THE PERCHERON REVIEW 
II 
These should remember that the sires of then- colts 
have quite as much to do with success as the dams. 
They should either buy the best males they can 
find or make other arrangements to secure proper 
stallion service. No economy is so false or in the 
end so disastrous to pocketbook and reputation as 
the use of any sire except the very best. There are 
enough good stallions to go around, and if there is 
none within reach one should be bought without 
delay. 
Although we have plenty of material on which to 
build, the average animal bred here in the past has 
not begun to compare with the average imported 
animal. A partial explanation of this is that when 
we see the imported ones we see the selected tops 
from a large number and we compare them with 
our entire production, and right here I desire to 
express the opinion that such inferiority as may 
have been observed has been due largely to the 
lack of proper care and development of our colts. 
Many of our breeders do not grow out their stock 
well. They let the fillies run on grass, but the 
stallion colts are a problem. If they are let out 
at all it is only in small paddocks with insufficient 
green feed. Many of them are kept in the barn and 
are without the pasture and range that are abso- 
lutely essential to make them develop into big, 
heavy-boned horses. To these conditions is due the 
curious fact, observed by many, that the Percheron 
females born in this country generally have been 
better than the males. The fillies always are turned 
out to pasture where they get enough grass and 
exercise to develop them — conditions too frequently 
lacking in the handling of our stallion colts. I feel 
that this is a point to which our farmers and breed- 
ers must devote more attention, if we are to under- 
take for the future, in large degree, the production 
of our own breeding stallions from home-bred mares. 
In spite of all the efforts which have been made 
to bring home to our breeders the sound sense 
underlying the French system of care and feeding 
which has resulted in the development of this noble 
race of horses, it is obvious to buyers when they go 
out after colts that it has not been widely followed. 
Frenchmen after buying the weanling colts put them 
on pasture, at the same time feeding them well with 
grain. The exercise develops their horses; the grass 
and grain make them grow. This treatment is 
continued until the colts are ready for market, 
usually as two-year-olds. While the French have 
an advantage, their grass being green practically the 
year round, we can use other feed to make up for the 
lack of pasture in winter, and those of our people 
who are following this system are already raising 
and developing colts which compare favorably 
with any we buy on the other side. If we should 
all apply these principles we would have enough 
good stallions for our own market. 
In the past home-bred animals have not been 
prominent in the show ring, but this is changing. 
The establishment of the futurities has been a great 
thing for the breed in calling the attention of our 
breeders to the necessity of growing out their colts, 
and to the need of continuous feeding. Twice year- 
ling filly winners of the National futurity have been 
champions of the Iowa State Fair, and this fall for 
the first time American-bred stallions have begun 
to come into prominence in the older classes in the 
showring. At the Panama-Pacific International 
Exposition the 3 two-year-olds which stood highest 
were all born in the United States, one in Virginia, 
one in Missouri, and the third in Ohio. The first- 
prize-winner was the reserve grand champion of the 
show, which was one of the greatest exhibitions of 
Percheron horses seen in late years. Heretofore 
Turquoise 110346 
the home-bred stallions usually have been sold when 
quite young, and put into active service, whereas the 
show horses have come forth from among the an- 
imals imported for sale." Henceforth, with importa- 
tions no longer coming in, our prize-winners will be 
developed from our native-born stock, and as these 
colts appear in the older classes the idea which has 
existed that we cannot produce as good specimens in 
this country as we import will pass. Confidence 
will come to us as our showyard quality improves, 
and those who have chosen and mated their breed- 
ing animals well and have grown and cared for 
their colts properly will reap the merited reward 
for their efforts. It is hardly probable that the 
man who does not thus make the most of his op- 
portunity will prosper, for, after all, a high-class 
stallion is a finished work of art which bears the im- 
print of the individual talent which modeled him 
quite as much as the best that is produced in stone 
or bronze, and no poor imitation will command the 
same price or take his place. 
Since we have had to look for our supplies of 
