8 
THE PERCHERON REVIEW 
A Good Type of a Breeding Sire 
Advertising in the best live stock papers is very effective, 
but more expensive tlian w^riting personal letters. I always 
try the latter first, and then, if that does not work satis- 
factorily, I place an ad or two in some of the papers most 
widely read by Percheron buyers. These ads contain in 
the briefest manner possible a description of the stock for 
sale. 
Since our farmers organized a county Percheron Breed- 
ers' Association, I have had no need for personal advertising. 
The efforts of the county organization have sold every Per- 
cheron I have produced that I could spare. I am busy now 
trying to produce more horses because I could sell them 
readily if I had them. Co-operation of the neighbors must 
be enlisted to make the most money in the horse business. 
It is all the better if every man in the community breeds to 
the same kind of a stallion. In my county we are practically 
all Percheron breeders. As a result, dealers from all over 
the United States come to our farms because they know 
they can see a large number of Percherons for sale. Even 
though our county is small, the members of our organiza- 
tion have sold more than 100 hesd ^f Percherons in the past 
twelve months. Our county association carries a small ad- 
vertisement the year round in tw'i or three of the best live 
stock papers. In the spring our secretary has received 
as many as ten letters per day from people wanting Per- 
cherons. When a buyer comes to our community some 
member of the organization usually takes him around to 
see the Percherons. A list of everything for sale is kept in 
one of the leading banks so that anyone can go there and 
locate available Percherons. Every member of the associa- 
tion fills out blanks furnished him, showing the exact descrip- 
tion and breeding of the stock he has to sell. It is needless 
to say that the County Percheron Breeders' Association is of 
great benefit to our community, when every good Percheron 
colt in this section sells for $100 to $150 more per head 
than was realized before our farmers organized. 
Produce good Percherons and your selling troubles will 
vanish if you will exercise common sense in growing and 
pricing them. 
Selecting Percheron Mares for a Foundation Stud 
A definite knowledge of the right kind of mares to 
select for a foundation determines very largely the success 
a man will make as a Percheron breeder. He may have 
money to purchase the greatest sire of the breed, but with- 
out matrons of the right stamp, real constructive breeding 
cannot be accomplished. 
Present day breeders are somewhat disagreed on the 
right pattern for a Percheron mare. I have always con- 
tended that there is but one ideal type for a draft mare, 
and the sooner the Percheron people select a uniform type, 
the better off they will be. My idea of a good brood mare 
is one from a producing family, weighing 1,700 to 2,000 
pounds in good condition, and standing 16 to 17 hands high. 
She must be absolutely sound and of feminine type. I like 
a big horse if made right, but the tall, overgrown mares we 
see about the country are not producing the best colts. In 
fact, some of the greatest producing dams of high class stuff 
in early Percheron history were the rather short-legged kind, 
thickly muscled. Those with a bit more length of leg are 
more popular now, for they have a longer stride and better 
action. The big coarse mares, lacking in femininity, are 
usually not very regular breeders. They are poor feeders 
and their feet and legs won't stand the wear and tear, as a 
rule, like a full-made, wide, deep bodied mare of medium 
height. Quality in head, neck and ear all bespeak a breedi- 
ness so essential in a real high class dam. The old Scotch 
saying, "Feed and legs, bone and feather ; top may come, 
but bottom never," ought to have a greater meaning to 
Percheron breeders than it apparently has. I believe more 
emphasis should be put upon the underpinning than upon the 
weight, as the feet and legs largely determine the usefulness 
of a horse. Whenever the legs give out, the horse is done 
as a work animal. 
In selecting a brood mare I pay particular attention to 
her feet. I want a big, round foot, wide at the hoof head, 
moderately deep at the heel — not boxy — and with horn of 
good texture, so that it will wear well. Directly above the 
hoof comes the part of a draft mare's anatomy which should 
be given very careful consideration. Steep pasterns foretell 
premature lameness from sidebones. Either mare or sire 
with steep pasterns is very likely to beget that conforma- 
tion in its offspring. There is no one thing which Percheron 
breeders should guard against more strongly than that of 
breeding steep pasterned horses. Forty-five degrees is about 
the correct set for a pastern. It should be long, so as to give 
Docile 122443 
2ND PRIZE 2 YEAR OLD FILLY, ILLINOIS STATE FAIR, 1917 
