108 REPORT OF THE SCOTTISH COMMISSION 



Draught breeds are subdivided as follows : — Clydesdale, Shire, 

 Percheron, Suffolk-Punch, Belgian, and General Purpose Horse. 

 As denoting the proportion in which these various lines hold favour, 

 a quotation may be given of the number found in the Province 

 of Ontario in 1906 : — 



This is quite a fair example of what the Commission found over 

 Canada. Here and there Percherons were found in a greater 

 proportion, but this was attributable to the nationality of the people 

 more than to local conditions. Around Cardston, Lethbridge, and 

 about High River, where men from the United States hold land, 

 Percherons were more popular. Shires seemed to be losing favour 

 altogether. Belgians were scarcely ever met with and little heard 

 about. One very excellent stud of Suffolk-Punch horses was seen 

 at Mossom, Boyd & Company's farm, near Prince Albert. The 

 manager there reported that it was proposed to cross the mares with 

 a Shire stallion, so that the hardy, docile, Suffolk-Punch cannot be 

 finding favour with breeders. For the production of the heavy 

 horse, it is clearly a choice between the Clydesdale and the 

 Percheron stallion. For the Percheron it is claimed that the 

 bone is more suitable for the country, that the legs are less 

 liable to go wrong with " mud fever " in the spring season, and that 

 he is a cheerier and more ready puller in shafts. An average 

 Percheron stallion weighs from 1650 to 1800 lbs. The weight of a 

 Clydesdale runs from 1750 to 2000 lbs. The Clydesdale, therefore, 

 has the vote in the matter of weight. It is claimed for the Clydesdale 

 that he is the much more powerful animal ; that his broad, flat 

 bone is superior to that of the Percheron ; that he excels in his 

 long, springy pastern ; that his feet are superior ; that he is the 

 readiest cart-horse extant ; and that he is fitted to breed a more 

 valuable grade animal than any other horse. There is a very 

 important difference between these breeds in the matter of the 

 formation of the hind leg and in the hind action. In the Clydesdale 

 the hind leg is much the superior lever. Its broader, cleaner hock, 

 sat at a more correct angle, and over a longer pastern, with a closer 

 inward alliance to its neighbour, gives its wearer a great deal of 

 additional purchase and greater immunity from spavins and curbs. 

 The average Canadian does not appear to lay the same stress on close 

 hind action that the Scotsman does. A closer study of the position 

 of a heavily laden horse ascending a hill might bring about a change 

 of type in the land of the Maple Leaf. The Canadian is much more 

 critical — and rightly so — of the conformation of the body and 

 carriage. A horse with a deep, broad chest, a nicely-set shoulder, 

 " cresty " neck, good head, with prominent eye, especially good 

 back, and well ribbed, is what he wants. The action must be smart, 

 whether it be exactly level or not. In other words, a handsome, 



