The horse breeding market in France

A breeder is the owner of at least one mare, which he or she brings to stud. The breeder monitors and cares for the broodmares throughout the breeding cycle, and provides the initial education of young foals destined for development and/or marketing. Breeders are often required to engage in other activities, such as breaking-in, transporting horses, brokerage, promoting young horses in competition or instructing riders, to supplement their breeding income.

Historically, horse breeding was the responsibility of the Haras Nationaux, which played a supervisory role with the aim of maintaining and improving the quality of equestrian horses in France. Offered at reduced rates, stud services were provided by a hundred or so stallions made available annually to mare owners. The initial aim was to provide horses for the French cavalry, which in turn served the French army. at the end of the XIXᵉ century, the Haras nationaux supplied horses for equestrian disciplines, and since the second half of the XXᵉ century, equestrian sports and leisure have been added.

In the early 2000s, the Haras and their ownership by the State were much debated, marking the beginning of reforms for the equine sector: some State-owned stud farms began to be put up for sale; State management of stallions was also called into question, as the State gradually withdrew from this function, and public calibration drew to a close, causing upheaval. In 2010, the Haras Nationaux came to an end, merging with the École Nationale d'Equitation to form the Institut Français du Cheval et de l'Equitation (Ifce). At the end of 2014, it was official: the State sold all its stallions, marking the end of public stallion breeding, which had to be gradually offset by private stallion breeding.many small breeders were unable to pay the stud fees and had to close down their businesses.

These reforms have had a major impact on the equine industry: the number of breeders fell by 30% between 2009 and 2019, and the number of foal births followed suit, dropping by 25% between 2009 and 2016. From 2016 to 2019, however, the number of breeders stabilized, falling by just 0.6% a year, and from 2017 to 2019, the number of births even returned to growth, still very slight, but at 2.3% a year.

The equine breeding sector has been turned upside down by the reforms concerning the National Studs, entities that had been established and reigned over the sector for centuries. This break-up is still recent, the sector is changing and is still in a period of transition, but the figures are stabilizing and show that the sector has lost some of its power, but is nonetheless an attractive sector, ready to take off again.

Breeders are producers in the equine industry, which is divided into 4 categories: racing, sport-leisure, working and meat. Breeders are highly dependent on the activity of each of these sub-sectors, the most important of which is horse racing, generating 87% of the sector's sales in 2019. Racing has suffered greatly from the health crisis, but is slowly regaining its strength, as shown by PMU's results, which should reach 93% of usual results by the end of the year, according to the CEO's October 20210 estimates. Like the equestrian sector, the other activities of the equine industry are also gradually recovering from the health crisis.