590 A HISTORY OF THE PERCHEEON HORSE 



their value is greatly enhanced and their opportu- 

 nities in the stud are widened. Sentiment among 

 breeders is so strong, alert and well informed that 

 the judging at the leading shows is in the long run 

 representative of the best thought of the breeders of 

 the period. Analysis of the showyard records and 

 of the breeding of the winners is of great interest 

 to all intelligent, thoughtful breeders. 



An exhaustive study of the winning horses at the 

 shows held in the Perche under the direction of the 

 Societe Hippique Percheronne de France from 1901 

 to 1910 inclusive discloses 1,418 which were awarded 

 prizes in the individual classes. The large number 

 is due to the French system of awarding several 

 third and fourth prizes in each class. Only one first 

 prize is awarded, but two second, two third, six 

 fourth, seven fifth, and fifteen sixth prizes, so called, 

 have sometimes been awarded. This is a scheme to 

 aid sales, and wholly unjustified. 



The names and numbers of the prizewinning 

 horses at all these shows were tabulated, and op- 

 posite each was placed the name and numbers of 

 the sire, grandsire and great-grandsire in the pat- 

 ernal line. It was found that 476 stallions appeared 

 but once each in the 10 years as great-grandsires of 

 winners. These were therefore eliminated from 

 consideration. The 942 animals remaining trace to 

 only 80 different great-grandsires, some of which 

 appeared more frequently than others. The num- 

 ber of times each great-grandsire appeared during 

 the 10 years is shown by the following summary: 



