96 THE PEECHEEON HOESE. 



four; but this was the " ne plus ultra " beyond which it 

 was not reasonable to go. 



What he does in the omnibuses, the world that visits 

 Paiis realizes and admires. And this is one of the principal 

 attractions of the Percheron horse to the intelligent 

 stranger. 



It now only remains for us to follow him upon the turf 

 and sum up the time made in the trots won by him. 



The courses, for some time frequented by him, are those 

 of Illiers, Courtalain, Montdoubleau, and Mortagne ; and 

 here he is always to be found. It is, also, indispensable to 

 notice, in order to be strictly impartial, that these tracks, 

 except the new one at Mortagne, finished two years ago, 

 were only plowed fields, hard in dry weather, but cut up 

 like a peat-bog in wet times ; that the track of Mor- 

 tagne, as is well known, is placed on a steep side-hill, and 

 joins to the above defect the one of offering three steep 

 inclines, up and down, like the roof of a house, within a 

 distance of 3,000 feet. The horses which had done the 

 best elsewhere failed on this track, and took a long time 

 to make the distance. It is to this circumstance that is to 

 be attributed the low average time, but it is this also 

 which shows us the courage of the Percheron. When a 

 colt of thirty months (and of these there were a number) 

 had bravely accomplished his task and had gone two or 

 three times around this killing track, it could be boldly 

 predicted that there was in him the making of a staunch 

 and valuable horse. To all this let us add, that either un- 

 der saddle or in harness, the Percheron is almost always 

 placed in an unfavorable situation. Mounted, he is put 

 into the hands of a youth, ardent, without experience, and 

 without calculation, who pushes him without discretion in 

 the beginning, and is totally ignorant of the jockey's art. 

 Harnessed, he is covered with heavy and inconvenient 

 gear, and he drags either a big, heavy-running wagon, 

 or a poor, low traveling-tilbury. 



