Horse Scene in France

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Nathalie

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2 October 2005
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To any rider who is living or has lived in France.

Can you tell me what the horsey life is like if you have your own horses at home?
Are you able to find decent trainers to come to you ?
Do you find it easy to compete locally (am interested in Dressage) without passing exams etc...?
Any other comment or big difference vs the UK?

We are thinking to emigrate - mainly to be able to afford more land and have horses. As this is the main motivation (and the weather!) I want to make sure that horsey life over there is worth it.

Many thanks for your advice, comments etc...
 
I've only been in France for 9 months, so my knowledge is limited. You might enjoy one of the French ex-pat forums like Total France which has an active horsey section.

Horsey life in France depends on where you are. In the north, especially near Samuir, you can find everything you want, including British trainers who come over for clinics. In the south there are still many horses but a lot of them seem to be just sitting in fields doing nothing, so there are fewer opportunities for competitions and training. The middle bit of france is full of cows, finding horsey vets can be tough and hacking is limited. If you look on Total France there is a sticky with websites that you can search for competitions, trainers etc.

I am based in the south. Local dressage trainers are very good. My local equestrian club (which is worth joining as they will help you with everything) has a very good instructor and I also have a local dressage rider who trained with Pammy Hutton and then with the Bartels who comes to my house for lessons/to exercise the horses. The dressage scene starts about March and finishes in September, but don't expect anywhere near as many dates as you would find in the UK.

There are three levels of competition Club, Amateur and Professionel. You can do Club with any horse and without taking exams, you just need an ordinary license your club can provide you with. Amateur is about Elementary level and for this you need to register your horse as a cheval de concours. Only horses with three generation pedigrees can be registered in this category so this is a massive difference to the UK. You will also need a competition license. To get this you either do the 7 Galop exams, or you submit your BD competition record and hope for the best, or you persuade your local club instructor to certify you are Galop 7. One of these routes usually works for everyone. Professionel is for professional riders with qualifications riding at PSG and above.

The main thing I would say about France however is beware of the costs. Life is extremely expensive, so do your research before you move (e.g. you won't necessarily be entitled to public health care, so really look into that, you will spend A LOT more money on basic necessities such as food, if you want to run a business or employ anyone you will be crippled by social contributions and taxes and if you rely on a pension you may find your pounds lose out on the euro).
 
Nothing to add from the above excellent reply, wishing you all the best in your research!
Please feel free to pm me, JC.
 
We have been in France almost 20 years. All our kids were born here and have competed in jumping(CSO)+eventing(CCE) (mainly), and some dressage(DR). My OH also has a small pony breeding business.

The main issues we have found is that there are very limited opportunities for eventing. Most of France concentrates on CSO (jumping), which gets (by far) the lions share of funding and sponsorship, although dressage prominence seems to be improving. We lived for a few years in the south west (depts 31/81), which was ok for eventing, although we would have to travel very long distances (Pau, Tarbes, Pomadour etc), which invariably meant staying the night before.

In the north (we are south of Paris - Fontainebleau ) where we have lived for the most part, eventing opportunities are very limited that we have found it almost impossible to get the necessary number of competitions to enable qualification for the nationals. This may start to change as the French are starting to realise that they are not doing very well in the world rankings.

I would also add that there are no unaffiliated competitions in France. Everything equestrian is run through the FFE, which (for us) means the system is a lot easier to understand and use than the UK system ; our daughter recently started school in the UK and we find the system very difficult to understand :(. You will find , however, from time to time that some clubs organise "training" sessions that are run by your or a neighbouring club outside of the FFE, but these are quite rare.

As mentioned above, cost is a major issue. Products in particular can be expensive, so we tend to buy a lot of gear in the UK. Hay, straw can be expensive and unreliable, so we have multiple suppliers to reduce the risks This year will be an issue due to the dry weather. Rubber matting is rarely used, and although you can easily get wood chip bedding, other forms such as compressed pellets are obtainable but expensive. On the other hand we have found services such as vets, dentists, blacksmiths to be quite reasonable and certainly a lot cheaper than we pay for our daughters horse in the UK. Anything innovative such as a product or technique in terms of horse, rider etc will take 5+ years to come to France. In addition remember that in France horse welfare is not as good as in the Uk, particularly the emotional aspects of training (both rider and horse).

Some other aspects. If you have an older uk driver license, remember that a 7.5 tonne horse lorries in France are very rare and expensive. Importing one from the UK can be a nightmare, although a lorry after 2003 (common standard for living gas installation), built with a proper coach builder should now be easier.

if you go to the FFE web site -> http://www.ffecompet.com/concours , you will be able to search through the complete set of competitions for every discipline in France, and if you are member you can enrol for an event - much simpler than the UK system.:)

Richard
 
Thank you for this excellent answer.
Funnily, I'm the opposite of you e.g. I'm French but have lived in the UK for the last 20 years.
I did ride in France when I was a kid but only in clubs, never owned a horse. I don't keep good memories of horse welfare (not compared to the UK anyway).

All your answers have helped me a lot - it made me realise that I have found my spiritual horsey home in England ! Think I will stay and die here... a cold but happy rider !
 
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