The Percheron Horse

CHAPTER I.. Glance At Perche.

GLANCE AT PERCHE.

The Department of Perche is too well known to need a description here. We will limit ourselves to the remark that this region, which has become so celebrated for its fine race of horses, represents an ellipse of about 25 leagues long by nearly 20 broad.

This ellipse is bounded on the north by Normandy; on the west, also by Normandy, and by Maine; on the east, by the portion of Beauce including Chartrain and Dunois; on the south, by the Vendomois—three portions of the ancient Orleanais.

At the present time, enclosed in the center of the four departments, Orne, Eure and Loir, Loir and Cher, and Sarthe, the territory of Perche comprises the following divisions:

1st.—The district of Mortagne (department of Orne);

2nd.—The district of Nogent-le-Rotrou, and a portion of those of Chartres, Dreux, and Chateaudun (department of Eure and Loir);

3rd.—All the western side of the district of Vendôme (department of Loir and Cher);

4th.—The eastern portion of the districts of Mamers and Saint Calais (department of Sarthe).

It is the summit region of the middle portion of the vast plateau extending between the sea and the basins of the Loire and the Seine. It is here that the rivers Sarthe, Huisne, Eure, Loire, Iton, Höene, Braye, Avre, Commanche, and Percheron Orne, take their source, springing up from the same plateau and crossing it on their way to the Channel and the ocean.

The country is, in general, uneven and hilly, cut up in every direction by small valleys watered by springs or small brooks flowing into the rivers above named. All these valleys, no matter of what extent, are natural meadows, and the most of them rich and fertile. But drainage could here be usefully applied everywhere, to rid them of their surplus humidity, and to purge them of their too abundant aquatic plants. The finest valley is that watered by the Huisne, which is second to none in France for length, extent, richness, and beauty of sites. Here are situated Nogent-le-Rotrou, Condé, Regmalard, Boissy, Corbon, Mauves, Pin-la-Garenne, Reveillon, etc., etc.,—all centers renowned for the beauty of their horses.

The land is generally clayey, lying upon a calcareous subsoil of the secondary formation. Some portions are silicious, the high and hilly points always so.

The Percheron country contains rather few meadows, in proportion to the total surface of the soil, and to this circumstance, probably, is due the superiority of its horses. Here the rearing takes place in the stable and the brood-mare is found under the hand of the breeder. The idea of making use of her comes naturally to his mind. He works and feeds her well. All the secret of his breeding lies in these few words.

Here, for many years, agriculture has flourished; artificial meadows are everywhere cultivated with success, and are necessary to produce the enormous quantity of fodder consumed by the number of horses raised.

Among the plants for green and dry forage, clover first and then fenugreek are the favorites of the Percheron farmer. He uses plaster and marl with care, and would tell you, should the opportunity offer, that it is through system and superior cultivation that Perche has been able hitherto to meet the large demands made upon her from the commencement of the present century, particularly for the last fifty years. He is, moreover, laborious and persevering. Disregarding the industrial arts, the glory of other districts, his true vocation, his favorite occupation, is cultivating the ground and raising horses, which he has practised with zeal from the most remote period. In fact cannot this be inferred, even from the example of his early lords? The Counts of Perche, those old Rotrous, triple knights, had they not adopted as an emblem of their nobility the stamp of their horses’ feet?... Not content with a single chevron, they placed three upon their standards, to signify both the superiority of their horses, and their infinite number. For in symbolical language (and none is more so than that of heraldry,) the number three implies infinity; and the oval form of the eastern courser’s foot, to which the chevron is distinctly traced, was used in early times as a sign of chivalry, replacing the ancient ring of Rome. Hence comes, as a distinctive mark of nobility, the large number of coats of arms with chevrons, among those of the knights. The simple chevron was the designation of the noble, and the particular marks which often accompanied the chevron served to recall some exploit, some distinguished feat of arms, the nature of the tastes, or the possessions of the warrior who bore this blazon.

Perche is very much cut up: the farms generally small; the fields, likewise small and mostly enclosed by hedges. The temper of the Percheron breeder is invariably mild. He knows all the importance of attention to the race which he rears, and nevertheless, it must be confessed, that with the exception of the mildness with which he treats it, he has done next to nothing to ameliorate it or preserve it in its beauty. Nature, time, and the climate, have done all.

Perche has a climate eminently favorable to horse-breeding. Under its influence, the water is tonic and the food nutritious, the air is pure, bracing, and drier than that of Normandy. The sea is farther off, and its influence, in consequence, is less felt.

However, these can be but general attributes, for the country varies in aspect according to the district. The portion near Normandy, which is watered by the Sarthe, is much the same as that province. The grasses are, however, sparser, and especially do not have that extreme sweetness and great tonic quality which distinguish those of the environs of Courtomer and Merlerault, situated only a few leagues from the limits of Perche.

On the side of Beauce, there are vast plains sometimes undulating, and having much similarity to that province.

On the Maine side, the country gradually assumes the characteristics of aspect and cultivation peculiar to it, so that the transition between these two provinces is not an abrupt change, but they blend like the tones of a picture. Upon some points woods, ponds in the north-east, forage and grain upon the remainder, are the chief features, and are the sources of the revenues of the country.

CHAPTER II.. Sketch of the Percheron Race.

SKETCH OF THE PERCHERON RACE.

The height of the Percheron horse is generally 14¾ to 16 hands; he is of a sanguine temperament, mixed in variable proportions with the musculo-lymphatic; his color is almost always gray, and is, among the characteristic features, that which first strikes the eye.

According to their predominence, these temperaments constitute varieties which may be thus classed:

1st.—The light Percheron, in which the sanguine temperament predominates;

2nd.—The draft Percheron, in which the lymphatic temperament is the most fully developed;

3rd.—The type intermediary between these two, partaking of the one by its lightness, and of the other by its muscular force.

The latter is the most numerous, but it has much degenerated of late years; and there is a tendency to its disappearance since the post-coach service, which formed it, has gradually given way to other means of conveyance. It has style, although the head is rather large and long; nostrils well open and well dilated; eye large and expressive; forehead broad; ear fine; neck rather short, but well filled out; whithers high; shoulder pretty long and sloping; breast rather flat, but high and deep; a well-rounded body; back rather long; the croup horizontal and muscular; tail attached high; short and strong joints, and the tendon generally weak; a foot always excellent, although rather flat in the low countries and natural meadows; a gray coat; fine skin; silky and abundant mane. Such are the most general characteristics of the old Percheron race. These are the points which are still noticed upon what remain of some old horses, preserved from the transformation which commenced long ago; for at the present moment everything is much changed. Since the time of the foreign crossings, the foot has become flatter, the head overcharged, the tendon still weaker, the back longer, the shoulder has lost its direction, and the croup has become shorter. The race has changed suddenly to fill new wants which have unexpectedly sprung up.

Of course these different characters are modified by the varieties upon which they are noticed, but the “ensemble” presents a striking similarity.

The light Percheron, suited to harness, is found particularly in the Norman portion, in the district of Mortagne, near Courtomer, Moulins-la-Marche, Aigle, Mesle-sur-Sarthe, and especially in the parishes of Mesnière, Bures, and Champeaux-sur-Sarthe. This is easily accounted for, as here is the best blood of France, near the region where has been found the best Norman type. Here the soil, temperature, and pasturage, are pretty near the same.

In going from Nogent-le-Rotrou to Montdoubleau, and following the limits of Perche-Manceau, by Saint-Calais, Vilvaye, Ferté-Bernard, Saint-Corme and Mamers, we travel over the birthplace of the heavy draft-horse. Here we meet with the heavy brood-mares.

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