The Percheron horse

by Charles Du Hays

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.