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.
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.