Horses in Brittany have a clear historical, economic and cultural importance, since their introduction often attributed to the Celts. In Brittany, the horse, generally a Breton bidet, was mainly used as a saddle animal until the middle of the 19th century. As roads improved, most breeders specialized in draft horses and carriage horses. They mainly settled in the west, in Basse-Bretagne, Trégor and Léon. The Breton draft horse, a renowned working animal, was exported in large numbers from Landivisiau in the early 20th century.
Horse breeding in Brittany also involved light breeds, notably the racehorses that sprang up with the proliferation of racecourses, in particular the Corlay horse. While Breton draft horse breeding remains predominant, equestrian sports are now well established. Once the draft horse of farmers and an auxiliary of the armed forces, the horse's role has changed, but it still evokes a strong attachment. Brittany boasts five equestrian centers, including the Haras Nationaux de Lamballe and d'Hennebont. The horse is at the heart of many Breton traditions, including pardons, tales, legends and songs.
History There are several theories about the arrival of the first Equus (ferus) caballus in Brittany. According to popular literature, the species was brought to Brittany by Aryan migrations from Asia over 4,000 years ago. One variant states that these Asian horses mingled with a local equine population. Whatever the case, the domestic horse arrived in Europe as part of Indo-European migrations, bringing with it profound cultural changes. Its presence in Armorica is certain around −750 / -1000; it probably increased around -500.
Brittany is renowned for the important place it has always held for the horse, and for its history as a land of equine breeding, just like Normandy, with which it frequently competed. Today's Finistère department (historic Basse-Bretagne) has the strongest connection with the horse, particularly the Pays de Léon. Throughout its history under the Ancien régime, Brittany has always exported horses. A number of sources are biased, as they emanate from the administration of the French national stud farms. According to Daniel Roche, these sources often refer to Brittany's horse population in terms of "abundance" and "mediocrity", despite the fact that local animals primarily met the needs of farmers living in Brittany. The general opinion at stud farms is that Bretons love horses, but don't know how to breed them.
Antiquity Small horses were bred by Celtic warriors before they conquered Great Britain. There is very solid evidence of the importance of the horse among Celtic civilization, domesticated rather than hunted. Mainly a military animal, it became established in Armorica, as attested by numerous coins bearing its effigy, although there are no estimates of the horse population at the time.
On the other hand, Roman sources (notably Caesar) mention dietary taboos among Armorican tribes. Hippophagy was probably sacrilegious or illegal. The Romans were not a cavalier people. However, their cavalry units, mainly of foreign origin, particularly from North Africa, may have left their mark on the Breton horse.
Middle Ages
In the Middle Ages, the horse became the symbol of an aristocratic elite, due to its high cost of purchase and maintenance. Breeding efforts were undertaken to obtain the best possible animals, if necessary by importing foreign breeding stock at great expense. Well-documented breeding from the year 1,000 onwards was almost entirely in the hands of the seigneuries and religious communities, who competed with each other (peasants probably owned no more than one or two mares). The Duchy of Brittany was self-sufficient, even exporting. It gave birth to mounts whose quality is attested to by numerous sources. The palafre de Bretanha (in English Brittany's palfrey), was renowned beyond its borders. Throughout the Middle Ages, Brittany required large numbers of horses for military purposes. Only males were used, while females were put to stud. These animals were bred semi-feral, in forests and on moors, which probably made them very hardy. They are rounded up when needed by the subjects living on the breeding lands, as a chore. The lord chooses his animals first.
Around the year 1000, the Redon Abbey had its own stud farm. In 1108, the Vannes archives record that the abbot offered a horse to a certain Alain Fergent for 300 sous, an enormous sum at the time. In 1213, the House of Rohan (which also took a particular interest in horse breeding) obtained nine Egyptian stallions and placed them in the Quénécan and Poulancre forests. Olivier I de Rohan banned all exports of male horses from these Arab stallions. In 1225, Alain III de Rohan donated half of Quénécan's semi-feral horses to the Abbey du Bon Repos, which he had founded near Gouarec in 1184. A little later, the abbey was granted grazing rights on the same land. A chronicle states that Jean le Roux bought the town of Brest around 1260, in exchange for a white haquenée and 100 pounds of rent. In a deed signed in 1269, Aliénor de Porhoët, dame de la Chèze, ceded her wild studs in the Loudéac forest to the Rohans. The lands were distributed to some of their vassals to establish stud farms, so that by the end of the Middle Ages, the House of Rohan owned wild studs in Léon, Porhoët and Lanoué. In 1479, they owned 500 horses in the Loudéac forest alone. In 1300, the lord of Loudéac, Sevestre de la Feuillée, built his fortune partly on the horse trade. During the War of the Two Joan, 300 of Joanna of Flanders' knights' mounts came from Brech. The House of Laval also established stud farms, whose existence was confirmed in 1467, in the forest of Brecelien (Paimpont). In 1481, the Quimper nobility show counted over 4,000 horses. The Dukes of Brittany certainly encouraged the breeding and use of horses among their vassal lords, as chivalry required the possession and mastery of this animal.
Brittany's nobility often took great care to record gifts and bequests of horses in writing, giving details of their appearance, coat and name. For example, the Duke of Lancaster gave Bertrand du Guesclin a horse to thank him for his prowess at the siege of Dinan. It was on a Breton destrier that Du Guesclin is said to have overthrown sixteen opponents at the Place des Lices tournament in Rennes in 1338. On his death in 1380, his mounts were blessed by the imposition of the bishop's hands.
16th and 17th centuries The end of feudalism and the Wars of Religion in the 16th century led to a decline in horse breeding. Despite some evidence of continued breeding at the end of the 16th century, it seems that wild stud farms were in decline. Only a small group of horses was reported in the forest of Loudéac in 1613. A few wealthy landowners made their stallions available free of charge to their farmers and sharecroppers to perpetuate the species, but the attraction of court life in Paris led to the abandonment of these stud farms. From the 17th century onwards, the French influence was clearly felt. Until the end of the 19th century, many horses were imported to Brittany to "improve" the local stock, from Denmark, Holstein, Spain, Normandy and England. The shortage of horses in the kingdom of France became such that the National Studs were established to remedy the situation. In 1664, Jacques de Solleysel wrote that "every year, eight to ten thousand fairly common horses leave Basse-Bretagne; but the best ones come from the three bishoprics: Tréguier, Léon and Cornouaille; especially Tréguier, because it is considered certain that there are more than twenty thousand cavales in this bishopric alone. Judge from this that if we had had good stallions, instead of horses used for tidal chases and vans, we would have bred horses fit for war, hunting, and the crews of great lords; from which the individual and the public would derive a notable advantage, and three times that which they have had up to now". Two years later, on January 10, 1666, an edict from Colbert officially established national stud farms in Brittany:
The measure was belatedly passed by the Parliament of Brittany in 1685. Around 20,000 pounds were invested to buy stallions abroad, then entrust them to stallion guards scattered throughout the province. Gabriel Calloet-Kerbrat criticized local breeders for feeding their animals Vegetables and plants instead of oats and hay, and for breeding them too early. He recommended crossing the Breton mare with stallions from Germany and England, noting that 7,000 to 8,000 animals were exported every year. This theory of crossbreeding to improve breeds was in line with the ideas of the time. , a member of Brittany's Royal Academy of Agriculture, was highly critical of Breton horses, finding them undistinguished and too small (between 1.15 m and 1.52 m). He proposed a plan to ensure trade for the province, including the establishment of horse racing based on the English model. Similarly, in 1700, the general manager of the Pontchartrain stud farm pointed out the difficulty of finding good animals. The regulations governing the stud farms to "improve" the horses were applied by imposing constraints on the premises. In 1689, Desclouzeaux, intendant of the Brest stud farm, spoke of the "light fines" he imposed on owners of "mediocre" bidets caught roaming and covering mares.
Horse exports doubled between the 17th and 18th centuries. Statistics compiled in 1690 show that 334 national stallions were distributed, including 109 in the bishoprics of Saint-Pol-de-Léon, Tréguier and Nantes, resulting in the birth of 8,500 foals in the same year.
18th century
In the 18th century, horse-drawn vehicle developed rapidly. Adapted infrastructures were created: inns and post riders, which required spare horses. The improvement of roads in Brittany led to the modification of the bidet, considered a bad horse, to make it faster and stronger, better suited to traction: these were the beginnings of Breton draft horse breeding. In 1758, the main roads were established in the province, and in June 1776, a regular horse-drawn transport service provided stagecoach connections between various towns in Brittany. Breeders became leaders in workhorse breeding. This flourishing production made the Pays de Léon, in what is now northern Finistère, one of the region's finest producers. In 1715, a stud farm inspector visited Léon and reported that horses were bred "wild" and thrifty, left to roam freely on vast pastures in all weathers: they were still bred wild on uncultivated moors. In 1768, 28,000 horses were exported from Brittany. Other sources, from Gallois de la Tour and the Intendant de Nointel, each mention around 12,000 horses exported each year. Two types emerge: the "cheval de Léon", or Léonais, bulkier and closer to the draft horse, and the "cheval du Conquet", lighter and more courser-like. At the end of the Ancien Régime, Chabert reveals the changes in breeding conditions in the Léon region. Henceforth, horses lived in "crèches", sheltered from the elements. Breeding evolved from a wild system to an artificial one. The number of horses also rose sharply in the mid-18th century, from 164,000 in the 1733 census to 201,868 in the 1754 census.
Stud farm administration under the Ancien Régime