Chapter II. 



FRENCH DRAFT (NORMAN). 



From the chapter on Percherons will be gathered somewhat of the* 

 author's ideas as to the name and present status of the Norman or 

 French Draft. As there stated, the term French Draft includes not 

 only the Percheron, but also the other heavy families or breeds of 

 French horses. We can see much good sense and considerable neces- 

 sity in perpetuating the registry of French Draft horses; many have 

 been and are still being imported to the United States which are not 

 eligible to record in the Percheron Stud Book by reason only of nativity 

 in another province than Perche ; and many of these horses stand as 

 individuals, and produce a progeny, second to none of the modern draft 

 breeds. The National Register of Norman Horses admits all, draft 

 horses of thorough French blood, no matter to what breed : or family, 

 they may belong. We can see no just cause for the apparently in-, 

 terminable wrangle between those who set themselves up as champions 

 of, and authority on, respectively, the French Draft and Percheron 

 breeds. The former includes the latter, and the latter is now undoubt- 

 edly more closely bred and limited as to registry than the former. There, 

 is no foundation that we can see for claiming that any breed should 

 have exclusive credit for improvement in American draft horses, and 

 there is no doubt that very many of the French Draft horses now in the 

 United States have no superior among even the most select Percherons. 



The precise origin of the French Draft horse would be hard to trace. 

 So many strains or families, all bred out from a common center, and im- 

 proved in whatever direction best suited the demands of any peculiar 

 locality, would naturally tend to break somewhat the line of descent. 

 According to Youatt, who wrote in 1831, the Province of Normandy 

 was the one most noted at that time for its horses, the French govern- 

 ment buying annually from the Norman stock for use in the other prov- 

 inces. 



Prof. Low, in his great work on the Domestic Animals of Great 

 Britain, published in 1842, noted the same facts, and attributed it to the 

 better grass and food conditions found in this province. All the heavy 

 horses of the continent, and through these, of the British Islands, may 

 be traced to the low, rich regions of middle and southwest Europe. 

 The old Black Horse of Flanders doubtless owed his great size to these 

 natural conditions of vegetation, and may very properly be considered 

 a sort of mile-post a stepping stone between the horses left in that 



