8o 



THE HORSE, ASS, AND MULE 



a smaller, more cobby type of coacher, or French trotter, that is 

 highly valued by the French for its speed quality. 



The French Coach is characterized by very good length of body, 

 with a long, somewhat arching neck and a long, wide, level croup. 

 The trot of this breed is long and powerful, rather than high and 

 trappy like the Hackney. The French have sought strong bone 

 and excellent feet and great speed for a heavy type of trotter. 



There is not a great variation in color, bay in varying shades 

 and brown being most common. Of 147 stallions and mares 



owned at one time by 

 two of the leading 

 dealers in the United 

 States there were 90 

 bays or brown bays, 

 29 browns, 1 7 blacks, 

 and 1 1 chestnuts. 



The French race 

 track, which is either 

 two and one-half or 

 two miles long, is 

 over a course of turf. 

 The sod track causes a 

 high knee action and 

 long stride as well as 

 a strong, well-flexed 



FIG. 27. A French Coach mare on pasture in Cal- 

 vados. From photograph by the author 



hock movement. 



Speed records of 

 French Coachers. As 



might naturally be supposed, the use of stallions from high-class 

 speed ancestry on French mares produced fast trotters. The horses 

 of France, however, have never made as fast time as those of 

 America. In 1873 Niger trotted 2| miles in 6:55, while up to 

 1877 the fastest record was by Pactole, who made 2^ miles in 

 6:38. In 1891 there were 1399 contestants in races, 312 of which 

 trotted races from 2 to 3| miles at less than 3 minutes per mile, 

 137 under 2:50, 112 under 2:45, an d 62 under 2:40. 



The distribution of the French Coach horse is confined almost ex- 

 clusively to France, although in the past the breed was extensively 



