40 FOREIGN MARKETS FOR AMERICAN HORSES. 



Race horses, mail-coach, riding, and private carriage horses come 

 from all quarters, and their prices and sizes are hard to determine, as 

 they are subject to the qualities of the animal and to the fancies of 

 the purchasers. The race horses are generally of pure English or 

 Anglo-Arabian blood. The mail-coach horses are of pure or half 

 blood. 



The Percheron, Boulonnais, and Normand horses are used for heavy 

 draft purposes. The Percherons are used to a great extent for omni- 

 bus service (nearly exclusively so in Paris), but also for drays, 

 wagons, carriages, carts, and farm work. The breeders of Percherons 

 have taken great pains not to allow them to drift into the Clydesdale 

 type, but to produce horses suitable for almost any kind of work, and 

 they are successful in carrying out this purpose. 



The Boulonnais horses come from Boulogne district and are used 

 almost entirely for heavy draft service, being very large, of immense 

 strength, and noted for being very active. They are somewhat taller 

 than the Percherons, of heavier body and more compact. They are 

 magnificent animals. The Boulonnais are much used in single har- 

 ness for heavy drays and for goods carriages. 



The " Normand " horses are smaller in size than the Percheron, and 

 are used for draft purposes and farm work. 



The Brittany horses are small and of great endurance. They are 

 used by the railroad-passenger omnibus companies, for cabs, and also 

 for light cavalry. They are generally used in double harness. As to 

 the height and weight of the foregoing — 



The Boulonnais are from 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet 7 inches in height 

 and weigh from 1,750 to 1,950 pounds; the Percherons are from 5 feet 

 3 inches to 5 feet 5 inches in height and weigh from 1,500 to 1,750 

 pounds; the Normands are from 5 feet 3 inches to 5 feet 4 inches in 

 height and weigh from 1,300 to 1,450 pounds, and the Brittans are 

 from 4 feet 10 inches to 5 feet 1 inch in height and weigh from 880 to 

 1,000 pounds. 



Omnibus horses— Percheron— 5 to 7 years old, cost 800 to 1,350 

 francs, .averaging about 1,100 francs. 



Livery-stable carriage horses in Paris are bought when about 4 to 5 

 years old, and cost from 1,800 to 2,200 francs. They have good action, 

 are well-shaped strong animals, measuring about 5 feet 3 inches in 

 height. Many Dutch horses are used for this class of work, being 

 better tempered or kinder and more docile than the French horse. 

 The food used is oats, hay, straw, and occasionally bran and carrots. 



Cab horses come from everywhere, but principally from Denmark, 

 Hungary, and from the Tarbes district (south of Prance); also from 

 Brittany. They weigh from 770 to 880 pounds and stand about 4 feet 

 11 to 5 feet 1 inch. The cab horses cost from 700 to 950 francs, say 

 an average of about 800 to 850 francs. The food used is generally a 

 mixture of cracked corn (maize), oats, straw, bran, carrots, and bis- 

 cuits, which the horses eat from nose bags. 



