66 HOW TO BREED A HORSE 



einevvs and feet, apparently unconscious of disease, foi 

 which the latter race are famous 



An English writer in The British Quarterly Journal of 

 Agriculture^ speaking of the general working-horse of Nor» 

 mandj, says : " The horses of Normandy are a capital race 

 for hard work and scanty fare. I have never seen such 

 horses at the collar, under the diligence, the post-carriage, 

 fche cumbrous and heavy voiture or cabriolet for one oi 

 two horses, or the farm cart. They are enduring and en- 

 ergetic beyond description; with their necks cut to the 

 bone, they flinch not ; they put forth all their efforts at the 

 voice of the brutal driver or at the dreaded sound of his 

 never-ceasing whip ; they keep their condition when other 

 horses would die of neglect and hard treatment. A better 

 cross for some of our horses cannot be imagined than those 

 of Normandy, provided they have not the ordinary filling 

 of two much length from the hock downward, and a heavy 

 head." The two points last named are precisely those 

 which are entirely got rid of in the best style of Perche- 

 ron Normans, which are, as we have stated, those of the 

 Normans most deeply and thoroughly imbued with the 

 Arabian, or, to speak more correctly, Barb blood of Anda 

 lusia. It is not easy to procure the best and fastest stallions 

 of this breed, as they are bought up by the French Gov- 

 ernment for the diligence and mail service, for which they 

 are highly prized, and in which they are constantly kept 

 at a pace varying from five to nine miles an hour, over 

 roads and behind loads which would speedily kill anEng 

 lish or American horse, without loss of health or condition. 

 But there is no difficulty in obtaining the choicest marea 

 at comparatively low rates — mares being little valued ybi 

 work in France. Mr. Edward Harris, of Moorestown, N. 

 J., who has been at much pains to import fine horses and 

 mares of this breed, asserts of his horse "Diligence," that 



