CHAPTER VII.
THE ARAB CROSSING.
I commence with the Arab crossing. Two motives have induced me to follow this classification:
1st. The Arabian is the type horse, and the type should be examined before its derivatives.
2nd. The Percheron shows a very great analogy, by his coat, conformation, character of race, mild disposition, and endurance, to the Arab, of which he seems to be the son, notwithstanding certain differences, the result of time, climate, and the region in which he is bred and in which he lives.
I have said that the Percheron horse exhibits in common with the Arab numerous marks of a common parentage and relationship: these marks are very obvious. A Percheron, a true Percheron, for some still exist, (as the famous Toulouse of M. Chéradame, of Ecouché; and the renowned Jean-le-Blanc of M. Miard, of Villers, near Sap, in the department of the Orne, etc., etc.,) placed alongside of an Arab, presents, notwithstanding his heavier and grosser form, analogies with him so striking that we are easily induced to believe them undoubted relations.
The Percheron of the primitive type has a gray coat like the Arab; and like him an abundant and silky mane, a fine skin, and a large, prominent, and expressive eye; a broad forehead, dilated nostrils, and a full and deep chest, although, the girth, with him, as with the Arab, is always lacking in fullness; more bony and leaner limbs, and less covered with hair than those of other draft-horse families.
He has not, it is true, the fine haunch and fine form of the shoulder, nor that swan-like neck which distinguishes the Arab; but it must not be forgotten that for ages he has been employed for draft purposes, and these habits have imparted to his bony frame an anatomical structure, a combination of levers adapted to the work he is called upon to perform. He has not, I again acknowledge, such a fine skin as the Arab, nor his prettily rounded, oval, and small foot; but we must remember the fact that he lives under a cold climate, upon elevated plains, where nature gives him for a covering a thicker skin and a warmer coat, and that he has been for ages stepping upon a moist, clayey soil.
In all that remains in him, we recognize a heavy Arab, modified and remodeled by climate and peculiar circumstances. He has remained mild and laborious, like his sire; he is brought up, like him, in the midst of the family, and, like him, he possesses in a very high degree the faculty of easy acclimation. He acquires this in the midst of the numerous migrations he accomplishes in Perche, the counterpart of those that the type horse makes upon the sands of the desert. A final comparison, which has not, as yet, been sufficiently noticed, is, that, like the Arab, he has no need of being mutilated in order to be trained, managed and kept without danger. In a word, the Percheron, notwithstanding the ages which separate them, presents an affinity as close as possible with the primitive horse, which is the Arab.
From this similarity of form and probable relationship, comes the thought of new alliances. But in order to form a more easy estimate of their effects, it will not be without interest to classify the horses with reference to their origin. This classification produces three very distinct groups: the primitive horse, the natural horse, and the compound horse.
The Primitive Horse, oriental in its origin, is the pure Arabian horse; no other is acknowledged.
During the time of the crusaders, as we have already said in our first part, in consequence of wars and all kinds of excursions, individuals of this race were spread over almost all parts of the globe. Although at first the prestige which their superior merits deserved led to their being bred in-and-in, these exiles were placed under different latitudes, in different atmospheric and hygienic conditions, which gradually modified their qualities and led to the degeneracy of the race. And it became more or less degenerate in proportion as the soil upon which the colts were foaled was colder, poorer, and more inhospitable; for the horse is as much, and more, the son of the soil upon which he is foaled and reared as he is of his sire and dam.
This fact has no need of proof. We see it every day before our eyes in studying at home the changes that our French breeds themselves undergo when transported from one province to another. It might, however, be thought that these new latitudes, these new regions, would differ but little from those in which they lived.
The first change that the primitive horse undergoes, from the difference of the regions into which he has been transplanted, being due to nature itself, we call the result the Natural Horse.—Here it is proper to remark how wise nature always is. If it modify the primitive horse for the worse, it modifies him, however, under conditions better adapted to his wants. In rendering him more puny, it renders him more temperate, and enables him to live and to nourish himself upon the food that the locality is able to furnish. Submitted to the trials and the fatigues of war, and to all the miseries in its train, the natural horse, badly built, ungainly and puny as he is, endures fatigue almost as well as the primitive horse.
The Cross-bred Horse is, as his name indicates, the issue of a sire and dam of different breeds. This crossing, made with a view to improvement, may give, when judicious, more elegant, better made, and finer-bodied progeny and also quicker in their various gaits, but always requiring, especially if derived from the English, exceptional care, and so much the more particular as they are of a more distingué nature.
Abandoned to himself, deprived of blankets, shelter, grooming, and oats, the cross-bred deteriorates early, and in war perishes miserably, while the natural and the primitive horse thrives in browsing upon the scantiest herbage. On this score, our two campaigns of the Crimea and Italy have furnished unquestionable proofs.
Such is the result chiefly obtained with the too distingué English horse, even when delivered to the best working mares. In the army, especially, is this point settled; they have there recognized and proved that the worst subjects were always the issue of authors having too much blood and too impressionable. No horses are more apt than these to provoke and render ill humored, and, if I may so speak, ruin the temper of the men placed over them.
When a working race is crossed with the English, it is indispensable that the stallion should be well bred and be but a quarter blood,—a quarter at the utmost. And the manner of balancing the blood is neither an indifferent thing nor a thing to be neglected. We should be very careful not to accept as such the product of a full-blooded or even half-blooded stallion and a common mare, but should rather take the product, ameliorated through generations, of strong races that have been gradually perfected, such as, for instance, certain Norfolk horses, certain roadsters and trotters, of which old Juggard was a type, and of which Performer, although not so marked, vaguely recalled the memory.
Since I have mentioned the name of Norfolk, let me say, that after the Arab race, of all the foreign ones, the Norfolk trotter is the one which seems to me to offer the greatest advantages in an alliance with the Percheron. With both, good qualities and defects are diverse, so that they can complete and correct each other by means of a wisely combined and carefully studied connection.
The Norfolk horse has, it is true, an ugly head, and his eye is small and destitute of expression; but his neck, with good lines, starts well from his breast; his shoulder is fine and well-sloped; his chest magnificent, and his girth enormous; his loins broad, well-sustained and well-attached; his haunches long, his croup horizontal; his buttocks well filled out and low; and his limbs strong, but not quite free enough from fat; nor is his action always sufficiently stylish, yet he has a quick and free gait.
Give to this horse a mare having a fine and expressive head, lighted up with a large, intelligent, well-opened eye; let her possess lean, elegant, and perfect limbs, and, a hundred to one, you will get a valuable colt. But, with the Norfolk, as with all others, there are degrees, and if I cross the Channel in search of a stock horse, I should wish him to possess the following qualities:
This stallion should be rather large, have thick and strong limbs, chest fully developed, the girth as great as possible, very heavy in the hind-quarters, buttocks descending well, forehead broad and open, and the eye large and expressive. He should be always shorter in height than the mares, but quite as broad, and, I repeat it, as short-limbed as possible, on account of an invariable, innate tendency of the English horse to height and thinness. He should be neither cross, nor, above all, affected with that nervous sensitiveness too common in the English breeds. His action should be quick, well kept up, bold and square. He should have, if possible, a decided and well-pronounced color, either a dark bay or a chestnut. Breeding stock of his get should be chosen under identical conditions, and then they would be on a footing with him, although, logically speaking, there would be always an inclination to prefer the type to the sub-type.
But, at present, it is easy to be deceived, even in England, in regard to the stock of the country. There is less risk in using, if he can be found, a good, heavy Anglo-Norman horse, bred and reared under our eyes in Merlerault or on the plains of Alençon, than a spurious English one, which is often none other than a forlorn hope of some nameless region. In fact, from certain appearances, there is reason to fear that persons from the other side of the Channel visit the continent to do a smart thing, and purchase heavy, lymphatic colts to bring up on some English farm, and then resell them as Norfolk horses. What kind of improvement is to be expected from such means? We should always respect the will of nature, which allows us to assist her in her course, but we should never violate her laws.
Man vainly wishes to force nature with all these crosses, at which she takes exceptions. To all this so-called science she opposes her relentless logic; these products are an unnatural brood, which she refuses to acknowledge as her own. She stops short, and, no matter how good these results may appear in themselves, the error crops out, and it is known by experience that they almost all fail when put to the test of breeding.
But suppose every measure of prudence taken, even suppose there has been no mistake, most of the produce resulting from this first crossing will be, generally, lighter built than their dams. However, among the number there will be found some which, uniting weight to beauty, will constitute good types with athletic and regular forms. The latter only should be preserved, and these only can be usefully employed, either among themselves or outside of their own families, in the improvement of our stock.
At the second crossing, the imperfections observed at the first will disappear in a great measure, and from the third crossing, with constant care, unflinching attention, and unwearied patience, the difficult problem will be solved: size combined with vigor, hardiness of constitution with style, and weight with elegance.
If, on the contrary, by wishing to make too quick progress, there should be too much difference between the stallion and the mare, the resulting stock, although in appearance successful, will always prove bad breeders, giving ungainly results, with blemishes which would never have occurred in proceeding wisely, especially not in improving by means of the primitive horse, all of whose ancestors are of the same race.
This latter crossing, that is, with the Arab, may sometimes give slower, but with it we are always sure to obtain finally better results. Thus in making choice of the best Percheron mares and crossing them with fine, but the stoutest possible, Arabs, we would advance towards certain improvements, and at the end of a few generations, we would be sure to find at each foaling season fine types, combining with the strength and docility of the dams the style, spirit, and intelligence, of the sires. For, it must not be forgotten, work requires intelligent horses; the more they are gifted with this quality, the longer they last and the more useful their services.
If the drunken driver of the Lyons Railroad, whose adventure is known the world over, had not had for his working companion a brute as nobly intelligent as the old horse Lapin, employed in hauling dirt carts, he would surely have perished. The driver having fallen in a state of intoxication on the railroad, before a train descending a grade, was on the point of being run over, when the horse, seeing him in this perilous situation and at the risk of being himself crushed, seized him by the waist and lifted him off the track. This deed, performed under the eyes of several squads of workmen, was soon known over the whole line, and won for Lapin the title of The (invalid’s and workingmen’s) Adopted Son, a nobly gained title and well-merited reward, if ever there was one.
In the legends of all times are to be found examples of the intelligence of the oriental horse; but I have never heard quoted a single one in regard to the English thoroughbred, which seems only formed for pride, gluttony, and brutality. As an example of the sagacity of the Arab, I will limit myself to mentioning a fact witnessed by all the officers of the school of Saumur. At this school there was an old Arabian known to the whole army. One day, a lady having her handkerchief scented with, I know not what perfume, passed in front of the veteran, caressing and feeding him with dainties. From that time on, the officer who accompanied the lady could never enter her parlor, although the odor of the perfume was imperceptible to all, but the horse, on his return, was aware of the fact, and bore witness to it, each time, by neighing and by a hundred expressions of pleasure.
The vigor and pluck of the oriental horse have passed into a proverb. There is not a soldier in our army who cannot bear testimony to this.
The horses of the English cavalry almost all perished in the Crimean war, whilst our Algerian horses almost all returned. In the Italian war our Algerian horses bore well the fatigues of the campaign, where the horses springing from the English were decimated.
It appears impossible that these two proofs should have no signification and should not teach a lesson. Ought it not to be concluded from them that the war-horse, that is the horse for endurance, should only be of Arab blood or at least derived from the Arab?
And are we not justified in believing that what has taken place with the war-horse applies also to other horses destined for continuous work? Hence are we not right in always preferring the Arab to the English stallion, when it is a question of improving the different breeds of work and draft-horses, as well as the war horse?
The Arabian stallion would seem so much the more fit for this use, as a long experience has proved that his get upon our native mares are much heavier than himself; they, at the same time, always transmitting a rich, unblemished blood and a solid frame—qualities which are preserved indefinitely.
The Arab horse imparts, also, great endurance to his progeny, and without going back as far as the turf, where we see figuring on the top round of the ladder Arlequin, Zephyr, Valencia, Corysandre the Lorraine, whose dam was an Arabian of Deux-Ponts, Anthony, Eylau, Kasbas, and Palmyre, let us be satisfied with citing in mass, all the fine and spirited breeds of Limousin, Navarre, Bigorre, Tarbes, and Auvergne, showing in every pore the presence of the Oriental blood.
It is also especially to be remarked, although the Arab does not trot and only gallops, that all his get are quick, square trotters. We can produce numberless examples of this, although Arab blood has been infinitely less disseminated than any other in our Northern districts.
We can cite the famous Eclipse of M. de Narbonne, the no less famous Herminie of M. Forcinal, all the descendants of Bacha, Aslan and Gallipoli, which were matchless, and the noble sons of Massoud, Eylau, and Noteur. But, as all these have a certain amount of English blood joined to the Arab, we shall be answered:—It was the English blood that trotted and gave them their winning points.—We will confine ourselves to citing only the sons of Bédouin, all admirable trotters, though all coming of poor Brittany mares, the Kerims, the Avisos, and the Moggys, whose fine action invariably attracts the attention of every one.
But the endurance possessed by the Arab in so eminent a degree is not the only quality to be considered. It is also the opinion of the best breeders that the race is good tempered, docile, patient, of great precocity, and easily raised, all of which qualities it invariably transmits to its get.
No steeple-chase horses have shown themselves more intelligent than Pledge, Raphael, Senora, and above all the immortal Franc-Picard, by whom the best riders found themselves excelled in the art of measuring an obstacle and mastering it skillfully; also, those were deep in the Arab blood. If Auricula, notwithstanding he was a son of Baron, with his variable and peevish temper has shown himself to be, when he chose, one of the best leapers of our age, it is because through his dam he is of Arab blood.
From all these considerations the Arabian seems greatly preferable to the English horse, which exacts, moreover, too much tact and skill on the part of man. The education of the wagon driver is not yet sufficiently advanced for him to be able to reap all the advantages claimed of the working races. The irritability of the English horse, his impatience, and his nervousness, which are, doubtless, of utility on the turf, are transmitted to all his descendants, which for this very reason are less fit for work, less governable, and more trying to the patience of the raw and ignorant driver during protracted service.
All who have raised colts out of common mares by Arabians are unanimous in opinion, and we have ourselves proved it, that their get is generally even tempered, of a mild, willing, and quiet disposition, easily and cheaply reared, and fit for work at three years old, thus paying for their keep.
It is quite the contrary with the colt of English blood. He, by reason of his fractiousness, his nervous ardor, his exacting nature, and his slow growth, requires a degree of care and management which does not permit him to render any essential service before the age of five years.
It results from this that the Arabian progeny, even at the first crossing, which is always the most difficult and critical, pays for its nourishment from the age of three years, whilst the English does not pay until he has reached five years, and this without counting the greater expense of his raising and the difficulty of finding men capable of breaking and training him without accident and bringing him safe to that quinquennial period.
Were their qualities the same, the Arabian would cost much less to the breeder than the English horse. To the former, then, should always be given the preference in moderately rich countries where agriculture has not arrived at great perfection. Thus it was by means of the Arabian that Limousin, Navarre, Bigorre, the plains of Tarbes and Auvergne, all countries neither very fertile nor wealthy, have formed their unrivalled horses, the hardiness of which suited the productions of the soil. These being unsuited to the more delicate and less vigorous English horse, its introduction was an injury to the native stock. In our days, Limousin has been ruined by the introduction of English blood, as formerly, in the district of Tarbes, three important breeders, Messrs. de Gontaut, de Bouillac, and de Montréal, ruined their studs with the English cross.
The Arabian can be used without fear upon the undulating slopes of elevated hills, and upon thin stony lands where agriculture is but little advanced; but the English horse requires rich, well-cultivated meadows and grassy valleys.
As regards form, the Arab cross is the surest. The sire being, if I may so speak, sui generis, of a confirmed race, and possessing for ages a like shape, his get always resemble him, no matter what may be the race, color, shape, and derivation, of the dam. Only, in consequence of the warmth and strength of his blood, the progeny is always larger and heavier than the sire.
It is not so with the English horse. Made up, and not having the same confirmed nature as the Arab, he has not the same sureness in generating. Sometimes his get is large and sometimes small. His progeny may be spare or may be stout. This comes from his ancestors being at times of one height and at times of another, and often resembling different types.
We have dwelt, perhaps, at too great length upon our preference for the Arab cross; it now remains to put it in practice. The method to be pursued in making this cross is simple.
Having an Arabian of pure race, the heaviest and finest bodied that can be found, put him to the heaviest and strongest short-limbed mares. Sell the male produce of this cross, unless it has been a perfect success. Be less strict with the fillies, reject a smaller number, and use the good for breeding. As much as their conformation will permit, and in order to fix the Arab blood in a deeper and more indelible manner, some choice specimens may be put either to their sire himself, or to such of the half-brothers as should have proved themselves the best. But beyond the first trial, consanguineous crossings should never again be contracted, except under exceedingly rare circumstances, or under great temptation. The dam of one of the most justly celebrated horses of our times is the result of breeding a stallion to his dam. From and after the second generation, colts and fillies, provided their merit had rendered them worthy of being used as producers, might be taken as types, and as a starting point of a solid and sure improvement of the race of a country.
When, in consequence of age and numerous generations of his own get growing up around him, the common sire might be exposed to alliances with his grandchildren, it would become indispensable to transfer him to a distant district by proceeding in the manner indicated above.
After such an infusion of warm blood many years might elapse without the necessity of recurring again to Arabian stock. But if it should be remarked that its distinctive characteristics commenced to disappear from the breed, and the action became less free and light, it should be again resorted to immediately, following the same method as before.
The light draft types at first obtained, might, according to the districts in which they are raised, be transformed into the posting, omnibus, and even heavy draft types. But all should be done with time and without haste nor even wishing to depart from a wise and prudent moderation.
I cannot terminate this chapter without warning the breeder against a peculiarity which hardly ever fails to strike a person, who, for the first time, makes a trial of the Arab cross, and which has even induced some to abandon this method without reaping its fruits. I desire to speak of a certain disproportion, more apparent than real, of the limbs with the body. It is thus explained: The Arabian, born and raised in a poor and barren country, is no sooner transported to a more fertile region, than a certain fullness of the body is an immediate consequence of this change. His progeny, easily fattened, rapidly become corpulent. It results from this, that although strongly limbed, they appear, for a large body, to have but weak extremities. But have patience; oats will draw in and strengthen those inflated flanks, and, after the second generation, the stomach of the colt will enlarge on account of the food being more abundant than concentrated, the fat will disappear, and his compact and solid limbs will appear what they really are.