SELECTION, CARE AND MANAGEMENT 527 



young stallions have pasture and space to run in. 

 They should be well fed and kept in growing con- 

 dition. The great fault of our American breeders 

 is that they keep their stallion foals too much in 

 the barn, where they cannot possibly develop the 

 bone and substance which is necessary to make them 

 first-class horses. Colts should ran at large as much 

 as possible; the exercise, the grass and the extra 

 feed they get malie them grow into desirable horses. 

 The importance of exercise and grass cannot be 

 dwelt upon too much. It is lack of these which 

 prevents so many of our American-bred colts from 

 developing into the kind of horse which they 

 should be." 



J. B. McLaughlin. — Few Americans know the 

 Perclie and its horses better than Mr. McLaughlin. 

 He says: 



"Proper draft horse size is of course the prime 

 requisite for the Percheron stallion. Correct con- 

 formation and alignment of the legs, big, broad 

 joints, heavy bone with quality, pasterns sloping at 

 an angle of about 45 degrees, a short back and a 

 long hip with the tail set high, great depth through 

 the chest, or heart as we usually call it, great width 

 of chest, with the front legs not set too far out, 

 plenty of middle, with great width to hips and stifles 

 — these points, together with a big, broad foot with 

 a high heel and plenty of straight, clean, vigorous 

 action at both the walk and trot, are the most essen- 

 tial characteristics of a Percheron stallion. The 

 things most to be avoided are improper conforma- 

 tion and alignment of the legs. A perpendicular 

 line projected from the middle of the front toe 

 should bisect equally the pastern joint and the knee 

 joint. A line passed through the point of the stifle, 

 the point of the hock and the point of the hind toe 



