134 
PURE BRED DRAFT HORSES 
and short, well coupled with long hips of good width. He should stand on 
good, big feet, and be of kind disposition. 
“Before settling for the stallion see his certificate of registration and 
try his wind. Buy of a responsible breeder or dealer, one who can and 
will treat you right if anything goes wrong.” 
According to White, “The main things to seek in the Percheron stallion 
are bone of good quality and quantity, good feet and correctly set legs, es¬ 
pecially the pasterns, a good back, plenty of depth in hoof, a good middle, 
and straight and free action at both walk and trot. Of course, the horse 
should be sound and clean. He should show quality, but not be coachy. 
The size of a draft horse’s head should be in proportion to his body and 
show quality. The eyes should be prominent, and the horse should ap¬ 
pear always alert. I believe that alertness strongly indicates prepotency. 
I have never seen a preponent sire that nearly always appeared dull and 
sleepy. He should be of medium size, and I would suggest that he weigh 
not more than 2100 pounds in show condition. I believe that the very 
larges ones are seldom, if ever, satisfactory in the stud. The things to be 
avoided are unsoundness, especially the kind that is generally considered 
hereditary, any faulty conformation that is frequently found in the breed, 
such as a droopy rump, crooked hocks, and the like. I prefer not to have 
an off-colored horse, not that the color makes the horse, but it indicates 
the possibility of the presence of some other blood than that of the breed, 
and to that extent makes uncertain the type of colts which the stallion 
will sire.” 
De Lancey’s presentation follows: “In choosing a stallion one must re¬ 
member that the sire is half the stud, and that his selection is most im¬ 
portant. There are many experienced breeders who can tell at the first 
glance a stallion that will be more than an average breeder. The same 
stallion, on close inspection, may have faults, either in breeding or confor¬ 
mation, which would make him undesirable as a stud header. But if one 
can get the strong ‘personality’ in a stallion which so attracts the man of 
experience, and without the other faults, one is almost sure to be piloting 
in safe waters for a sire. 
“The general points to seek in the selection of a sire are much the same 
as for mares. In addition, he should be stronger and more masculine in 
appearance, especially in head and neck, as well as more upstanding. 
The day of the blocky Percheron is past. A stallion to head a stud of reg¬ 
istered mares should stand not less than 17 hands high, and weigh no less 
than 2100 pounds in sale condition. 
“In the selection of both stallion and mares the breeding is very im¬ 
portant and should be carefully considered. The families of Percheron 
which have made the greatest successes as sires and dams are well known, 
and one should get as much of the blood of these strains as possible in the 
foundation stock.” 
Singmaster writes on the subject and says: “In my opinion, the char¬ 
acteristics of a Percheron stallion are these: a head of good length and 
breadth, broad between the eyes, wide-open nostrils, eyes full and rather 
outstanding, rather than deep set, or in any ways out of normal; a grace¬ 
fully curved and massive neck; broad and heavy shoulders; a deep-ribbed 
body; a back well developed from the point of the shoulder and of grace¬ 
ful symmetry; medium closely ribbed at the point of the hip; the hind 
quarters slightly narrower than the shoulders; a gently sloping and rather 
long hip; the legs to match this body—a good, straight limb, a flat bone 
of rather heavy type; long, springy pastetrn joints; good, dark-colored 
hoofs of above medium size, and clean legs, both front and rear. He 
should have a heavy tail, docked at nine inches for beauty of carriage, 
and still long enough to brush away the flies. There are other points, but 
these should assist the inexperienced purchaser in guarding his own inter¬ 
ests. The stallion’s weight in selling condition should be 2,100 pounds 
