166 THE HORSE BOOK. 



duchy of Luxembourg, and its horses are typ- 

 ically harder in their legs than the true Belgians 

 bred on lower ground. They run more to white 

 markings than the true Belgians, and more to 

 ^^hard colors'' — bright bays and chestnuts. An 

 Ardennais horse may perhaps best be described 

 as a Belgian draft horse with a bit of Clydes- 

 dale quality of legs and levelness of top injected 

 into him. They are recorded in the Belgian 

 Draft Horse Stud Book, and come to this coun- 

 try with certificates therefrom. 



THE BELGIAN. 



Bred nearest the f ountainhead of all our draft 

 breeds and amid surroundings which favor 

 grossness in horseflesh, the Belgian is indubit- 

 ably the largest heavy draft horse of the present 

 day. The Belgian government has spent a lot of 

 money trying by inspection and subsidy, largely 

 after the French pattern, to improve the breed 

 and it has succeeded in large measure. I remem- 

 ber Belgian work horses that were imported in- 

 to Scotland to do contracting work some thirty 

 years ago or more, and a worse lot could hardly 

 be imagined. They had the crookedest toplines 

 of any horses I have ever seen, short necks, big 

 sour heads and sickle hocks. These, however, 

 could not fairly be esteemed high-class speci- 

 mens, for the reason that with freight charges 

 by sea and land they could be laid down in the 

 Scottish capital and other cities for less money 



