A French iJai'ds and Jlor^a Ftiii'. 
103 
own ; at this moment in France tlie English horse is the fashion- 
able horse, the " dioval do luxe as opposed to the clieval serieux." 
There is, says M. Gayot, an incessant march of all horses 
towards unification, a tendency towards uuiformity ; in other 
woids, this is, in action, the great and prevailing law character- 
istic of our day, a law evolved from steam transit and the 
breaking down of barriers all over the face of the earth. Roads 
were made, and — the survival of the fittest — horses had to be 
fitted according. With this century the pack-horse and pad 
gave place to the heavy waggoner and machiner. Again, rail- 
roads came, and the big horse had to be replaced by a bigger 
variety ; one great need of our day is fitness to draw heavy loads 
with satisfactory speed ; in narrow, crowded, commercial streets 
the strain must fall on a shaft-horse. The weight of the big 
horse seconds his energy ; the animal machine, says M. Gayot, 
is a bag of levers and requires a fulcrum. Climate and food 
also conduce to make the big horse, clover cultivation and arti- 
ficial grass have had a good deal to do with him ; these equine 
mastodons flourish on luxuriant herbage. The big horse costs 
much to produce and much to keep. M. Gayot — and I heartily 
agree with him — is strongly averse to too big a horse, and 
complains of the " voluminous " Belgian stallion that melts like 
butter in the sun ; the fine old heavy cavalry horse has been 
transfoniied by the influence of roads to an elephant. Improved 
agriculture must have improved horses, and M. Gayot has much 
to say in regard to the cavalerie agricole ; the Boulonnais is his 
type of a perfect heavy horse. In 1825-26, the omnibus first 
called for the light draught-horse, alive and going, active, strong, 
rapid. M. Gayot appears to advocate a fusion between all the 
varieties of the cart-horse — France, he says, is especially adapted 
for the production of heavy horses and of harness horses ; the 
Americans, according to M. Gayot, say the French cart-horse is 
the best in the world. 
The Boulonnais, as we know, M. Gayot considers the most 
perfect big horse, but really the Boulonnais is only the big 
Flemish horse which has stepped over the frontier. The big 
French horse was originally black or bay, but from constant 
crossing with the Arab and Barb the Boulonnais colour is now 
roan and grey. It may be questioned whether this big horse, if 
exhibited in England, would make any figure when compared 
with his distant but undoubted relations. All liorses, according 
to M. Gayot, are divisible into three classes — the light, the heavy, 
and the intermediate horse; the Arab, according to him, is the 
perfect light horse. M. Gayot, as has been already said, has a 
due appreciation of the English thoroughbred stallion suitable 
for the purpose of getting half-bred stock ; but I cannot help 
