PERCHERON PROTOTYPES 49 



letter has been made the basis of so much that has 

 been handed down to our day and generation, it will 

 now be of interest to set forth the discussion which 

 it provoked among those who were present. Par- 

 ticular attention should be given to the remarks of 

 M. Gautier, whose standing at the time may be fairly 

 gauged from the fact that he not only opened but 

 closed the discussion. "We again quote verbatim: 



"M. Gautier said he had no knowledge of any 

 documents which would cause one to think, like the 

 Abbe Fret, that the Percheron was descended from 

 the Arab ; or from the Brittany horse, as some others 

 thought. As for himself, he had the conviction that 

 this breed (the Percheron) was a primitive type, 

 and that the introduction of the English half-blood, 

 as a sire, had brought in modifications rendering it 

 suitable for an army horse. 



"M. Blanpre thought that the crossing of Per- 

 cheron mares with half-blood horses had caused bad 

 results. The half-blood is a mixed breed, and it 

 would be contrary to all principles to admit a horse 

 incapable of impressing character on its products. 

 He thought that the conservation in the region of 

 fine Percheron stallions, carefully selected, suitable, 

 if one wished, of rendering the breed lighter and 

 liberally encouraged by government prizes would be 

 the best means of maintaining the horse of this breed 

 as a commercial proposition. The crossing with 

 stallions that did not show any primitive type had 

 nearly destroyed all the French breeds. 



" M. Le Roy thought that there was too much dis- 

 similarity between the Thoroughbred stallion and 

 the Percheron mare to give any hope of success in 

 such a combination. He feared, also, that the tenant 

 farmers would be afraid of the lightness of the Thor- 



