FOURTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IV. 349 



PERCHERON HORSES. 



The French draft horse has been transplanted, and now we must 

 call him the American draft horse. At Des Moines we might even call 

 him the Iowa draft horse, for Iowa exhibitors were certainly in evi- 

 dence. The most gratifying feature of the show was the fact that the 

 home grown colt could win from the imported one. The breeders who 

 had grown their colts properly had them just as large for their age as 

 the ones direct from France. Save for the undocked tails of those bred 

 in the states, it would, indeed, be hard to discriminate between the 

 two kinds as they appeared in their classes. 



One often hears the objection raised to prize winning horses that 

 they will never be heard from in the breeding herd. Many colts are un- 

 doubtedly crowded to such an extent as to impair their breeding quali- 

 ties. However, just because a horse has been a champion at some big 

 show is no indication that he will never become famous as a producer. 

 The Percherons on display this year offered good evidence of this. A 

 glance at the pedigrees of the prize winners would show in most in- 

 stances that the sires have been show horses. For instance, of the first 

 four Carnot colts shown in the various classes, ranging from mature 

 horses down, there were two which won first, one which secured third 

 and another fourth prize. These were wgn in large classes where the 

 competition was keen. Likewise the produce of Calypso and other 

 sires of equal showyard honors were consistent winners. 



In aged stallions, Jeun, a Carnot colt owned by Fox of Genoa, Neb., 

 secured the blue. He is a black of great breadth with ample bone, well 

 set limbs and the best of feet. William Bell, of Ohio, who did the 

 awarding, counted him as good a type as his sire. 



In 3-year-olds Dunhams caught first and second on very large, heavy- 

 boned colts which were but recently imported, while Nelson of Iowa 

 secured third on a Carnot colt imported last year. He resembled his 

 sire in being extremely blocky and heavily muscled. 



In 2-year-olds there were eighteen entries. McMillan caught the 

 blue on a Romeo colt named Matador, which won third a year ago in 

 the futurity. Two Carnots were placed over him then and these were 

 not exhibited this year. This colt carries a perfect top line, being 

 short and strongly coupled. He might carry a trifle more length to 

 his hind ankles, but he was easily the top of the classes shown. 



Mare classes were large. Small exhibitors filled most of the classes. It 

 looks good to see a farmer buy a team of pure bred mares, but it looks 

 better to see him return to the fair several years later with a bunch of 

 large, growthy colts from these mares. 



SHIRE HORSES. 



The English cart horse failed to make the showing made by the Bel- 

 gians and Percherons. While quality was good, numbers were lacking, 

 Alex Galbraith judged these, and his work was very good and well ac- 

 cepted. While he is a Clydesdale man, yet he adheres to the correct 

 Shire pattern when judging Shires. He sought the long ankled horse 

 with no tendency to side bones, and also gave quality of limbs con- 



