-63
Disproportionately small legs, 63
Labor at three years, 61
Larger than their sires, 62-68
Square trotters, 59
Surest to turn out well, 62
Stallions offer quick and sure means of improvement, 45
Breeders, 13
Temptation to sell, 8-22-27
Breeding Centers, 92
Breeding In-and-in fixes character, 18
Systematic. Opposition of the Army, 73
System of, 46-62
Brittany Horse, 21-27
Cattle, Charollaise breed, 72
Cotentin breed, 37
Maine breed, 90
Percheron breed, 89
Colts, Cost of rearing, 23
Food of, 23-85
Sale of at six months old, 23-84
Sold to Beauce farmers, 24
Troubled with strangles, 86
Weaning, 85
Worked at fifteen months, 23
“Cross-bred Horse”, 54
Crossing with the Thoroughbred, 55
Eastern Blood imported, 18
Stallions at Pin, 20
Brought from the Crusades, 17-18
English and Danish Stallions at Pin, 20
English Horses, Spurious, 56
In the Crimea and Italy, 54
Too nervous for draft, 69
English Thoroughbred, 39
Care required in rearing, 61
Cross successful if used with judgment, 64
Discouraging results, 68
Fractious and nervous, 61
Introduced into France, 28
Its Progeny heavy consumers, 68
Possession tends to dissipation, 9
The Horse of Fashion, 9
Fairs, Improvement by means of, 72
Forage Plants, 13
Fillies, Treatment of, 87
Horse Association of Perche, 31
Improvement by foreign crossings, 48
By Selection, 33-37
By the Arab Cross, 51
Means of, 32
Preparation of land for, 49
Preparation of a breed for, 49-51
In-and-in breeding, 38
Useful in establishing a family or breed, 39
Intelligence of an Arabian, 58
Of “Lapin”, 58
Interbreeding, 38
Land—thorough culture essential, 13
Loads usual for English and French horses, 69
Mares, Care of Brood, 23
Mares, Never sell good, 34
“Natural Horse”, 54
Norfolk Stallion, Description, 55
Perche, Department of—Geography, Topography, and Agricultural
character, 11
Effects of soil and climate on other animals, 88
Horses exported annually from, 42
Introduction of foreign mares, extensive since 1830, 27
Loss of the best stock, 27-29-30
Percheron Breeders’ character, 82
Percheron Horse, Arabian Origin, 17
Characteristics, 7-15-22
Cared for by Women and Children, 8
Color, 40
Color—Gray the favorite, 41
Color Non-essential, 43
Coming in Fashion, 45
Degeneracy, 26-28
Demand for Export, 79
Difficulty of finding horses free from Foreign blood, 28-30
Docility, 8
Efforts to stop the exodus of good stock, 29
First among serviceable breeds, 10
Feat of endurance, 99
Food and Breeding, 83
Freedom from Spavin, etc., 8
Heavy Draft Type, how obtained, 47
Height, 14
List of exploits on the turf, 97
Mares, little pastured, 12
Modern modification of the breed, 20
“Omnibus Type,” how obtained, 46
Prices realized by the farmers, 23-25-26-29
“Primitive Type”, 52
Proof of an Ancient breed, 19
Separation of the Sexes, 16
Sold at Chartres, 26
Speed and Bottom, 95
Strength of the type, 22
Three classes, 15-44
“Primitive Horse”, 53
Prizes, System of awards, 34
Given for Size, and for trotting, 31
Recapitulation, 75
Sheep, Percheron breed, 90
Soil, Influence of, 53
Stallions, Brittany and others, brought into Perche, 30
Not used before four years old, 36
Quarter-blood Eng., preferable to full-blood, 76
Stud-book, 35
Strangers, Information for, 81
Stud-Book, Improvement by means of, 71
PREFACE.
[Illustration: Decoration]
The little volume which is now presented to the notice of the lovers of
the horse in America is a translation of the work of a distinguished
French author, who, holding a high position of trust, made this as a
report to the Government. His views in some respects may be regarded as
extreme, but on the whole they are characterized by strong common sense
and are supported by a practical familiarity with all the phases of his
subject which should give them weight.
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. The value of fast trotters, their encouragement
by Agricultural Societies, and the enormous prices which have been
paid for animals valuable simply for their speed as trotters, has no
doubt had a tendency to direct the aims of horse breeders in a wrong
direction. The result is, from whatever cause it comes, that the true
horse-of-all-work has been neglected. The Percheron, combining as he
does a certain attractiveness 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 value of this work, however, does not
consist in its recommendation of this breed, or demonstration of its
value in France, but its bold discussions of the principles of breeding
as applied to the improvement of the Percherons, and equally applicable
to that of other draft breeds, will doubtless commend themselves to the
careful consideration of breeders.
Interest in the Percherons has increased greatly of late. Several
notable importations have been made, and excellent representatives of
this noble breed are to be found in the Eastern, Western, and Middle
States. The engravings which embellish this volume are portraits of
animals owned by Mr. W. T. Walters of Baltimore, Md., through whose
interest in this subject the Publishers were induced to issue this
translation of M. Huÿs work.
THE PERCHERON HORSE.
[Illustration: Decoration]
PRODUCTION, REARING, AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE PERCHERON HORSE.
[Illustration: Decoration]
... _Facilis descensus Averno;
Sed revocare gradum?_
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 sentiments 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 suffices to furnish it.
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. It
is particularly valuable for its astonishing precocity, and produces
by its work, as a two-year-old, more than the cost of its 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 the 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 the 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 specialties of 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.
[Illustration: HERCULES.]
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.
Entered upon this course, if Perche does not adopt, without delay,
salutary measures, if it does not make a vigorous effort to place
itself in a condition, either to resist the tendency 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. Every thing 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 elegance. 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
perceiving 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 forgotten 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 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. Since the post-coaches have ceased to use these horses,
the omnibuses 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
of maintaining it in its original purity and perfection in the land of
its birth. But let us first see what is the origin of this race, what
country gave it birth, and by what characters it is to be recognized.
We have, for this examination, borrowed largely of those who have known
and studied Perche intimately, and hope to remain truthful in following
them step by step.
PART I
GREATNESS AND DECLINE OF THE PERCHERONS.
[Illustration: Decoration]
CHAPTER I.
GLANCE AT PERCHE.
The 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 25 leagues long by nearly 20 broad.
This ellipse is bounded on the north by Normandy; on the west, also by
Normandy, and by Maine; on the east, by the portion of Beauce including
Chartrain and Dunois; on the south, by the Vendomois—three portions of
the ancient Orleanais.
At the present time, enclosed in the center of the four departments,
Orne, Eure and Loir, Loir and Cher, and Sarthe, the territory of Perche
comprises the following divisions:
_1st._—The district of Mortagne (department of Orne);
_2nd._—The district of Nogent-le-Rotrou, and a portion of those of
Chartres, Dreux, and Chateaudun (department of Eure and Loir);
_3rd._—All the western side of the district of Vendôme (department of
Loir and Cher);
_4th._—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 sea and the basins of the Loire and the Seine.
It is here that the rivers Sarthe, Huisne, Eure, Loire, Iton, Höene,
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, Condé, Regmalard, Boissy, Corbon, Mauves,
Pin-la-Garenne, Reveillon, etc., etc.,—all centers 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 cultivated 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 practised 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 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 accompanied 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 Normandy. 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 Courtomer 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 north-east,
forage and grain upon the remainder, are the chief features, and are
the sources of the revenues of the country.
[Illustration: Decoration]
CHAPTER II.
SKETCH OF THE PERCHERON RACE.
The height of the Percheron horse is generally 14¾ to 16 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.
According to their predominence, these temperaments constitute
varieties which may be thus classed:
_1st._—The light Percheron, in which the sanguine temperament
predominates;
_2nd._—The draft Percheron, in which the lymphatic temperament is the
most fully developed;
_3rd._—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,
Moulins-la-Marche, Aigle, Mesle-sur-Sarthe, and especially in the
parishes of Mesnière, 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, Ferté-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 center 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, Buré, Pervercheres and the breeding parishes of the
district of Mortagne, Nogent-le-Rotrou, Montdoubleau and Courtalain.
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 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 two extremities of the ellipse (especially
where the pasture grounds are), that the mares are found. In the
center, 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 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 easily 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. This
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.
[Illustration: Decoration]
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 administration 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 Cóèsme, 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 Cóèsme, 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.
[Illustration: Decoration]
CHAPTER V.
THE FIRST MODIFICATION, DUE TO CONTACT WITH THE BRITTANY RACE.
Perche 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 every thing 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 traffic, 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 transportation.
And the anxiety to meet the demand was one of the most active causes
of degeneration and of the drafts made upon this and the neighboring
breeds.
[Illustration: ALENE.—MARE.]
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
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.
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, Courgeon, 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 15 or 18
months. What has it cost for keeping? Very little. Estimate, about 80
or 100 francs. At this age it is 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.
Master, 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 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.
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 every thing.
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, if they suit, 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 themselves
had not led to his degeneration.
[Illustration: Decoration]
CHAPTER VII.
CAUSES OF THE DEGENERACY OF THE PERCHERON HORSE.
The breeding of the Percheron horse has been so much the more
stimulated, in consequence of his situation, his well-known qualities,
and the favorable economical circumstances in which he is placed.
Was not everything in his favor? Sure and increasing sales and great
facility in raising?
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 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, Courtalain, 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 its
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.
[Illustration: Decoration]
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 interior of Paris, and later the
private post teams, etc., etc., which only employ 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 of losing this important market
offered 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 new
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 acclimate 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 authorities,
aided by the élite 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 Mortagne, Nogent-le-Rotrou, Illiers, and Vendôme. 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
everywhere. 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 original
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 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, renew 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, Vendôme, 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-breds. 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 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.
PART II.
OF THE MEANS OF REGENERATING THE PERCHERON HORSE.
[Illustration: Decoration]
Perche, in order to retain its best customers, and not drop to a level
with the common herd of horse-breeders, must at once have recourse 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, hic 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, practised with a wise
and circumspect 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.
[Illustration: Decoration]
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
possess the superior qualities which it is required to reproduce; those
which, healthy and vigorous, seem to have among themselves the most
affinity. 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 commenced, 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
recognizing 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 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 contributions, 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 effects 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.
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 only 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 conformity
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 tranquillity 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-Lô 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.
[Illustration: Decoration]
CHAPTER III.
CONSANGUINITY.
Conjugal consanguinity has neither partisans nor friends. The
physiologist, physician, 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.
[Illustration: ANTHONY.]
One fact, however, strikes any one at the outset who has studied the
equine races, followed, 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 number 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 “_La vie à la campagne_”, 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 condemn 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 crossings, 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.
Finally, the truly 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.
[Illustration: Decoration]
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 Percheron race, and to preserve to
Perche its prosperity 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?
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 travelled 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 agriculture, the horse will be less employed there, and the one
that will be called for, having fewer difficulties to overcome, can be
lighter, more _distingué_, faster, and more fit for adaptation to the
exigences 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 acceptable—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 somber are
met with together among the working races, by reason of the horror
which has been professed, 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 _distingué_, weight to gait, mildness to vigor,
hardiness to energetic temperament, 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.
[Illustration: Decoration]
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 always 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 conformation 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 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 centers
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 15½
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 _distingué_, 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
centers, 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.
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 to accomplish 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 any thing 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, somewhat difficult 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.
[Illustration: Decoration]
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 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.
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 squandered and years wasted, reduces the breeder who has recourse
to it to a more miserable condition than that from which he wished to
escape.
Our _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 inconstancy, 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 discussion
between a fishwoman 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 spavins, tumors, periodical
inflammations, or any of those thousand infirmities with which our
domestic horse is afflicted?—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 south; and that without preparation, and
without attention to the differences of soil and climate of the
various regions. All these practices have injured our breeds without
successfully retaining their own native qualities.
[Illustration: Decoration]
CHAPTER VII.
THE ARAB CROSSING.
I commence with the Arab crossing. Two motives have induced me to
follow this classification:
_1st._ The Arabian is the type horse, and the type should be examined
before its derivatives.
_2nd._ 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, notwithstanding 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. Chéradame, of Ecouché; 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 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 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 migrations 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 separate 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 alliances. 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 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_.
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 _distingué_
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 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 _distingué_ English
horse, even when delivered 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 too 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 _Juggard_ 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 sufficiently 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, forehead 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 chestnut. Breeding stock of his get
should be chosen under identical conditions, and then they would be on
a 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 Alençon, than a spurious English one,
which is often none other than a forlorn hope of some nameless region.
In fact, from certain appearances, 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 constitution 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 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 officer 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_, _Aslan_ 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 _Bédouin_, 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,
those 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 management 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
unrivalled 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 Montréal, 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, no matter what may be the
race, color, shape, and derivation, of the dam. Only, in consequence 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 sometimes 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 indicated 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 characteristics 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.
[Illustration: Decoration]
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 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. 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.
[Illustration: PRINCE IMPERIAL.—FRENCH NORMAN.]
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 Vendôme, 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. Derré 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, near Argenton, one of the finest and purest ever seen.
This mare had been bred to _Idalis_, a small and well-knit wagon-horse,
son of _Don Quichotte_, who descended from the thoroughbred 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
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 his family had been crossed with a stallion from the
Pin stables, standing at the Chateau of Côèsmes, near Bellesme. And,
what was this stallion? The Arab _Gallipoli_!
What can be inferred from these facts, if it be not that the crossings
which have best succeeded in Perche have been those of the Arab, and
that the English crosses have only succeeded when tempered by contact
with the Arab?
But if the absolute want of stallions for improving the breed be felt
among the pure Percherons; 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, 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 counting 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 cultivators. 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 _distingué_ 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 quite suited to a country
as hilly as Perche. He might, doubtless, plow successfully the vast and
smooth plains of Beauce; but this is 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 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 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 every thing 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 confidence, 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 persevering 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 stallions 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 improvement 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 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 1st, 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
Alençon; at Chartres, Nogent-le-Rotrou, and Chateaudun, for Eure and
Loir; at Vendôme and Montdoubleau for the department 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 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. 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 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 affiliate 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 reëstablish 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
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.
[Illustration: Decoration]
RECAPITULATION.
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 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 expressive
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 unintelligent, 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 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 accustomed 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 every thing
in breeding and in agriculture. 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, 18 out of 20 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, 17 out of 20 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 limited. When the 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 sufficient demand for the second-rate stock.
As there now exist neither diligences, 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 affinity 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 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.
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 PERCHERON HORSES.
[Illustration: Decoration]
Although I consider Perche an exceptional country for the production
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. Starting 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 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. 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 practised in
Perche, and may suggest as many 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 affirmative, 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, 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. 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 trustworthy 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.
[Illustration: Decoration]
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.
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 vicinity 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 established 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 north-west 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 transition; 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 receives its
light through a lattice door. Their nourishment 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 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 commence 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
to 1½ to 1¾ gallons, yielding not much more than ⅓ 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 stimulating 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 division 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 embarrassment an
assemblage of colts of all sizes and ages produces. Unfortunately it
would be very difficult 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 difficult 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 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 alongside 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 Crêvecœur fowls are no sooner brought here 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, sufficiently 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 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 Percheron 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 examples, those derived themselves from an oriental cross.
This fact, which clearly 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.
[Illustration: KATE.—MARE.]
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, Pervenchères,
Bellesme, Theil, and part of Nocé, possesses breeding mares as well as
fillies. In Sarthe, the canton of Montmirail; those of Montdoubleau and
Droué in Loir-and-Cher; those of Alluye, Bazoche, Cloyes, Authon, Brou,
and Nogent-le-Rotrou, in Eure-and-Loir, are likewise centers 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, center, and north
of the district of Mortagne—that is to say, the cantons of Mortagne,
Tourouvre, Lougny, Regmalard, and part of Nocé. 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, Nocé, 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 of 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
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 centers for stallion 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, Courgeon,
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, Brézolles, 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.
[Illustration: Decoration]
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 _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.
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 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 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, Montdoubleau, 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, 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 elsewhere failed on this track, and took a long time to make
the distance. It is to this circumstance 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.
[Illustration: Decoration]
CHAPTER IV.
SPEED OF THE PERCHERON HORSE.
MOUNTED PERCHERONS.
1¼ 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, 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 12½ seconds.
1⅚ 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 5½ 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.
2½ 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 11
minutes 30 seconds.
The average time of 65 trials is about 9 minutes 15 seconds.
* * * * *
2⅗ miles were made at Illiers, by _Bichette_, in 1860, in 12 minutes 15
seconds.
2⅚ miles at the same place were made three times, and gave an average
of 11 minutes 25 seconds.
3⅖ miles at the same place were made by _Champion_, in 1857, in 12
minutes.
HARNESSED PERCHERONS.
⅞ of a mile was trotted to harness in 1855, at Bethune, by _Grise_, in
4 minutes 2 seconds.
1¼ 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
40½ seconds.
The poorest two are those of _Championnet_, at Illiers, 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.
2½ MILES——14 RESULTS.
The best two are those of _Vigoreux_, at Illiers, in 1851, 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 1860, time
11 minutes 30 seconds; and of _Artagnan_, at Mortagne, in 1850, time 11
minutes 55 seconds.
2⅗ MILES——LOADED.
Two trials were made at Rouen, by _Décidée_:
The first time in 1864, drawing 386 pounds, 2⅗ miles in 9 minutes
21 seconds; the second time, in 1865, drawing 408 pounds the same
distance, 10 minutes 49 seconds.
[Illustration: Decoration]
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 Alençon, 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 Alençon, having made 55⅗ miles over a hilly
and difficult road, in 4 hours and 24 minutes.
This mare is still living, and now belongs to M. Buisson, hotel keeper
at the sign of the White Horse, at Lées, (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, travelled
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, 1
minute, and 35 seconds; the second day, in 4 hours, 1 minute, and 30
seconds. The 13¾ 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.
Transcriber’s Notes
pg 41 Changed: prefering a less showy color
to: preferring a less showy color
pg 57 Changed: If, on the contary
to: If, on the contrary
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