Keeping Horses in France

[EdF]

My wife and I would like to hear from horse owners in France. We live in the north of Scotland and we have two horses, a 21yo Cleveland Bay cross and a 13yo Dutch Warmblood. We have a wonderful farrier and a great horse specialist vet here and of course the weather is seldom hot and winters of late have been very mild. As we have no ties and I'm retired we have been considering buying a house in France. It would be more convenient to move full-time than to buy a holiday home, simply because of the horses. If we go on holiday we have to find a horse-sitter, consequenly our holidays are always short as my wife doesn't like to leave them for very long. It's too far to travel from here to France with the horses for longer stays and I don't want the hassle of trying to maintain two properties equipped for horses in different countries, running one is enough work!

We would like to hear from horse owners of their experiences when moving horses to France as we have had only one negative comment so far. My wife was in touch with an English lady with horses in Poitou-Charente who said, "don't bring them here!!",as her vets attitude was 'shoot it and buy another' when faced with a problem, farriers were virtually non-existant and she added that the heat and insects in summer made her horses' lives a misery. Not encouraging words.

We favour the Burgundy/Auvergne/Jura regions as we also like to visit Switzerland for skiing and we wondered if the higher altitude of the Jura or Auvergne may be more suitable for our 'lads'. The Dutch Warmblood especially was troubled by midges here last summer and reacted to their bites, needing veterinary treatment, so we are concerned about taking him somewhere with an even worse insect problem. He was wearing full insect protection most of the summer.. My wife enters and also runs club level dressage events but we understand she may have to forego that activity. Any advice most welcome, also non-horsey views on your area.

[cooperlola]

I brought my two ponies, one a Fell and the other a Welsh x thoroughbred, across here a couple of years ago.  Admitedly, I do not have the climate/midge problem here as we're not so far south., but my own experience is that Scotland is home to some of the worst midges on the planet, so I can't imagine many places could be a lot worse!

However, I have found my vet, farrier and horse dentist absolutely excellent, just as good as in the UK, although admittedly, finding the farrier was a bit of  a struggle at first.

The other advantage here (although this may not be such a difference as you live in Scotland) is the standard and amount of hacking available - the paths are much better here and the roads a lot quieter.

The only real problem I have had is that the grazing here is so much richer than in the UK so the dreaded laminitis could be a real problem but you sound very experienced so I guess you would know how to control it without any advice from me.

If you decide to do this, let me know, as I can recomend the most excellent company to transport them too.

[David J]

Hi.

We live in the South part of Charente Maritime and moved our three horses over in 2004.  We moved a Morgan (20 yrs) a part bred Appaloosa/Morgan (19 yrs) and an 18 month old pure bred Appaloosa.

The company who moved the horses collected mid afternoon from North Yorks and arrived in France at our property at teatime the following day.  The total distance about 750 miles. The move took place in late April and all went fine. A few problems with the paperwork at Dover but all sorted out. Have a good vet and farrier.  The area is fine for hacking out through the country lanes and in the woods.

Flies are a nuisance to the horses but have found head gear to reduce the distraction etc. We have plenty of land for exercising and get our own hay cut. We pay for cutting turning and bailing and storage in the field shelter and barn.

Will be getting another Appaloosa in mid December but purchasing from American breeder near Noirt (85). 

Hope this is helpful.

 

David J

[icmenuiserie]

HI, haven't brought them over, but have horses in the Charente. I find there can quite a lot of flies, but my horses seem to be fine with them. I have 2 shetlands and a trotter française. There are some really good horse vets in my area and farriers are not a problem either....there's also another company doing a holistic foot care thing, although I haven't used them myself. There are quite a few horsey associations in this area too, either for randonees, competitions, carriagedriving etc, it's quite active in y experience, and there are ferme equestres opening all over the place. Hope this helps in part, although not the moving them over bit, sorry. Lisa

[cooperlola]

Oh, and I forgot to mention - hay is cheap and very good quality!

[tinker]

hi,

im looking to move to france in very near future, with a small shet x, and two warmbloods.

 

We also build horseboxes and have had lots of interest in france.

Which i sthe most horsey region?? thinking about sales!!!!

Also what are the farrier prices? etc. and shows like?

thanks

[cooperlola]

It is very horsey here.

However, for a better overview have a good look at

http://www.horsesport.org/

I'll try to find some breeding-related sites for you.

[cooperlola]

A quick trawl yielded

http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/france_829/label-france_5343/les-numeros-label-france_5570/lf48-france-cheval_11207/cheval-france_11208/elevage-francaise_21177.html

http://www.asinerie.net/commercial/index.html

http://www.terre-equestre.com/cheval/

This is useful for translations

http://www.lexiqueducheval.net/lexique_elevage.html

btw, farrier's costs are similar to the UK in my own experience but hot shoeing is rare.

 

 

[Rob Roy]

It sounds as though the lady your wife spoke to needs to change her vet. We have 2 donkeys, but this area is full of horses and donkeys - the Haras National for the Anglo Arab horse is just a few miles away at Arnac Pompadour and we have found the people round here enjoy all aspects of equine pursuits. I had a farrier to trim the donks feet on Thursday and he charged 75 euros for the two, I don't know how that would compare with the UK. It can get quite hot in the summer, but with plenty of shade from trees or a field shelter they seem to cope, although flies are a nuisance and they do need treatment to keep them at bay.

[Anyone for Cricket?]

Hi

This is really strange as I spoke only recently to someone looking to move to Poitou Charente who had been fed a terrible story from some woman claiming to know all about keeping horses in France.  she told them thier horses would be dead within weeks from flies, ticks bad grazing you name we had it all here. 

The reality of course is that there are hundeds of people who have successfully moved horses to all areas of france without issue.  There are a lot of flies at times but that can be managed, heat needs to be taken into account when moving and I would have thought looking at higher areas is a great idea as this should suit your horses better if that's what they are used to.   I don't keep any horses yet myself here but do ride at a local riding centre which is fantastic, huge indoor and outdoor schools, beautifull horses all who look very well on it!  It's cheap for lessons here too, I pay 10 euro's an hour for a lesson which has just two adults in so almost private, my only problem is that the horses are not the type you find in riding schools in the UK in that they don't just follow the one in front and need to be ridden, that has taken a bit of getting used to!   

I am intrigued by such a negative attitude, the woman who spoke to my now friends didn't put them off they moved here with horses 2 weeks ago , I hate to think she is putting people off without all the facts!