THE OTHER FRENCH BREEDS. 165 



of back are alleged to be undesirable character- 

 istics of this strain so far as it has been devel- 

 oped, but I am free to say that the few speci- 

 mens I have seen in this country could not be 

 faulted greatly, if at all, in this way. 



In Brittany betterment of the horse stock was 

 long delayed and the French government has 

 done its utmost to promote improvement in con- 

 formation and value by acquiescing in the' use 

 of almost any kind of a pure-bred draft stallion. 

 The show catalogue referred to discloses that 

 the Bretonnais horses are mixtures of Perche- 

 ron, Boulonnais and other sorts with the native 

 Breton stock in all sorts of combinations, and 

 the variegated color scheme of the breed indi- 

 cates that no attempt has been made at uniform- 

 ity in this direction. 



Ardennais horses are not heavy except in so 

 far as they have been made so of later years 

 by the use of Belgian draft stallions. Properly 

 speaking the Ardennais is a horse of the heavy 

 artillery type and was pointedly eulogized by 

 Napoleon for the endurance displayed in his dis- 

 astrous Eussian campaign. Of later years, how- 

 ever, much size has been injected into the breed 

 and many Ardennais horses have come to this 

 country as Belgians. The Ardennes country, in 

 which they are bred, is a hilly, poor region, in 

 which size can only be maintained by the closest 

 artificial selection and high feeding. It bor- 

 ders both France and Belgium and the Grand- 



