322 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



snappy, active draft horse; if lighter yet, he will make an express 

 horse with a good long stride that can step away with a load. I 

 have seen some half breed Percherons that could go up as high as any 

 coach horse and I have seen some hunters that could eudure as long 

 as the hounds ran, and once in a while you will find a Percheron that 

 can step better than a four minute lope. He is versatile, fits in all 

 around, and that is the reason we find him so popular in this country. 

 This is the little horse that has been spoken of so many times and is 

 shown in another picture, in the lead of this type that I refer to. 

 That shows you the ideal to be sought when mating mares to a 

 Percheron stallion. I say he will get a marketable colt out of most 

 any kind of a mare, but you want to give him a chance and give him 

 the best kind of a mare and then you can expect to get something 

 of this sort. 



A Member: I observe in the cities that some of the better grades 

 of Percherons are of a gray color; is there anything to show that the 

 gray Percheron is a better horse than the black Percheron? 



DR. GAY: Well, there is ample evidence to show that the ^ray 

 Percheron geldings on the city streets is a lot better horse than the 

 black. In the first place, there is no doubt that the gray horse does 

 not feel the heat as much as a black horse does. Take a lot of soil, 

 put lamp black on part of it and something white on the other part 

 and stick a thermometer down on each one and see which registers 

 the highest. 



A Member: But you take a horse on the street that appears to 

 walk along easier even at this time of the year, when the heat is not 

 a factor. 



DR. GAY: You take Wanamaker's stables in Philadelphia; they 

 won't buy anything but a gray horse. That is one reason. Another 

 reason is that they can match up their pairs. Take a bay horse and 

 nine times out of ten it has a mark on him and especially if you are 

 putting three or six together, and they blend better with the ordinary 

 red and yellow or green color of a wagon on the street, and it is more 

 easy to get an even shade of grays than any other color, and they 

 want that uniform color throughout their stables and find they can 

 get it more easily in grays than any other colors. Swift first told 

 me that they pay $25. or |50. more any time for a gray horse than 

 any other. 



A Member: Some think that a gray stallion is better than a black 

 stallion; is that a fact? 



DR. GAY: They used to tell us that a black stallion would get 

 more gray geldings out of the average run of mares than a gray 

 stallion would, but I don't think that is so, I think the gray will get 

 more, but on the streets certainly more favor is shown to a gray horse^ 

 than a black one. 



A :^[ember: How did they get that increased size in Percherons 



for the last 24 years? 



DR. GAY: By going back to more of the old Norman blood; they 

 have increased the percentage of that, rot they have skillfully retained 

 the characteristics of the hunt blood. 



