The Percheron horse

by Charles Du Hays

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.