Some figures on the horse trade in France
In France, the horse trade is a fairly structured sector that leaves no rider indifferent. Here are some figures that characterize this trade.
Racehorse sales: an activity characterized by auctions
The racehorse market is generally structured by auctions. In fact, 10 to 20% (respectively for trotters and gallopers) of each generation, or about 3,000 trotters and as many gallopers of all ages are presented there each year, but only 65 to 75% of them are actually sold. These sales are mainly organized by a national agency: ARQANA, as well as regional agencies.
There are also so-called "claiming" races, where horses can be bought at the end of the race by a specific auction system with a secret ballot. In 2009, the annual auction amount was around 75 million euros for gallops compared to 25 million for trotting. Sale prices vary enormously depending on the type of product and sale and hide a very high variability. Thus, the 2011 top price of the ARQANA Thoroughbred sales reached 1.7 million euros for a yearling sold at Deauville.
The saddle horse market: a mismatch between supply and demand
The saddle horse market represents an annual financial flow of around 200 million euros for 50,000 horses and ponies traded, 10% of which are imported. Sixty percent of breeders seek to produce horses for the professional level with the hope of selling them at a high price. In reality, 70% of equines are acquired for leisure and training, 25% for amateur competition and only 5% for professional competition. Apart from these, the purchase prices observed are on average lower than the cost of production: €5,000 minimum at three years old. This price is much lower when it comes to buying a few riding accessories from La Sellerie Française .
To caricature, we can consider that three main types of horses are available on the market: elite horses, relatively expensive and produced for competition, horses without origins or reformed from racing, very inexpensive, but generally not very sought after, sport horses not retained for high-level sport, downgraded and sold at a loss.
These horses are generally not suitable for leisure use. In addition to these three main types of horses, there are private horses of all ages and levels, worked or not, at very variable prices, sometimes well below the market price, which creates significant competition with breeders and pushes prices down. This mismatch between the supply of producers and the needs of users is characteristic of the sector.
Increasing pressure from international competition
In 2010, 10,328 horses were imported, of which almost half were riding horses, 35% were racehorses and 15% were ponies. In ten years these figures have increased fivefold for riding horses and tenfold for ponies, but only 1.4fold for racehorses. The imported riding horses belong to more than 25 different breeds: the purebred Spanish pony comes first, followed by the KWPN and then the Shetland pony.
While horses purchased for dressage competitions seem to be on average better than French horses, horses imported for show jumping are not necessarily so. On the other hand, those imported for leisure, although generally more expensive than French horses, belong to breeds specifically oriented towards leisure or with specific physical characteristics.
If the importation of dressage and leisure horses can be explained by low French production of these horses, the importation of show jumping horses highlights strong international competition and better organisation of foreign marketing channels.
A certain number of leisure and competition riders are therefore prepared to buy a horse abroad which corresponds to the characteristics they are looking for and which they cannot find on the French market.