Chantilly, Capital of the Horse
Lying in the Oise, forty kilometres from Paris, Chantilly is indisputably the capital of the horse. As well as its superb château, world famous for its collection of historic paintings, the town is well known as the location of the largest training centre for racehorses, the unique Live Horse Museum and Europe’s biggest polo club. From hunting with hounds to hacking, all riding techniques are represented and more than 2,000 people have jobs in some way connected with horses.
By Jade Dalleau, journalist
"Why have I been taken to Versailles seven times and never here?" Is there any French person who does not know this famous statement made by President of the United States Richard Nixon, during his official visit to Chantilly in 1968? It is still the finest visiting card to this exceptional place.
When people evoke Chantilly, you think first of its château, or rather its châteaux, surrounded by water thanks to the talents of André Le Nôtre, who laid out its grounds in the late 17th century. The great château (built in 1875 for Henri d’Orléans), which shares an estate of 115 hectares with the small château (built in about 1560, for the Constable of Montmorency and once the residence of the Princes of Condé1), houses France’s most important collection of historic paintings apart from the Louvre (Poussin, Ingres, Delacroix, Fra Angelico, Van Dyck are worthily represented here).
Nonetheless the riches of this place just outside Paris (40 kilometres away) exceed this impressive cultural wealth. Chantilly is as much a homage to art as a hymn to nature and to "man’s finest conquest" - the horse.
In the late 17th century the Grand Condé (the king’s brother) commissioned André Le Nôtre to lay out paths in the forest of Chantilly (6,300 hectares) to make it more functional, which resulted in the creation of straight bridlepaths through it. Separated only by star-shaped crossroads, they are so long that they seem to bite through the horizon.
It was thanks to this grand design that from the 18th century on Chantilly surpassed Versailles in the practice of hunting. From 1815 to 1830, Louis-Henri II, last Duke of Bourbon, hunted here every day. Later, numerous riding facilities were created at this magnificent place (a tradition maintained to this day).
Nowadays, the most representative riding activity here is unarguably racing. The Chantilly training centre is the largest in the world with a hundred and twenty kilometres of bridleways, a hundred and twenty hectares of turf and twelve kilometres of jumping tracks. Its thoroughbred horses are very much in demand (2,600 thoroughbreds ridden by 800 jockeys under the leadership of 99 trainers).
A prestigious racing centre
At daybreak, the echo of their hooves resounds long after they have passed along the sandy bridleways. The exercise is a daily one, demanding but essential for anyone wishing to shine on the racecourse one day. The Chantilly track was created in 1834, at the edge of the forest, in front of the Great Stables of the château. From April to September it is the stage for prestigious races, including two flagship events - the Diane Prize and the Jockey Club Prize.
This place owes its history to a bet. Frequent visitors to Chantilly for the hunting2, Prince Lobanoff, and Messieurs de Plaisance, de Normandie and de Wagram challenged each other to a race on the Great Stables lawn with 100 louis (the French currency of the day) to the first to reach the entrance. Although history has forgotten the winner’s name (Monsieur de Normandie), it was this experience that revealed a terrain soft as velvet, ideal for constructing a racecourse. From its first race, watched in admiration by 30,000 spectators, in 1834, the success of this fiefdom, first of the Rothschilds and then of the Aga Khan, has never been refuted.
However, this picture would be incomplete without reference to the fabled fate of the Live Horse Museum, which this year celebrates its twentieth anniversary. Housed in the Great Stables of the Princes de Condé, this place which, since 1982, has set three million visitors dreaming is the product of one man’s determination - Yves Bienaimé. An outstanding horseman, he was, at the age of twenty-five, the youngest riding master in France and pupil of Colonel Jousseaume (five times Olympic medal winner) before making his name as the founder of this unique place, now the property of the Institut de France.
Twenty years of the Live Horse Museum
Its purpose is simple: to put riding education within the reach of all, through its collections - harnesses, saddles, paintings of horses... in thirty-one exhibition rooms - and an introduction to the living animal. So Yves Bienaimé runs "educational displays" (during which a commentary is given on each dressage exercise) and devises, with his wife Annabel and his daughters Sophie (a gifted rider and director) and Virginie (who is the same age as the museum), themed shows: "Horse and Gospel", "Horses and Art", "Christmas, horses and children". The standard of each performance (there are 120 each year and the same number of shows) is so high that they appeal just as much to experienced riders.
Finally, we cannot leave Chantilly without mentioning polo, a discipline to which Yves Bienaimé’s museum has also paid tribute with a show devoted to Argentine horses. Introduced in the West by the British (polo is said to have been inspired by the Afghan sport of bouzkachi), this very fashionable sport has grown here "at galloping speed". Founded in 1995, in 1999 the Chantilly Polo Club was the organiser of the European championship and has just been chosen as the venue for the 2004 world championship games.
Between now and then, Chantilly will continue to offer the chance to see everything that riding has to offer through different activities, thus illustrating the abundance of cultural features associated with it.
Key words
Great Stables: the most magnificent in the world. They are a fine example of 18th century French architectural expertise and house the Live Horse Museum created by Yves Bienaimé. Legend has it that Louis-Henri de Bourbon, seventh Prince of Condé, believed in transmigration of the soul and thought he would be reincarnated as a horse. In 1719, he commissioned the architect Jean Aubert to build stables worthy of his rank.
Thoroughbred: long mane, short back and loins, muscular croup. These horses have the lines of speed champions and are primarily bred for racing. The original thoroughbreds were the result of crossing Oriental stallions and English mares. In the early 17th century, three stallions left their mark on future bloodlines: Bierley Turk, Darley Arabian and Godolphin Arabian, which then fathered three other leading stallions of the breed: Matchen, Hérode and Eclipse. All thoroughbred horses are descended from them.
Training: is built up in three stages: early muscular exercise and muscle development completed by canters (steady gallops) and "wind development" runs (a series of fast gallops and short bursts of speed over 1,200 metres). The estate of the Chantilly training centre, which covers 400 hectares, has proved its worth: an inexperienced yearling (an eighteen-month old foal) can be transformed into a champion racehorse; 70% of the star horses which run on the Chantilly training ground take part in the most prestigious races.
Polo mallet: not as easy to handle as it appears, the mallet is made from cane with an ash or beech head that weighs just over 200 grams. It is very flexible and measures about 1.40 metres.
Article Courtesy of : French Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Jade Dalleau, journalist
Return to French Horse Publications
