Formerly bred in the hilly, marshy areas of the Cherbourg, Valognes and Coutances arrondissements, the Haguard became extinct as a result of road improvements and cross-breeding with Thoroughbreds and trotters.

A small population was probably transferred to the Mayenne region, helping to create the French saddle pony in the 1970s.

[3] However, zootechnicians Alexandre-Bernard Vallon and Paul Diffloth dissociate the 'gaited bidet' from the 'Hague pony', both of which they list as part of the Cotentin horse breeds, along with the black carrossier and the passeur.

[14] According to Armand Frémont, these small horses were very popular until the early 19th century for travel in the Normandy bocage, and were reputed to be vigorous.

[7][15] 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".

[16] 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.

[19] 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.

[22] 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.

[4] The head is straight and slightly cambered, with a thick muzzle,[13] short,[4] broad forehead and open nostrils,[2][4] small ears and large eyes.

[13] This gait is hereditary in Hague horses, and breeders who wish to preserve it are careful to exclude trotting animals from breeding.

[3] According to Jean-Henri Magne and Alexandre-Bernard Vallon, bidets de la Manche are mainly bred in the arrondissements of Cherbourg, Valognes and Coutances.

[35] 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 the Shetland islands, Orkneys or Hebrides, before being used as mounts by the young aristocracy of the Trois-Royaumes".