A few figures on the horse trade in France

In France, the horse trade is a fairly well-structured sector that no rider is indifferent to. Here are a few figures that characterise this market.

Racehorse sales: a business built around auctions

The racehorse market is structured around auction sales. Around 5,000 horses — flat racers, trotters and sport horses combined — are sold this way in France every year; in 2024, a flat racehorse sold at auction fetched an average of €67,300 excluding tax, and 1,799 trotters found a buyer at an average price of €17,600. IFCE, ÉCUS 2025 yearbook.

There are also so-called "claiming" races, where horses can be bought at the end of the race through a specific sealed-bid auction system. The major yearling sales set the tone: the Arqana Trot selected yearling sales in September 2026 topped €11 million in turnover, a record. Le Trot, Arqana Trot 2026 sales.

The riding horse market: a mismatch between supply and demand

The riding horse market is one of private individuals and small breeders: a sport or leisure horse sold for an average of €6,600 including tax in 2024, with transaction volumes falling and prices rising. IFCE, ÉCUS 2025 yearbook. Sixty per cent of breeders aim to produce horses for the professional level, whereas most of the demand comes from leisure riders and amateur competitors.

To put it bluntly, three broad types of horse can be said to be available on the market: elite horses, relatively expensive and bred for competition; horses with no recorded breeding or retired from racing, very cheap but generally not much sought after; and sport horses not retained for top-level competition, downgraded and sold at a loss.

These horses are generally not suited to leisure use. Alongside these three broad types are horses belonging to private owners, of all ages and all levels, schooled or not, at highly variable prices, sometimes well below market value, which creates significant competition for breeders and drives prices down. This mismatch between what producers offer and what users need is typical of the sector.

Growing pressure from international competition

Trade with other countries has swung towards net exports: 12,736 equines were imported into France in 2024 and 17,744 exported. IFCE, ÉCUS 2025 yearbook.

While horses bought for dressage competition appear on average to be better than French horses, those imported for show jumping are not necessarily so. Horses imported for leisure, on the other hand, though generally more expensive than French horses, belong to breeds specifically geared towards leisure riding or with particular physical characteristics.

While the import of dressage and leisure horses can be explained by low French production of these types, the import of show jumpers highlights strong international competition and better-organised sales networks abroad.

A number of leisure and competition riders are therefore willing to buy abroad a horse that matches the characteristics they are looking for and cannot find on the French market.