[QUOTE=Equibrit;3143668]
The Percheron Horse originated in the area known as “Le Perche” in the north west of France. Here in 732 A.D. Arabian Horses abandoned by Moors after their defeat in the Battle of Tours were crossed with the massive Flemish stock and from this cross came the Percheron type which has endured for twelve centuries.
During the Crusades, further infusion of Arab blood was made; Arab sires procured in the Holy Land were bred to the Percheron. In the early 1800’s the French Government’s Stud at La Pin introduced further Arab blood into the Percheron breed by covering selected mares with two outstanding Arab sires. Now all contemporary Percheron’s share this common heritage descending from the foundation stock that originated in Le Perche.
The Percheron Horse Society of France was founded in 1883, to safeguard the breeding of pure stock and from this small district of Le Perche. Pure-bred breeding stock has been exported all over the world with each nation except U.S.S.R., having an official Breed Association to ensure the preservation of the pure-bred Percheron, and so the Percheron Horse remains genetically pure with registered animals.[/QUOTE]
Prior to 1883, the Government stud at Haras du Pin kept all the stud records. All breedings in Le Perche had to be approved and government studs were used. Records were kept back at least as far back as 1803. The Percheron Horse Society of France was established in 1883, but this is not the start of the breed. By no means at all. Prior to that, the Gov controlled it all. And prior to that? Remember that prior to the revolution (1799), the King was in charge and that all ended (and by some accounts a recalibration of the gov stud records occurred at that time). Were these earlier records (prior to 1803) recorded? I don’t know. But the Perche Breed records were kept by the Gov up until 1883 and then turned over to the Society. Although, still today, the Gov has a big hand in the breedings and the breed in France (including re-writing the standard to include meat animals after WW11).
It has been well established the blood that was infused into the breed in the 1820s were not Arabs but a “barb” and a saddle horse. There was no Arab blood infused in the 1820s. There have been many, many other horses infused into the French lines but none have provided the controversy that the two “Arab” horses had. It started with the MC Weld book of 1886, which he wrongly interpreted the Gov. stud writings and the myth has been carried on since then. The 1917 Sanders book spends pages and pages on how false the Weld claims were and there are copies of the government stud book pages dating 1813 and 1819 (see pages 61 & 62) to support their counter claims in the 1917 book.
These were the supposed “Arab” horses and here is their descriptions (FROM THE GOV STUD BOOKS OF THE EARLY 1800s):
(from the Gov stud books of 1813). “Gallipoly, Turk; light speckled gray; height 1 meter, 50 cm: classification, saddle horse: sire, a Turk; dam, a Turk; born 1803; entered haras Nov 23, 1812. By whom bought: sent by the Minister. Observations: good blood horse.”
“No. 20. Godophin; born 1802; height 1 meter, 54 cm. (about 15.1 hands); from the stable of Count de Maulke, Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Observations: good horse, but marked at the croup M.; inferior to the preceding horse in the list (also a Mecklenburg-Strelitz horse). Sire: Mock Doctor, English blood horse; Dam: Unknown English mare. When entered: 12 July 1807. Description: Saddle horse.”
