EARLY IMPORTATIONS 159 



atic effort was made by the Government to eliminate the 

 coarseness which had been introduced by the free and 

 frequently injudicious use of draft-blood. About 1820, 

 two noted gray Oriental stallions, Godolphin and 

 Gallipoli, were introduced into the Government stables 

 at Pin. These two prepotent stallions fixed the style of 

 color and fastened it on an already susceptible breed. 

 The refining process went on rapidly and the French 

 heavy horse became a well-defined prepotent breed, 

 which still shows some Arabian characteristics har- 

 moniously united with prominent draft qualities. The 

 importation of these horses into the United States 

 began about 1851, twenty -five years before the publi- 

 cation of the first Percheron stud-book in America. 

 The Percheron Horse-breeders' Association is the oldest 

 draft -horse breeders' society, and was organized and 

 published a stud-book several years before the Society 

 Hippique Percheronne was organized in France. 



G. W. Curtis says, "One of the stallions imported in 

 1851, under the name of French Horse, was sold to 

 Dillon & Co., of Normal, 111., and was shown under the 

 name of * Norman.' The early importers were at liberty 

 to give any distinctive breed -name to the animals 

 imported, for, as yet, there was no stud-book in France. 

 Some of these early importations were from the old 

 province of LaPerche, some from Normandy, some were 

 purchased in the city of Paris, and some were gathered 

 from no one knows where, though all appeared to have 

 the general characteristics of the Percheron." 



It will readily be seen how natural it was, under the 

 circumstances, to attach different breed -names to horses 



