THE DRAFT BREEDS OF HORSES 23 
of the first firms to import these horses was D. P. Stubbs 
& Sons, of Fairfield, Iowa. Since 1897, there has been 
a large and constantly increasing demand for stallions 
of this breed. The leading importers have been A. B. 
Holbart and Lefebure & Sons, of Iowa; J. Crouch & Son, 
of Indiana; McLaughlin Bros., of Columbus, Ohio; 
Dunham & Fletcher, of Illinois, and H. A. Briggs, of 
Wisconsin. Very few mares were imported into this 
country at first for reasons that are not well understood. 
This was due partly to the fact that there was not the 
demand for the Belgian breed to encourage importing 
and breeding, as the trade was better satisfied with the 
Percheron and some of the English draft breeds; and 
partly because of the very high prices asked for Belgian 
mares abroad. 
16. Description. — The Belgian draft horse is one of the 
most compact in form of any draft breed representatives 
found in America, possessing a maximum of weight with 
very short body set on short legs. He is broad, massive and 
well proportioned, as a rule. In quality the Belgian is 
somewhat lacking, the legs appearing round and rather 
coarse. The tendons of the legs are thick and not well de- 
fined. The skin is sometimes fine, although the hair is 
occasionally rather coarse and inclined to curl. The head 
is of good size, the nostrils are large and the eyes small and 
not very prominent. The ears are small, set wide apart 
and generally are not well carried. The neck is short, very 
thick and well crested. The shoulders are a little too up- 
right, but strong and heavily muscled. The chest is deep 
and wide, giving a very large girth. The ribs are long, well 
sprung, and closely ribbed up to the hip, giving a better 
barrel than is found in any other breed of draft horses. 
The back is short, very broad and inclined to sag some- 
