Like many young girls, I was horse-crazy... my favorite vacation was the spring that my parents drove us to Kentucky to visit Churchill Downs and the breeding stables in the blue grass country. So it's no wonder that when given a chance to visit what its architect designed to be a Versailles for horses - the French National Stud Farm at Haras du Pin, I was in the car with my seat belt buckled before you could say "le cheval".
People in Normandy are rightfully proud of their horses, and particularly of the two breeds that originated here: the Percheron and the Cob Normandy. At Haras du Pin, the best of the best stallions of these two breeds, plus Arabians, trotting horses, and thoroughbreds (the French call these "Anglais") live a pampered, posh life that is not dissimilar to that of The Sun King and his court...they're fed the finest food, they're groomed until they glow, and, of course, they get all the prettiest girls. Despite this spoiled life, they're quite mellow and enjoy having visitors - probably because their human visitors all stand in front of the stalls cooing and tell these apparitions, in various languages, how incredibly beautiful they are!
And, of course, there are always a few jokers, like the trotting horse pictured at left who likes to stick out his tongue and then if you don't pay attention, he pretends he's going to bite. The last time we were here, he actually let us play with his tongue (e-e-e-e-w) but they've gotten a bit more strict about visitor interaction now and we weren't allowed to touch.
We took a tour of the grounds and met most of the grand stallions as well as visiting the carriage room and tack room... a wonderful experience, but not good enough to satisfy that little farm girl who wants to see more horses... so we're going back next week for the European Cart Horse Championships. Allez!
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