CHAPTER I 
THE DRAFT BREEDS OF HORSES 
AuL individuals representing the following breeds 
should possess primarily the low station, wide, deep, 
compact, massive and big-boned form typical of the 
drafter. Sharp contrast should be made between these 
features, which are common to all the breeds in this 
group, and the distinctive features or marks possessed by 
each breed in particular and by means of which they are 
differentiated. 
PercHeron Horse. Plate I. 
By Charles F. Curtiss and John A. Craig 
1. The Percheron breed of draft horses is native of 
the ancient province of La Perche, a territory about 
one hundred miles square, in the north-central part of 
France. This region lies in the heart of a fertile farming 
country. The land is high and rolling, the soil is fertile 
and the farms are watered by numerous springs and small 
streams. These springs and brooks give rise to some 
eight or ten rivers flowing into the English Channel on 
the north and the Atlantic Ocean on the west. The numer- 
ous valleys are rich and they produce sweet, nutritious 
grasses and bountiful crops of grain. The climate is 
mild, yet sufficiently tonic and invigorating to produce 
horses of good temperament. The land is’held mainly 
re 
