496 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



courageous; crest, thick; chest, full and broad; shoulder, strong 

 and a little apt to be too straight, as well as low and heavy at the 

 withers; the barrel is stout, somewhat flatsided and not unfre- 

 quently too long ; loins, excellent ; croup, round and fleshy ; 

 thighs, muscular, and, " above all, the soundest, most undenia- 

 ble, flat-boned legs that are to be found in any race not thor- 

 ough-bred, and the toughest, hardest, and most iron-like feet that 

 are to be found in any race whatsoever." They are singularly 

 exempt from all ordinary diseases of the foot. The prevailing 

 color is black, and the next is a rich, dark brown, often dappled 

 on the shoulders and quarters. Some chestnuts, with legs and 

 tails lighter than the body, are seen; and next occur dark iron- 

 grays, with black legs. The tail and mane are very heavy, and 

 the hair fine and wavy. The fetlocks up to the knee are cov- 

 ered with long, shaggy coat. They are compactly built, and 

 range from fourteen to fifteen hands in height. They are not 

 fast, but are hardy and have wonderful endurance. Whether 

 the load be light or heavy, they bear it rapidly. They can 

 make the eight miles per hour and keep it up. Herbert says 

 not a few can be found which will accomplish sixty, seventy, 

 eighty, and even ninety miles in one day. 



The points of excellence which seem to be common to the 

 Canadian and French horses leads to the inquiry, How comes it 

 to be so ? The question can not be answered in exact terms, 

 but there are some historical facts that would help to an under- 

 standing of how the French blood made its impress on the 

 Canadian horses. 



Their Origin. It is known that a colony from Normandy 

 settled along the banks of the St. Lawrence in the sixteenth 

 century, and they founded Quebec in 1608. Now, let us remem- 

 ber that the Normans had then become in Norrnundy as cele- 

 brated in the arts of agriculture as they had been famous in 

 war. They were ingenious and enterprising, and Normandy 

 was the best cultivated part of France. As early as the elev- 

 enth century adventurous knights from Normandy subdued 

 Southern Italy by the power of their fine cavalry, and the suc- 

 cesses of Norman princes for centuries depended largely on their 



