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.
| 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]