Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 October 1884 — Facts Relating to the Draft Horses of France. [ARTICLE]

Facts Relating to the Draft Horses of France.

While some people in America call all horses imported from France Normans, it is a fact that there is no breed in France called by that name by the French people; the name Norman, therefore, is purely American. The principal breeds of France are known as Percherons and Boullanais. The Percherons are the most highly prized of all French races, and all departments of France go to the Perche for stallions to improve their local breeds. The Percheron Stud Book of France is published under the authority of the French Government, and admits only animals of pure Percheron origin and birth, established by their pedigrees and the pedigrees of their ancestors for generations. The fact that no recorded, pedigrees can be furnished with any of the more common breeds of France, explains* the eagerness of piany importers in insisting that all horses imported , fr<nn France are alike, and that pedigrees are useless. ’lt is a well-known fact that what a man gives fpr a horse over from SSOO to SBO0 —the .price of a good grade—is paid for puiity of. blood; and where the seller is not able to.give the recorded pedigree of the animal sold as evidence of additional value, he has no right to ask it, With these facts before him, no intelligent man will buy a horse imported from France unless he is recorded with his pedigree in full in the stud book in France, and the importer furnishes with his bill of sale the French certificate of registration, as this is his only guarantee of safety, a large number of horses of unknown blood being imported to this country and sold as pure bred.