Baileys in France
Just like in England, Showing is an extremely popular discipline in France, although they often focus on exhibiting different breeds to those familiar to us here in the UK. Baileys is available in France and is gaining popularity out there, particularly amongst those customers who have emigrated to France!
One such customer is Sara Pell who is based in the South West and who has recently had great success in the Annual PRE Show (Pure Race Spanish) held in Beaucaire. She specialises in producing top quality PRE horses that don’t just look pretty but are capable of all disciplines like dressage and show jumping. Her yearling colt Tejo was crowned Champion Young PRE of France, their filly Sara took silver in her class and then Champion Young Movement, plus her 2 year old Solano was third but managed to also win Best Movement in his class. Showing out there is based on similar rules to the UK but with the judges looking for ‘trypy’ types who are capable of all disciplines but with an emphasis on movement.
Sara says that producing horses has been a 7 year challenge but it’s been worth it as people are starting to take notice of her ideas. Being a keen Baileys feeder (she uses Stud Mix, Stud Cubes, Prep Mix and Top Line Conditioning Mix), she’s slowly educating them about the British method of feeding and suggesting that whole oats and barley are not always the ideal way to feed!
Endurance Riding – French style!
Meanwhile, Sara is not the only one flying the British flag proudly in France. Another of our customers, Jo Bond, who is also based in the South West, has been doing extremely well in endurance riding and has progressed rapidly considering that she only took up the sport once she moved to France because she has so many miles of tracks around her - and is surrounded by endurance breeders. She recently managed to come 2nd with her horse Nikky at their first ever 90km race race at Pamiers!
Jo has 3 horses of her own (one being a yearling) and takes in up to 3 other horses for training at any time. She is a Recommended Associate for Kelly Marks and so work with starters and helping horses that have behavioural issues. One of the reasons she loves endurance so much is that you have to really know your horse to get the best out of them. Not only is there an emphasis on getting the training, feeding and foot care correct but you have to have them mentally ready as well. If your horse hasn't had the time to become accustomed to competing, travelling and being vetted it will really show up in the heart rates.
There are quite a few differences between the UK and France in endurance at the lower levels, although obviously once at International level (130km ), the same rules apply. However, the great thing about competing in France is that the speeds are much higher (because there are no gates on rides!). Even the set speed rides (20-90kms) are run at 12-15km/h whilst the race rides sometimes have average speeds above 20km/h.
Heart rate requirements are tough with set speeds being at a maximum of 60 bpm and for a 90km race ride you can't exceed 56 bpm. Because of this the French have really focused on breeding horses with strong heart rates. Heat is the main problem as July and August competitions often take place in 35 degree temperatures – although the horses do adapt to this!
Jo and her horses definitely prefer the heat to the cold and wet and most of the year she feeds No.6 All-Round Endurance Mix although she does tend to switch to Top Line Conditioning Cubes for the really cold months just to help keep the weight on (sometimes in February it gets down to -15!)
The biggest advantage of France is the space! Jo could ride a loop of 100kms without ever having to go on a major road. However France is currently a long way behind the UK in a number of areas such as some aspects of veterinary care, foot care, nutrition and the behavioural side of things. But things are changing and she’s had such positive results with her horse Nikky (Nikaya de Paute) who has transformed under her care through a combination of good feeding and building a trusting relationship. No doubt they’ll continue to go from strength to strength!
For more information on Jo visit www.BondWithYourHorse.comSWDRC
Saffron & Walden District Riding Club (SWDRC) have qualified a team in every section of the British Riding Clubs Horse Trials Championships for the first time ever – an achievement unprecedented in recent years! Already well known for quadrille successes at Olympia, members from the largest affiliated riding club in Essex have now proved themselves in eventing by winning all four sections of their Area Qualifiers, which were hastily rescheduled to Ely Eventing Centre by the club’s team manager Lisa Spence.