HEAVY DRAUGHT HORSES 43 



Kingdom the Percheron draught horse, a breed indigenous 

 to the Perche districts of France. The Society referred 

 to has its head-quarters in London, and anyone anxious 

 to become a member of it should make apphcation to its 

 Secretary, Mr. A. W. Hewett. Like all other horse 

 societies the general welfare of the breed receives every 

 consideration, and its interests are promoted at every 

 opportunity. 



The typical colour for the Percheron is grey, and if the 

 reader will refer to the accompanying illustration he will 

 at once see the striking resemblance which the breed bears 

 to our own Suffolk. Enthusiastic breeders proclaim that 

 it is a better horse than the Suffolk. This is not correct ; 

 in fact, if it comes to a critical examination of two typical 

 representatives of each breed, an analysis of points will 

 certainly be in favour of the Suffolk horse. Those who 

 advocate that it is superior to the latter as regards 

 soundness, etc., certainly display a strange want of 

 knowledge upon the subject. 



The Percheron is, in relationship to its size, a small- 

 headed horse with a very short neck, thick in all propor- 

 tions, heavy-shouldered, but deep in the chest and very 

 round in the body. It is a type of conformation that many 

 connoisseurs would object to, being ugly about the head 

 and the neck, more especially the set-on of the head. 

 The Percheron, like the Suffolk, has advantages over the 

 Shire and the Clydesdale, likewise the agricultural horse 

 in general, in having no long hair upon the lower parts of 

 the limbs, whilst in horses of good breeding the legs are 

 usually clean throughout and as a rule free from diseases. 



Quite a number of Percheron horses have recently been 

 imported into Great Britain, and some extraordinary 

 prices — as much as 5000 guineas — ^have been paid on 

 one or two occasions for the best specimens. It is a 

 breed that ought to cross very well with the Suffolk, 

 though whatever advantages would be gained by such a 

 cross it is difficult to conceive. 



