498 



CONTINENTAL HORSES. 



that the soil and dimate of France is well suited to horse- 

 breeding. 



The chief French breeds are : the Boulonnais, Per- 

 cheron, Breton, Ardenne, Norman, and Tarbes, all of 

 which contain a large admixture of foreign blood. 



Boulonnais Horses (Figs. 504 and 505) are the most 

 characteristic French breed, and are a fine type of the 



Photo by] [ T. Delton, Paris, 



Fig. 504. — M. A. de Wazieres' Boulonnais stallion, Rejoui (i6. i). 



heavy draught horse. They are bred not only in the 

 country near Boulogne, from which they derive their name, 

 but also in the neighbouring provinces, and especially 

 where hard work requires horses of great power. Hence 

 the cart-horses of Picardie, Haute Normandie, Artois and 

 the French part of Flanders are merely varieties of the 

 Boulonnais. '' Towards the end of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury, attempts were made to lighten this breed, by 

 crossing it with Barbs and Arabs, which were plentiful 



