464 A HISTORY OF THE PERCHERON HORSE 



with any considerable number of Percherons, but 

 there were many small breeders who bred a few. 

 A. J. Zang bought some good mares and an unusu- 

 ally high-class stallion in founding his stud and the 

 horses he has bred have been very favorably com- 

 mented upon by some of the best judges in the 

 United States. The stallion Champagne 51743 

 (65402), used in the stud practically from its incep- 

 tion, proved extremely prepotent and his colts are 

 characterized by uniformity in type and by excellent 

 quality. The persistent work done in this stud has 

 aided in large measure all Percheron-breeding in- 

 terests in Colorado. The greatest progress in this 

 state, however, has been made in grading up the 

 native range horses, in which Percherons have had 

 the leading part. The free use of Percheron stal- 

 lions on the native horses in Colorado has increased 

 the size, improved the symmetry and conformation, 

 and brought about such improvement in the general 

 type and quality of the horses that they are worth 

 from two to three times as much as the native stock 

 from which they sprang. A large proportion of 

 the range horses in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana 

 and other western states, carrying from two to three 

 crosses of Percheron blood, have weighed from 

 1,350 to 1,500 pounds at maturity, even when raised 

 under range conditions without grain feed, and have 

 made admirable heavy artillery horses for use in 

 the European war. Hundreds of thousands of these 

 good western-bred horses have been purchased and 

 shipped abroad for artillery and cavalry uses. The 



