852 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



ous. In this connection those horses are reserved as shaft-horses which 

 are nearest to perfection ; their loins are short and very straight, their 

 croups well made, their members very strong, of good quality and per- 

 fect equilibrium. Unfortunately, owners are far from always attending 

 to these requirements ; they too often employ as a shaft-horse their 

 tallest horse, wrongly imagining that muscular power and other qualities 

 necessary for this work are directly and exclusively in proportion to 

 the height. 



The height is very great, on account of the volume and weight of 

 the loads to be moved. It varies from 1.55 metres to 1.75 metres; 

 exceptionally, it exceeds the last figure ; in this case, the horse is in 

 most instances badly conformed and defective. 



As to the coat, little importance is attached to it ; however, custom 

 favors the dapple and the dark gray more than the coats called colored, 

 that is to say, the bay, chestnut, roan, black, etc. 



As to prices, they vary greatly, according as the animals are 

 destined for industry and commerce or are bought for breeding pur- 

 poses. On an average, geldings, mares, and non-producing stallions 

 cost from $300 to $500 ; stallions from $600 to $1000. Shaft-horses, 

 all things being equal, bring twenty-five per cent, more than the 

 others, but it is daily becoming more and more difficult to obtain 

 them, on account of the enormous competition of the Americans on 

 the French market. It is no exaggeration to say that every year 

 the breeders of the Perche and the Beauce export to the United States 

 from twelve to fifteen hundred of their handsomest gray horses, which 

 the American purchasers buy for stallions, at from $1200 to $1600. 



B. Fast Heavy-Draught Horses. 



As we have said, the horses of this category differ from those of 

 the preceding in that they alternate the trot with the walk, the loads 

 which they pull being much less heavy. In Paris, they are specially 

 used for brewers 7 and milkmen's wagons, and for omnibuses and 

 tramways. 



They are of smaller stature, and the body is less massive, less 

 ample, and less muscular ; on the other hand, they have longer, lighter, 

 and more slender members, longer necks, and a more rapid gait. 



Brewers' Horses (Fig. 345) are from 1.62 metres to 1.65 metres 

 high. They are harnessed singly to small two-wheeled wagons called 

 brasseuses, also in pairs to light drays. They trot almost invariably. 

 Most of them come from Perche, Beauce, and Normandy (Eure and 



