Haguard horse
horse breed
Haguard horse, also known as the Hague pony or bidet de la Hague, is a breed of bidet horse native to the natural region of La Hague, in the Manche in Normandy.
Used as a packhorse, saddle horse and by the postal services, this little horse is known for its particular hereditary gait, the pas relevé. It won many trotting races near Cherbourg, notably in 1835 and 1836. Formerly bred in the hilly, marshy areas of the Cherbourg, Valognes and Coutances arrondissements, the Haguard became extinct as a result of road improvements and cross-breeding with Thoroughbreds and racing trotters. A small population was probably transferred to the Mayenne region, helping to create the French saddle pony in the 1970s.
Origin of name
The information available on this extinct horse breed is dated. The breed is known as 'Haguard', 'bidet de la Hague', and 'gaited horse', according to Jean-Henri Magne. However, zootechnicians Alexandre-Bernard Vallon and Paul Diffloth dissociate the 'gaited bidet' from the 'Hague pony', both of which they list as part of the Cotentin horse breeds, along with the black carrossier and the passeur. The gaited bidet, or Norman letter carrier, is described by Vallon as being larger in stature.
Characteristics
Smaller than other Norman horses, Haguards are described as "short, small, nervous, tireless, hard and solid as the granite on which they were bred":
"Here is the Hague pony, as hard as the granite of the Tourlaville dunes."
Bernadette Lizet describes them as ponies, and Daniel Roche as bidets.
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This entry incorporates text from “Haguard horse” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.