THE PEKCHEEON HORSE. 95 



Paris after a sojourn of a year or so upon their farms. 

 The environs of Courville Chateauneuf, Brezolles, La 

 Loupe, Champroud, Thiron, Pontgouin, Verneuil, etc. 

 are celebrated for the taste of its farmers for fine horses. 

 Illiers, which formerly possessed this specialty, has occu- 

 pied itself for several years in weaning colts. 



CHAPTER III. 



SPEED AND BOTTOM OF THE PERCHERON HORSE. 



We have said that one of the distinctive qualities of 

 the Percheron horse, and one which has won for him uni- 

 versal esteem, was fast trotting while drawing a heavy 

 load. It would be, however, an error to suppose that this 

 faculty of fast trotting puts him on a level with the blood- 

 horse. The latter draws little, it is true ; but he has a 

 long stride, and, as regards mere speed, he beats the 

 Percheron out and out. For the presence upon the turf 

 of such horses as Decidee and Sarah, who have trotted 

 against blood-horses of the first order, sometimes honora- 

 bly beaten and more often victorious, the presence, I say, 

 of such horses, is but a happy and rare exception. 



The specialty of the Percheron, quick draft, has then 

 its limits, and it is these limits that I wish to make known 

 by means of numerous examples collected with care. 



What the Percheron has done in the diligences, mail 

 and post-coaches is known to everybody ; and it is useless 

 to repeat it. From one relay to another, never dragging 

 less than two, and more often three thousand pounds, in 

 hot weather and cold, and over hilly, difficult roads, he 

 made his three leagues to the hour easily, and sometimes 



