During the 17th century, horses from Perche, the ancestors of the current Percheron, were smaller, standing between 15 and 16 hands (60 and 64 inches, 152 and 163 cm) high, and more agile.[10] These horses were almost uniformly gray; paintings and drawings from the Middle Ages generally show French knights on mounts of this color. After the days of the armored knight, the emphasis in horse breeding was shifted so as to develop horses better able to pull heavy stage coaches at a fast trot. Gray horses were preferred because their light coloring was more visible at night.