THE BELGIAN 1 27 



of the Flemish school of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries 

 showed no prevailing color as indicative of breed. He quotes an 

 early manuscript dated at the beginning of the last century rela- 

 tive to the color of the Braban^on horses, as follows: "Though 

 we have horses of every color we reduce them to three principal 

 coats, the black, the most common ; then comes the light and 

 dark bay, and lastly the gray of several shades." Mueleman 

 offers an interesting classification of Belgian colors of horses 

 shown in the National show at Brussels in six different years. 

 In 1910 bay prevailed in 51.2 per cent of the entries, chestnut in 

 36.8, roan in 5.3, auburn in 1.9, black in 2.7, and gray in 2.1. 

 There is shown a more or less steady decline in roans, grays, and 

 blacks in recent years, while dun has not been recorded since 1886. 

 Nearly 90 per cent of the prize winners are included among the 

 bays and chestnuts in the order given. 



The height and weight of the Belgian vary materially. M. Albert 

 Van Schelle, the special commissioner from Belgium in charge 

 of the exhibit of Belgian draft horses at the Louisiana Purchase 

 Exposition at St. Louis in 1904, classes the horses of Belgium 

 into three types according to the sections of the country to which 

 they belong. Those from Flanders range in height from i6| to 

 17 hands or more, and the stallions weigh about 2000 pounds. 

 Those from Brabant stand i.5| to i6| hands, and the stallions 

 weigh about 1600, while those of the Ardennais stand from 15 

 to I5|- hands in height and weigh about 1200 pounds. 



On the basis of the development of the breed in recent years 

 these figures hardly measure up to American or Belgian standards. 

 Unquestionably the breed is lower set than the other draft breeds, 

 but the larger type should show stallions weighing in excess of 

 2000 pounds. Crouch and Son of Indiana, who have imported 

 many Belgians, give the weight of the 1908 International cham- 

 pion, Perce 2276, as 2510 pounds. Some very massive examples 

 of the breed are to be found to-day. The Belgian colt weighs 

 heavy for its age, and there are records of males scarcely six 

 months old weighing 850 pounds, and one Ohio breeder reports 

 a colt at seven and one-half months weighing 990 pounds. 



The temperament of the Belgian is of the very best. This is 

 due no doubt to being raised in a country of small farms, in 



