172 A HISTORY OF THE PERCHERON HORSE 



mare, Pride of Paris 593, proved to be a regular 

 producer, but she and her descendants were coarse 

 and so lacking in both quality and symmetry that 

 Mr. Hodgson discarded all of them after a few years. 



Hodgson's operations between 1870 and 1880 

 served to develop great interest in draft horse breed- 

 ing in La Salle county, and as a direct result a 

 number of purebred studs were established there in 

 the next decade, of which we shall have more to 

 say anon. 



Stubblefield Importations. — George W. Stubble- 

 field & Co., Bloomington, 111., made importations in 

 1874, '75, and '80, and bred altogether 8 Percherons 

 by the close of this period. Henry Abrahams 224, 

 imported in 1874, was the only sire of consequence 

 used by Mr. Stubblefield during this time. He was 

 an upstanding horse, a little over 17 hands, weighing 

 around 1,800 pounds. He was a light gray, with 

 fine head and neck, short back, and heavily muscled 

 quarters. He had extra quality, good style and 

 action. As a sire on the common mares of McLean 

 county he proved extremely popular and did much 

 to increase the demand for Percheron sires in that 

 section. 



Percheron Breeding in Other States. — A detailed 

 discussion of the work of the 32 other breeders who 

 contributed to Percheron breeding during this pio- 

 neer period is hardly necessary, for in most in- 

 stances they were merely laying the foundations for 

 later work, and while so doing aroused interest in 

 draft horse breeding and convinced the average 



