Leisure horses
The main criteria for a good leisure horse are a supple, easy-going character, sociability, and the ability to support beginners in equestrianism.
[3] In 2015, the award of a label for pleasure riding in France made it possible to define the qualities required in these horses: a willing and courageous mind, an unemotional character, limbs and hooves of excellent quality, a rather modest size to make it easier to get in and out of the saddle and great versatility, unlike sport horses which specialize in a single equestrian discipline.
[10] In France, racehorses of the French Trotter and Thoroughbred breeds can be converted into leisure horses by dedicated organizations or experienced riders.
[11] The same phenomenon can be found in the United States, where many pleasure horses are Thoroughbreds or reformed Standardbred Trotters.
[5] Some draft horse breeders (particularly in France) also select their animals for leisure purposes, giving them the appropriate qualifications, as is the case with the Breton,[13] for example.
In Antiquity and the Middle Ages, the horse may have been used as a de facto leisure animal, but generally on a small scale and by a wealthy social class,[14] without being defined as such.
[15] The same type of question, that of the "legendary and clerical beast of Flanders: the mixed horse", arose in Belgium in 1878, when Flemish peasants, supporters of the Catholic party, used their draft horses for Sunday rides to pay a tax enabling them to vote, in a country where censal suffrage existed.
[22] The development of pleasure riding in Western countries is also recent (early 1990s), and studies are still lacking (2011), despite the widely observed multiplication of " leisure horse " purchases.
[23] The term "hobby breeding" did not exist in academic publications in 1997, yet in the two townships of Ganges and Saint-Martin-de-Londres alone, horses accounted for 72% of the 138 leisure animal farms surveyed that same year.
Breeders handle foals extensively from an early age, putting them in carriages, haltering[27] them and picking up their hooves, to obtain horses that are closer to humans.
[26] According to a prospective study carried out by INRA in 2012, the leisure horse market is booming and will become increasingly profitable (particularly in France) if enough people have the financial means to acquire this type of animal.
The horses themselves occupy a territory for their breeding, grazing and working areas, to which must be added the space given over to the paths used by riders.
Some owners aim to maintain a special relationship with one or more of their horses, and therefore keep them at home, although this requires more skill and time.
Independent owners are usually people on modest incomes, with land and equestrian skills, who attach little importance to having freedom of movement.
[23] The average monthly cost of keeping a leisure horse in France in 2011 was estimated at over €300 in a professional facility, compared with less than €150 at home.
However, pleasure riders may also wish to try out other equestrian disciplines, such as dressage,[12] polo or Portuguese horse riding.
