Competing and enjoying your horse in France

After 11 years in France and simply riding for pleasure, I’m finally getting back into the competition world - due mainly to meeting some extremely encouraging and enthusiastic horsey people.  After a lifetime of competing in the UK, we moved to France and I guessed that I would be "retiring" and just become a Happy Hacker. I missed the shows and general horsey stuff but now things have changed.  It’s still great just riding out, but now I’ve found a choice of activities.  There aren’t the same number of competitions in France and you do have to travel further to find those that there are, but there are a wide range of disciplines. 

Here are a few pointers to get you started rather than having to wait 8 years like me!

When arriving in France the best thing to do is join a centre équestre. There are a wide choice of clubs and they mainly specialise in particular disciplines - locally we have clubs for: Show Jumping, Endurance, TREC, Dressage and Voltige. My club at Belves, www.boschevalrouge.fr, for example, is mainly Show Jumping, Endurance and TREC, another at Sarlat is primarily dressage and there is a club at Faux with a great X country course.  Ask around, go and see the club, have a lesson and decide which one you feel most happy with.

Join the FFE - (you also get insurance cover). This can be done with 2 sorts of licenses, competitor or non competitor - join as a competitor and then you have the correct licence if you decide to compete.  For certain competitions you do need to have your "Galop" exams to a certain level. These are not something to worry about - your club will help you out and if you are clearly at a particular standard the club may simply award you the relevant Galop.  Definitely address the galop levels with regards to the sort of discipline you wish to compete in and then your new club will happily get you ready to compete.  I have found my club extremely encouraging and always on hand to help.

Make sure your horse’s papers are fully completed. Not only do they need to have all their vaccines and be chipped, but also need their "markings" verified by 2 independent vets and the document then needs to be stamped by les Haras nationaux. Once this is completed, take your paperwork to your club and they will check it and do any final computer registration that is needed.  You may be limited to club level in certain disciplines as I am with my horse - but I don't want to ride in the Olympics so it's not a problem!

Ask around about competitions, look on the FFE website (which is a nightmare but with guidance becomes slightly less so), send emails to local clubs asking what competitions they have and join forums. An extremely helpful group is HORSETALES www.horsetales.fr  - they know a lot of people and clubs and practise different disciplines.  PINCE (Périgord, Independence, Nature, Cheval, Evasion) is an association based in Le Bugue. They arrange two rallies a year, where people who enjoy horses can ride or carriage drive a distance of around 15 to 25kms.  We also have an excellent tack shop in nearby Castillonnès where the owner is very helpful (speaks English) and you can get most things you need from him - and while you are there have a look at the notice board of events.

Don't limit yourself to a single discipline - so far I have had great fun competing in TREC, Show Jumping, Dressage, taking part in rallies (fun rides), natural horsemanship clinics and will soon be doing my very first Equifun at Beaumont (still not sure what it entails though!).

Find a few horse buddies. I have some very good horsey friends and by comparing notes and information we find things out a lot quicker.  Post something on a forum saying you are new to France and you will be pleasantly surprised how many helpful people there are out there. I have met quite a few people this way.

Build up your contact lists for vets, horse food suppliers, blacksmiths, natural hoof trimmer, horse dentist, hay etc.  Do this as soon as possible, as you don’t want to be searching round for a vet in an emergency or when you are trying to sort your horses’ paperwork out.

Of course there are many other things to do and find out, but hopefully the above may help you a little.  La Porte has an extensive list of useful contacts and when a client purchases one of our equestrian properties we’ll ensure they have as much information as possible.