THE SITUATION IN BELGIUM. 75 



they know there is always a demand for this class of horses. They 

 know how to fatten and prepare this horse for other markets, which 

 is just what they do, and then sell him again. They do not use many 

 of the American draft horses that are sent to them. They like their 

 own type better, and while most of the American horses which are 

 sent to Germany remain there, the reverse is true of Belgium. The 

 majority of the light horses sent to Belgium remain; hut when it 

 comes to the selection of a draft horse for his own use, the Belgian 

 has his own ideas and selects one after the type he is most familiar 

 with, the same as the Englishman naturally likes the Shire, the Scotch- 

 man the Clyde, and the Frenchman the draft horse of his own country. 



Thus we see that while our statistics show Belgium to have received 

 4,213 horses from us last year, there was but a small per cent of them 

 used in that country. She sells the largest number to Germany, while 

 many go to France and a few even to Italy. That both Germany and 

 France get many more of our horses than our reports show are shipped 

 there direct is patent from the number given by their own statistics. 

 The above facts show that the United States can raise draft horses 

 for export at a profit, but as I shall speak of this feature of horse 

 breeding later will not discuss it now. 



What has been said about carriage horses in other countries is 

 applicable to Belgium. This country makes no attempt to produce 

 them, but here as elsewhere they sell better and at higher prices than 

 any other kind. From what has been said about the cost of produc- 

 ing horses in Belgium it will be seen that those which mature earliest 

 are the most profitable for the Belgian breeder. The cost of feeding 

 is so great that he must raise a horse that will be ready to pay his way 

 at the earliest possible day. Carriage horses as a rule would not at 

 the age of 18 months be able to do this, and hence to raise them in 

 Belgium will cost even more than to produce the draft horse. 



While Belgium invites us to supply her with carriage and cavalry 

 horses, she guards with jealousy her production of draft horses. She 

 makes no discrimination against us, however; and if we raise good 

 horses they will sell to advantage. Belgium will ever have the 

 advantage, however, of producing a horse that her own people like 

 better than ours, but for the immediate profit there is in it she will 

 take our draft horses, keep them for a time, and then pass them on 

 to Germany and other countries. 



In Belgium, as in other countries, the first thing one hears is that 

 our horses are too wild and too hard to break. This is easily under- 

 stood when we consider that in Belgium the colt is almost a member 

 of the family from the time he is foaled, and that he is broken to 

 work and handled like a dog from the time he is 18 months old. 



This is true to some extent in all the horse-producing countries of 

 Europe and fully explains the reason of the complaint we hear against 

 the American horse, that he is wild and hard to break 



