Eventing in France

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dill

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Umming & arrring about the possiblity of running my PN>ADV event horses from a base in France so would be very interested to hear from someone doing so.
Decided that my budget may stretch to buying a parking space for my truck in the UK and I'm throwing £40k a year down the drain renting. So seeing as there is a mass exodus of Brits moving to France I thought I'd give it some serious consideration!
What are the possibilities, potential, drawbacks etc? How many events are there from Intro>Adv +FEI?
Ideally I'd be competing my own horses and taking on rides from other owners (much the same as here) - is it that simple or does the general eventing 'industry' run differently?
Where is the best place to be based (parents have a small property near Pau but apart from the 4* there doesn't seem to be much else going on in that area) or would I need to be based near Calais to keep coming to England? In which case it would defeat the object!

Or do I just stay in England ... keep buying the lottery tickets and waste all my income on renting?!?
 
Johnny Harris who's a showjumping guru/trainer has recently moved over there. I know that showjumpings a different game to eventing but the general consensus that I got from him was that its-
-cheaper competition fees
-a lot more competitions ( as France is a bigger eventing country than it is showjumping am sure that there must be a similar number of one day events
-cheaper to look after the horses

-general running costs overall much cheaper.

I know that when it was foot and mouth year here in 2001, the Hoys moved over to Germany for the year and they got loads of events in. I remember them saying in a mag that eventing in Germany was so much better or something.
So perhaps be near the German border?

Cant think of drawbacks, apart from can you speak french?

Sorry, not a very helpfull post at all!
 
the main drawback is that there isnt so much of it to go to. The hoys dont worry about that they always aim for three day events and will tell you themselves that regular one days are just part of the training process
 
Cant help with eventing, and theres not much of that where I live, but I would definately consider THE move. We have had nothing but kindness from the French showjumping scene since we started jumping. They are such a friendly and helpful lot. Yes, there are frustrations to getting started, but its SO worthwhile. We dont speak much French, but that hasnt mattered, the rules are basically the same. Good luck, or should I say Bon Chance?
 
Where do you live in France ?
Where I live, SJ crowd not particularly friendly and helpful... Not anywhere near as friendly as the eventers
frown.gif
eventhough I'm not in the best eventing area in France.
Huge cultural differences depending on where you live... Especially when it comes to horses and the type of riding you do.
 
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