222 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 



The finest Percheron that I ever saw was a coal- 

 black stallion, not of great size, high-headed, com- 

 pactly built, with flowing mane and tail. This fellow 

 had short, quick, smooth action, exactly like that of 

 the Morgan roadster family, and he was said — doubt- 

 less truly — to be capable of trotting ten miles an 

 hour with ease. The resemblance between the Mor- 

 gan and the Arabian horse has often been remarked 

 upon, and it was honestly come by, for the English 

 thoroughbred horse that sired the original Justin 

 Morgan was of Arab descent. In shape, also, as well 

 as in action, there is again a resemblance between the 

 Morgans and the Percherons ; and so, on the whole, 

 it seems not unreasonable to infer that the New Eng- 

 land roadster and the French cart horse have a com- 

 mon origin, both being descended, not wholly, but 

 largely, from the " primitive horse," as the Arab is 

 sometimes called. 



Xo other breed, except possibly English half-bred 

 animals, equals the Percheron in ability to draw a 

 heavy load at a fast pace. The post and diligence 

 horses formerly used in France, as we have seen, were 

 Percherons. From Boulogne to Paris the pace was 

 ten miles an hour, although the road was paved. The 

 harness and reins were of rope, and the hostlers in 

 charge of the big gray horses that did the work were 

 women. The coachers, before being put to, or after 

 they had been taken out, would often engage in a 

 fight in the inn-yard, biting and kicking one another 

 viciously ; and on these occasions the woman hostler, 

 who was quite equal to the emergene3 r , would quickly 

 appear upon the scene, and, with a few well directed 

 kicks from her wooden sabots, put an end to the com- 



