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French Trotter

Origin
France

History
Also known as the Norman Trotter, its origins are closely related to those of the old Norman horse. Breeding selection began in 1836 when the first trotting races took place in Cherbourg. The breed was developed from crosses of English Thoroughbred and mainly Norfolk Trotters from Great Britain Normandy mares. Some American Trotter blood was also used.
Trotters are numerically the most important in breeding stock in France. Breeding of this horse is concentrated in Lower Normandy and especially in the areas of Le Pin and Saint-Lô studs. It is also found more generally in the northwest of France, the Loire area, and the southwest.
The stud book for this breed was started in 1922. French Trotter mares registered in the stud book can benefit from “selection premiums” and “conformation premiums” given out at regional shows or an annual national show at Vincennes. These premiums permit a maintenance of conformation and selection of the breeding stock.
Sires of the breed are only allowed for public mating services for pure breeding if they obtain minimum references: having been in the first five of a classical, semiclassical, or international race, or holding a registered record on an officially confirmed track.

Description

Head:
handsome usually with a straight profile
Conformation:
-prominent breast bone
-quite straight shoulder becoming more sloped to allow a broader movement of the forearm
-long, wide croup
-rather short hind quarters
Average height:
15.1 to 16.2 h.h.
Colours:
the most common are bay and chestnust
Temperament:
intelligent, quiet
Today:
the French Trotter is essentially destined for trotting races, whether driven or mounted. The races are very popular in France. To take part in a trotting race, all trotters must pass qualification tests by running the kilometer in a specified time. French Trotters are also used for breeding saddle horses. Some riders use French Trotters for leisure mounts.

24 comments

12/08/2007, 19:32

Allan S. Hill,

I have seen an old advertisement from the late 1800s of a breeder offering for "French Carriage Horses" for sale. There doesn't appear to be such a breed in modern times, although I have found a reference that implies that the French Saddle Horse may have been drived from the carriage horse. Are you aware of any specific historical data related to the French Carriage Horse? Allan.

24/04/2008, 16:49

miss vivienne watts,

I have a french trotter called Lakko Borealis out of a mare called Anne marie and a stallion called Voici du niel,bred by Marica Biaudet, I would like to find out more about him, his stable name is Archie he is 9years old,.He was bought from horse dealers in the Monclar region of france in october 2006, thankyou.

06/09/2008, 23:14

tracy warner,

please does anyone know how to teach a french trotter to canter i understand it can be quite difficult any tips anyone please

16/09/2008, 20:31

mary ann,

Hello bought a f/trotter palmore rush dob 03
sire extreme dream
dam genereuse aranda
didnt know she was in foal ! now we have a
lovely black fille

anybody know who the sire of this fille could be /or point me in right direction
sellers trying to find out also

12/10/2008, 14:41

martin street,

Tracey, regarding teaching a trotter to canter as you may be aware that in france cantering doesnt really exist, especially for trotters who are breed for fast contact trotting, however i have trained a trotter to canter you need a lot of space a good lentgh of un hindered bridleway with good vision threw hedges and once he starts to naturally raise head and go for a strong trot engourage him to gallop for a good distance then slow him down to the canter and ask him to maintain the rythem at first he wont canter for lomg but he will soon get the idea over a few trips out, any way it worked for me, now he has a good walk a lazy trot a very fast road trot a good canter and a reasonable gallop.

30/12/2008, 11:34

sarah lee,

Hi, i too have recently bought a french trotter she is a perfect ride but she too do's not canter at the moment she just has a number of gears in trott slow fast and even faster.
I was reading your tips on getting them to canter that you sent to tracy and would like to thank you as i found that realy interesting, although i will be doing lots of schooling with her in the summer i cant at the moment with the bad weather and our paddocks being bogged out. I will be certainly trying that out when out on her again as i do not think it will be long before she catches on she is so willing and a pleasent horse.
The other question i have is she is not as big as they say a typical french trotter is she is about 15hh and they say they should be over 15hh are there smaller breeds of french trotter?
thank you sarah

03/01/2009, 20:04

Danielle ,

Hi I have recently brought a french trotter, She has a lovely tempermant and is very kind.
I am teaching her to canter and she is coming on very well, I really want to start teaching her to jump. I know all horses can jump, but has anyone ever trained a french trotter to become a show jumper? thanks

03/03/2009, 13:53

Amy Moss,

Hi, I have just take a part trotter on loan and am having the same problems regarding cantering. He tends to canter with his front legs and trot with his back, which as you may have guessed is a little strange for the person riding him!! It feels as if he is bucking. He also holds his head very low to the ground when you ask him to canter any ideas on how I can get him to raise his head and help with this carriage so that I can then ask him to round from behind?

Amy

29/05/2009, 15:25

Heather Wilson,

I have access to a very kind,sweet-natured 16 year old mare in France, I am her sole rider and that too sadly only when I am over in France. I thought she was (part?)Anglo Arab because she had come originally from Pompadour but on talking to her French builder owner she turns out to be a reject trotter that he rescued from being dog food. This would explain why I too can barely get more than a couple of canter strides out of her. When asked to canter she puts her head down. bucks and sometimes grunts! Any additional advice to the useful info above would be most welcome, particularly on the head to ground problem,

03/06/2009, 12:16

melinda,

i have just bought a trotter he is a 10yr old gelding and is 14.3 hands i rescued him from dog food now i will be using him for pony club how do i get him to jump

19/06/2009, 00:45

Anne ,

I have a 6 yr old french trotting mare not sure abut her back ground but she is very timid she was very boney a year and a half ago when i bought her from the new forest sales, she seems to respond opposite to what im asking her is there a different style of riding these beautifull horses will i ever feel safe on the road, she allso has a very husky voise that you can hardly hear .

24/07/2009, 23:09

Kathryn,

My ex-trotter can jump no bother.
It took us quite a while but he's went from being unable to canter to jumping small clear rounds at shows and has jumped about 2ft 9 at home.
He's still a little unsure, sometimes changes his leading back leg every stride in canter (which is quite amusing) and does occasionally still pace.
If anyone's interested there's a video of me and him at his first show last year on youtube, he did get better afterwards but i had to give him up for a year so we get to do it all over.

24/07/2009, 23:10

Kathryn,

Here's the link to the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZy6pVFswbs&feature=channel_page

20/10/2009, 22:42

Gabriella,

I have a beautiful 16.1 black french trotter mare. When i bought her she had never been ridden, i rescued her and she was standing at about 15.1 - skin and bone, fleas, mud fever, never seen a bucket of feed. She had never seen a sand school, never been ridden. Trotting in a circle was trouble and dont even get me started on the cantering. But dont ever let anyone tell you they cant jump, because my mare proved everyone wrong. So far shes jumped 1.40m cleared it by a mile, its the canter thats the mission. If you are working on a trotter yourself i highly recommend doing repetitive exercises breaking that transition trot to canter, every corner with a pole, my mare always jumped it and landed it in canter and then keep it up for a few strides and lots of praise. After a few successful tries, take away the pole and it should have sunk in that they canter at the corners you ask for. After teaching them to canter thats pretty much the almost easy part, its collecting. Cantering is a sin for trotters so you have to retrain their minds that cantering is a must and they needs lots of praise. They have an exceptional jumping talent and with lots of time and patience can easily be affiliated and go further, obviously the basics of jumping is the flatwork, preferably a collected canter which trotters find extremely hard. Get your hands on a "pessoa" they can do absolute wonders! They collect your horse and you will be lunging your horse with your mouth open of amazement. It wont happen over night but its the secret. A second hand pessoa works just as good and its cheaper. Will be happy to answer any other questions on trotters.
Hope this has helped!

24/10/2009, 22:02

Sharon,

Hi all. I have a 7 year old 16.2hh french trotter and his canter (thankfully)is fine. In fact in our first ever dressage test we entered the arena in canter (was supposed to be trot!) then proceeded to do every trot movement in canter or breaking into canter!!! He loves cantering! We can do walk to canter now and the more work we do on balance, rhythm and tempo the easier everything is falling into place. He has a fantastic jump in him but the flatwork needs to be consistant before we start the jumping.

One of the first posts on here is a relative as his father is voici du niel too! His mum was eh elle. The best thing about trotters are their temperament. He would try anything for me and as my instructor says if he isn't doing something right its not because he doesn't want to, its because he can't so we try other ways of working with him to see what works for him rather than the conventional way. Keep working with them as the rewards are more than worth it!

08/12/2009, 00:39

Emma,

Hi this is really interesting. I have a just under 16.3hh French Trotter. It sure has been interesting trying to get the trot to canter transition thing, but I taught him to canter along bridleways at first, going fast and then trying to slow down, but it is very hard to do anything other than a fast canter at first. Became disunited very easily indeed. However, we've been going hunting and he loves it and he loves jumping! Now I can do a lovely collected canter with lots of impulsion out hunting - last time out we did flying changes in canter and right angled turns both left and right. He clears the jumps by miles

19/12/2009, 11:29

Pippa,

I have a 6 year old, 16 hand French trotter gelding
I have owned him for 2 1/2 years and love him to bits, he is the most amazing horse I have ever ridden.
He spent the first year as a 4 year old,trashing himself in the field, so actually didn't get ridden much.
I bought him from SW France suposidly as a Spanish horse.(he had a French Trotter passbook)When I queried this, I was told I didnt want a registered Spanish horse as they were too expensive.
His name is Picto D'or, we didn't know what that meant so we call him Norman as he was bred in Normandy.
When I started riding him and asked him to canter, all he did was trot faster and faster.
It worried me to begin with as he was meant for one of my sons to ride. (how was I going to explain to Oliver that he'd never canter again!)
Strange as I'm sure I had seen him canter in the field before.
Anyway I persevered and then we suddenly cracked it.
We went from a walk into a beautiful collected canter and then gallop,he has to canter from a walk, can't do it from a trot.
This we have perfected, he loves to canter now. In fact we went hound exercising this summer and he did a collected canter instead of trot to keep up.
Sometimes when he gets tired during cantering he will break into the trot and sometimes if I shout NO, he goes back to the canter, othewise I stop him and we start again.
I never trot him on the road, don't have to as his walk is often faster.Actually no one can keep up.
He is such a forward going chap, his only problem being, he does not like to stand still.
This we are slowly overcomming.
Norman can jump, we havent actually done much.
I did free lunge him over 3" last summer, he was brilliant.
Norman is beautiful, he is black and has a wonderfully inteligent temperment.
I love the fact he is differant, I love it out hunting when I can ask him to do the trot and then pass everyone doing a gallop.
He's just such a fun horse with so many differant passes.

19/12/2009, 11:33

Pippa,

Whoops, not 3", I meant 3 foot!!

19/12/2009, 11:40

Pippa,

Whoops again, I meant paces not passes. (my spelling!!!)

06/01/2010, 12:11

jane,

hi,
i have a french trotter shes 15.2 dark bay and beautiful.i have had her 5 years this january. we call her jez but her real name is JACINTHE DU GUIERS.
she was brought to the uk from normandie in france in july 2004. i brought her from a lady in staffordshire she found her to difficult to ride.
she has the most excellent manners i have ever known,however she can trot for england and she is awkward to ride till you get use to her, i have her cantering lovely but sometimes she gets carried away and breaks into this massive extented trot. has fast has other horses gallop mind you it is good fun and you get a right buzz.
i did try and jump her but we couldn`t get the knack of it and i came off and it knocked my confidence.she tends to go to fast and i go flying.
i`d love to know about her past she had 7years in france it is on her pass
port.
her breeder was m.jean-claude masse from orne, basse normandie.
i have often wondered if she had been raced over there.but i don`t know how to find out.
jane from the westmidlands

15/01/2010, 20:10

Stacey Lou,

HI
i have got 2 standardbred's both are 9 yr old mares both have had a racing career - and been retired from it sound for last 2 years - i was wondering if anyone had any tips to get them cantering - they are both trotters (not pacers) and i was wondering if anyone had any experience in relation to which was easier to break to canter... a Trotter or a Pacer??
any info appreciated. Stace x

19/01/2010, 15:15

Sam,

Hi I have a 6year old trotter, appears to be french but not entirely sure as I bought him at 6 months as an unwanted ball of fluff that was skin and bone beneath.
I broke him myself, and he really is as safe as the day is long, very forward going and an overall fantastic ride. He canters slow and collected whilst out hacking, but in the school he really struggles, quite often managing to fina a forth beat to the pace which obviously then makes him disunited.
Does anybody have any ideas or exeercises I can use to improve his canter in the school? He also tends to always use the same leading leg, as opposed to using the correct one on the correct rein. I do lots of circle work with him, but even still he can manages to strike off on the wrong leg!
He is lunged on the pessoa evey other day, and although this has helps the speed of his canter on the lunge, it doesn't hrlp me once I am onbaord as he leans on my hands as I have to hold him up at the front end to get him into canter.

I hope this makes sense to somebody I know it's not very clear! :-s

Any help greatly appreciated, Sam

19/01/2010, 15:17

Sam,

Stacey get a pessoa, I think it's the only way I managed to teach my gelding Toby to canter not gallop when he was 4!

17/02/2010, 23:33

sian,

Hi there, I hope someone out there can help me?!
I purchased a french trotter gelding from a private seller in the uk.( I am pleased with the sale/horse)
The problem I have is that the french trotter passport is all in french!
I just need to know how much does it cost to have the french passport upddated ( change of ownership)
I have found the address in france to send form to put it does not state what the fee is.
Hope someone can help me. thanks