THE DRAFT BREEDS OF HORSES 23 



of the first firms to import these horses was D. P. Stubbs 

 & Sons, of Fairfield, Iowa. Since 1897, there has been 

 a large and constantly increasing demand for stallions 

 of this breed. The leading importers have been A. B. 

 Holbart and Lefebure & Sons, of Iowa ; J. Crouch & Son, 

 of Indiana; McLaughlin Bros., of Columbus, Ohio; 

 Dunham & Fletcher, of Illinois, and H. A. Briggs, of 

 Wisconsin. Very few mares were imported into this 

 country at first for reasons that are not well understood. 

 This was due partly to the fact that there was not the 

 demand for the Belgian breed to encourage importing 

 and breeding, as the trade was better satisfied with the 

 Percheron and some of the English draft breeds; and 

 partly because of the very high prices asked for Belgian 

 mares abroad. 



16. Description. The Belgian draft horse is one of the 

 most compact in form of any draft breed representatives 

 found in America, possessing a maximum of weight with 

 very short body set on short legs. He is broad, massive and 

 well proportioned, as a rule. In quality the Belgian is 

 somewhat lacking, the legs appearing round and rather 

 coarse. The tendons of the legs are thick and not well de- 

 fined. The skin is sometimes fine, although the hair is 

 occasionally rather coarse and inclined to curl. The head 

 is of good size, the nostrils are large and the eyes stoiall and 

 not very prominent. The ears are small, set wide apart 

 and generally are not well carried. The neck is short, very 

 thick and well crested. The shoulders are a little too up- 

 right, but strong and heavily muscled. The chest is deep 

 and wide, giving a very large girth. The ribs are long, well 

 sprung, and closely ribbed up to the hip, giving a better 

 barrel than is found in any other breed of draft horses. 

 The back is short, very broad and inclined to sag some- 



