CHAPTER XXXVII 



DRAFT HORSES 



TN the first half of the nineteenth century there were 

 draft horses in Pennsylvania known as Conestoga 

 Horses. The Conestoga Valley, where this equine 

 family originated, was settled mainly by Dutch farmers, 

 and it is highly probable that imported Flemish horses 

 were the foundation of this strain. These Conestoga 

 horses were tall, leggy, long-backed animals, but strong, 

 active, and good-tempered. They were used extensively 

 in Pennsylvania and the adjoining states In hauling 

 canal boats, as well as freight wagons on the highways. 

 Some of the best and lightest of them were much ad- 

 mired as express horses in the city of New York. They 

 have long since passed away, and our present draft 

 horses are all of Imported stock. Most of these horses 

 are raised in the West, and the eastern states pay out 

 millions of dollars for them every year. Even the farm 

 horses used in northern New England are mainly from 

 the West. At the present prices draft horses could be 

 raised with profit in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, 

 and northern New York. They would not be quite so 

 large as the western-bred horses, but they would have 

 better feet, and more nervous energy. 



THE PERCHERON 



The oldest Imported draft family Is the Percheron, 

 and It Is still the most popular. The Percheron 



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