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.
We should, at first, commence by exploring the Percheron centers
devoted exclusively to the rearing of mares, and, in these places, we
should particularly visit the localities in which they have no great
development as to height. Here we would select a group of from fifteen
to twenty fillies, the best, the finest limbed, the most compact, the
fastest trotters, and having for an extreme maximum the height of 15½
to 16 hands.
The same course should be pursued in the regions where the colts are
raised, and there choice should be made of some light stallions,
approaching, as much as possible, to the mares in form and qualities.
All the best foals, then, should be in their turn subjected to
couplings conducted with the same care, and among the third generation
would be found types sufficiently confirmed, either as founders of a
race among themselves, or for crossing with the Arab, of which we will
speak in the following chapter.
If a little larger size be required, it would not be necessary to
have recourse to other types than those which I have just indicated.
Well-balanced horses favor every modification. More tonic, substantial
nourishment, and more fertile meadows would increase the height and
weight, as well as the strength and spirit.
Do you desire omnibus horses?—You can obtain them by selecting in
the regions which best produce the post-horse, the strongest types,
the heaviest bodied, the most favored as to height, and the fastest
trotters. But never yield any of these three points: weight, spirit,
and speed.
The animals the nearest alike in size and form should then be coupled
together, after the manner indicated above, and when weight, spirit,
and speed, are found without failing in all the progeny, it will then
be time, but not till then, to add style. The Arabian stallion, whose
tendency, as we will see later, is to produce heavier and stronger
than himself, while at the same time imparting his mark of supreme
distinction, might then be introduced to embellish and confirm our good
results.
The heavy draft and the express wagon horses should have weight:
this is a _sine qua non_ condition; but it would be a great mistake
to confine ourselves exclusively to mere size. They should possess
powerful limbs and muscles, joined to great spirit. This crossing,
although the easiest, would also present great dangers should we be
satisfied with weight alone; we would soon arrive at the mere lymphatic
horse. It is, therefore, urgent, for the breeds possessing requisite
strength, to choose those which are the most _distingué_, the most
nervous, the finest limbed, and the most spirited, and to avoid the
sluggish and lymphatic. These will be found in the elevated and dry
centers, where the food is plenty and nutritious.
If Perche proper, Beauce, and the environs of Chateaudun, should not be
capable of furnishing their complete contingent in this specialty (as I
believe they cannot,) some good specimens could be met with among the
Percheron colts raised in the environs of Bernay and on the plains of
Sens.
This variety (the draft-horse) demands a great deal less care in
the choice of the dams and sires. It is infinitely more elementary,
since weight is principally sought after. Still, it is well, even
indispensable, to select individuals short coupled and with good
quarters, to hold out under the enormous loads they are obliged to
draw. The means resorted to to accomplish this are judicious crosses,
constantly made with a well-determined and always identical idea,
tending to increase weight and strength, while preserving spirit and
vigor, abundant nourishment, and breeding in those sections naturally
most propitious to style and size. Soon, Perche, placed in a situation
without a rival for the present, and, above all, for the future, might
forever avoid asking any thing of foreign crossings. For though the
choice of the stallion and the mare is so important in the _production_
of the foal, the climate, the kind of food, the agricultural habits,
and, finally, the adaptation of the region to horse breeding, are of
a great deal more importance in the _development_ of the animal. It
becomes, then, somewhat difficult to indicate accurately to what types,
in such particular cases, the preference should be awarded. The best
are those which most nearly meet the wants of the section.
[Illustration: Decoration]