Haguard horse

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. 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": and Daniel Roche as bidets. Alexandre-Bernard Vallon attributes an average height of 1.44 m to 1.48 m to them. According to Magne, they have a particular gait, called , characterized by a resemblance to the trot, but in four beats. This gait is hereditary in Hague horses, and breeders who wish to preserve it are careful to exclude trotting animals from breeding. == Breed history ==

According to geographer Armand Frémont, the Haguard is one of Normandy's most famous, even legendary, breeds. Jean-Henri Magne (1857) describes these horses as "the most renowned of the Norman bidets". The particular biotope of the Hague has favored the emergence of several specific animal breeds. origin has been suggested, or at least an ancestry from the oriental horse, due to morphological convergence. The biotope of these ponies is an exception among French coastal horse breeds: most of them are large. The Hague horse is bred alongside much larger Normandy horses. In 1835, Mr Le Magnen, a wine merchant in Cherbourg, wanted to attract English customers to the town by creating a lively atmosphere with the "bidets". He approached mayor Nicolas Noël-Agnès, and received help from Éphrem Houël, who organized trotting and galloping races, notably on 25 and 26 September 1836. According to M. Mazure, crossing Hague mares with trotters produces "half-breeds that sometimes amble, sometimes trot, but most often a broken amble, the traquenard. It is through training that we get them used to the raised walk, so that they never walk like animals in which this gait is natural, hereditary". In the 1860s, according to Eugène Gayot, the Hague breed tended to merge with other Norman horse breeds, due to crossbreeding with the Thoroughbred. Gayot was in favor of this crossbreeding: "The little Hague breed, losing its practical usefulness every day, was in danger of dying out instead of being revived by its own qualities in a new form, better suited to the new demands of the consumer. It was a question of encouraging the transformation of this breed, of retaining in the breed that was to be established on its ruins all that had made its usefulness and reputation; it was a question, after a long halt, of getting back on track and gradually, without rushing into anything, managing to grow, to develop the form without losing anything of the substance". In his study of ''L'Élevage en Normandie'' (2013), Armand Frémont dates the extinction of the Hague horse to the mid-1850s, and links it to the improvement of roads and paths, rendering the saddle and pack horse useless. and author and journalist Lætitia Bataille. According to these sources, the last representatives of this breed, transferred from Cotentin to Mayenne for use in gallop races, contributed to the formation of the French saddle pony. == Usage ==

Although considered too small for light cavalry, these horses were sometimes big enough for hussars (1.46 to 1.50 m). then by Auguste Mayer, for his new owner Mr. Pestre, on 25 September 1836. Haguard won the 200-franc prize at the age of 7. At the time of their creation, these races were reserved exclusively for local horses: "The Cherbourg races got off to the best possible start; unfortunately, their progress has not been as noticeable as we would have wished: this is due to the fact that we wanted to act on a circle that was too narrow, by admitting only local horses to the races [...] Let's hope that broader and more fruitful ideas will breathe new life into these races, and that every year crowds will flock to the Cherbourg shore, facing the great sea, applauding the light cavales of the Val de Cérès and the vigorous ponies of the Hague hills". According to Magne, Hague horses are "essentially suited to saddle service, despite their jerky gait". They don't walk very fast, but can cover long distances, on the order of 60 to 80 kilometers for several days at a time. They are employed by cattle merchants and graziers. == Breed distribution ==

The breed is native to the northwest of the Cotentin Peninsula, in the 1860s. The Hague pony was exported to Charolais, Auvergne, Central France In his novel Le Baptême du sang, Louis Énault cites "a small white marble group depicting a child of about ten years of age, astride one of these Hague ponies, about the size of those which, more famous but no more beautiful, graze a rare and salty grass on the hills of Shetland, Orkney or the Hebrides, before being used as mounts by the young aristocracy of the Trois-Royaumes". == See also ==