The Percheron horse

by Charles Du Hays

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.