CHAPTER XIII 

 THE PERCHERON 



The native home of the Percheron horse is in France, in a 

 region known in that country as the Perche. In northwestern 

 France, bounded on the north and west by the sea, is the prov- 

 ince of Normandy. It comprises nearly 7,000,000 acres and is 

 divided into five geographical or civil departments, — La Manche, 

 Calvados, Orne, Eure, and Seine-Inferieure. South and east of 

 Normandy is the old province of Orleans, containing the depart- 

 ments of Loiret, Eure-et-Loir, and Loir-et-Cher. Within this 

 territory, including more or less of Eure, Orne, Eure-et-Loir, 

 Sarthe, and Loir-et-Cher, is the Perche. This locality — for it has 

 no civil organization under this name — embraces an area of about 

 fifty-three by sixty-six miles. The surface of the country is rather 

 broken, having an altitude ranging from about 270 to '750 feet, 

 and is interspersed with numerous pretty valleys and small streams 

 of water. The upper waters of the great river Loire pass through 

 the south edge of the Perche, while the more modest yet beautiful 

 Huisne, with wide-spreading pastures on each side, winds its way 

 through much of this, the home of the Percheron. Small grains 

 and potatoes are the common crops, while here and there on the 

 hillsides apple orchards remind one of some of the apple-growing 

 sections of America. The town of Nogent-le-Rotrou, with a 

 population of about 8500, has for many years been the recognized 

 headquarters of the horsemen of the Perche, while other towns 

 of importance are Mortagne, Alen^on, and Mamers. Seventy- 

 five miles to the northeast from Nogent-le-Rotrou is Paris, and 

 between these two cities is to be found one of the most productive 

 farming sections of France. 



The origin of the Percheron breed is most obscure. For cen- 

 turies horses of a light draft type were bred in the vicinity of 

 the Perche. The claim has been made by French writers that this 

 is a prehistoric breed, [^^e§>WMShsmb authority on the French 



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