France wins bid for World Equestrian Games 2014 | Horsetalk – International horse news

France wins bid for World Equestrian Games 2014

The FEI has awarded the 2014 FEI World Equestrian Games to Normandy.

The FEI World Equestrian Games are the world championships of all eight FEI disciplines – Jumping, Dressage, Eventing, Driving, Endurance, Vaulting, Reining and Para-Equestrian. They take place every four years.

Our neighbour, an endurance rider, is particularly excited by the 160km endurance race from Argentan to Le Mont St Michel!

No less than 900 horses, 800 riders and drivers from 60 nations and 300 000 spectators are expected to gather for two weeks of competition in August 2014. The FEI World Equestrian Games will be broadcast widely and is expected to generate important economic, tourist and sports benefits.

It will be the seventh edition of the FEI World Equestrian Games and the first to be held in France. “The allocation of the 2014 FEI World Equestrian Games to the region of Normandy in France is an important development for the future of our sport,” said FEI President, HRH Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein.

“The bid committee in cooperation with the French Equestrian Federation has worked for eight years and presented a project of outstanding quality and vision which enjoys the support of the French government and regional authorities, and presents us as a sport with an exceptional platform in the very heart of a region that shares our passion for horses.”

Laurent Beauvais, President of the Conseil Régionale de Basse-Normandie and of the organising committee behind the candidature of Normandy for the 2014 games, said that hosting the games represented an exceptional opportunity for promoting the region internationally.

He said, “Normandy is the foremost region in France for horse breeding and is a natural choice to host the world’s most prestigious equestrian competition. Normandy is proud to take up this challenge.   I would like to dedicate this victory to all the local public authorities that were part of this bid.”

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Normandy Horses – The Percheron

Percheron Horses

For more pictures of Percheron horses see our Facebook page album: http://bit.ly/aMmPlT

You don’t have to drive far through the Lower Normandy countryside before you realise that two large animals rule – cows and horses.  Well, lets face it, you’ve got to do something with all that grass.

The Percheron, a famous horse breed local to where we now live,  originated in the middle ages in the heavily forested countryside of the Perche region, east of Alençon and south west of Paris in Lower Normandy.  Its ancestors are thought to have been Arabs brought to Europe by the Moors and crossed with the local forest horses. As an aside, Arabs are also commonly kept and bred in this area – in fact, our neighbour is a breeder of Arabs and rides them in Endurance races. But that’s a story for another day!

In appearance the Percheron is normally a grey or black, although chestnut and bay are not unknown. In size it is generally between 16 and 17 hands, with a long arched neck, a full mane, powerful chest and hindquarters.

The Percheron is a gentle natured and docile horse, but its strength and implacable character made it a perfect mount for heavily armoured knights in the middle ages. In domestic use it was used for centuries as an outstanding general farm worker, and Percherons have been exported all over the world. In the USA the Percheron was first used for draught work and transportation in the French colonies of Florida and the Louisiana Territory, including pulling stagecoaches. These days it is often still used as a logging horse and it is popular for carriage driving. It has also been crossed with thoroughbreds to produce a quality heavyweight hunter.

Despite its size it can also be ridden and is easy to handle – I’ve seen both large men and small children riding enormous Percherons at fairs, such as the annual Medieval Fair at Bourg-le-Roi. The only problem the children seem to have is making a Percheron feel anything when they kick its flanks!

Each year in August there is a Percheron Horse Fair at the Manoir de Courboyer in the Perche, a short way down the road to the east of us, while November sees the annual “Percheron Foals and Fillies Fair” at le Mêle-sur-Sarthe, just north of us and a few miles east of Alençon.

Percherons also feature regularly at displays held each week at the Haras du Pin, the wonderful national stud farm to the north of Alençon, and at the Manoir du Courboyer in the Perche, where you can see them all year round and take carriage rides in summer.

Some links to sites devoted to Percheron Horses:

• Australia: http://www.percheron.com.au/
• Canada: http://www.canadianpercherons.com/
• UK: http://www.percheron.org.uk/
• USA: http://www.percheronhorse.org/

More links to Percheron sites:

• http://pagesperso-orange.fr/shpf/liens.html

And another horse breed from this region, of which more on another occasion:

• The Normandy Cob: http://www.cobnormand.com/

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Haras du Pin, Normandy Stud Farm

Normandy is justly famous for its horses and stud farms, and just north of Alençon is the most famous and spectacular stud farm in all of France – the Haras du Pin, one of only two whose buildings are also listed on the French National Monuments register (the other is Compiègne).

There are 19 national stud farms dotted all over France whose purpose is to improve and promote French horse breeding.  Near the small town of Le Pin, the Haras du Pin is more than a centre for horse breeding – there are also displays of horseriding and carriage driving throughout most of the year.

The Royal Stud Farms were originally created in the 17th century to provide the army with a reliable supply of quality horses.  They were reorganised in 1806 by Napoleon with the same purpose, i.e. the production of horses for military campaigns.  They became “Haras Nationaux” (National Stud Farms) in 1874.

The Haras du Pin was founded by Colbert in 1665 and approved by Louis XIV in 1715; it soon became known as the Versailles of the horse world, due to its stunning buildings and beautiful grounds, unequalled by any other Haras in France.  Its parklands extend over a thousand hectares (two and a half thousand acres). It is the most ancient and prestigious of the present day Haras Nationaux.

The Percheron, the Trotteur Français, the Selle Français and the English Thoroughbred are the main breeds held at the Haras du Pin. Together with the collection of horse-drawn vehicles, they are the centre of displays every Thursday at 3 p.m. from June to September, when the 18th century courtyard of the Haras du Pin becomes the stage for handling, riding and carriage driving displays. The chateau, stables, saddlery and other buildings are also open to the public.

In September and October there are horse races at the “Bergerie” racecourse, located down “Racing Avenue”, 3 km east of the Haras.  The Bergerie is one of the oldest and most prestigious racecourses in France, where the first flat and steeplechase races took place in Normandy in the early 19th Century. An International carriage driving competition is also held at the Haras du Pin itself in July and a special competition for the Percheron breed on the last Friday and Saturday of September.

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