Territories and grassland exploitation by horses in France

C. Vial; G. Bigot; B. Morhain; W. Martin-Rosset

Territories and grassland exploitation by horses in France

In: Forages and grazing in horse nutrition

Authors:

C. Vial

C. Vial ¹IFCE, 19000 Arnac-Pompadour, France
²INRA, UMR 1110 MOISA, 34000 Montpellier, France

Search for other papers by C. Vial in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed

G. Bigot

G. Bigot ³IRSTEA, Research Unit Metafort, Clermont-Ferrand, 63172 Aubière, France; genevieve.bigot@cemagref.fr

Search for other papers by G. Bigot in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed

B. Morhain

B. Morhain ⁴Institut de l’Elevage, 54520 Nancy – Laxou, France

Search for other papers by B. Morhain in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed

, and

W. Martin-Rosset

W. Martin-Rosset ⁵INRA, Department Physiology and Livestock sciences, Centre Clermont-Ferrand/ Theix, 63122 St Genès Champanelle, France

Search for other papers by W. Martin-Rosset in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed

Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 467–480

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.3920/9789086867554_066

Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):

€42.00€35.00 excl. VAT

Add to Cart

Redeem Access Token

France is the first European country with regard to its agricultural area, and the second after Great Britain, for its permanent grasslands. With nearly a million of horses, this sector is the only French animal production which has been constantly developing for many years. Consequently, equestrian activities occupy a growing part of land in France with a presence in urban as well as agricultural areas or in highly environmental zones. Socio-economic and environmental researches have recently been developed in this country to assess the impact of horses at the farm and territories levels. Meanwhile, French knowledge in horse nutrition and diet has significantly improved since the 70’s. In this context, this paper aims to present a review of French knowledge about the exploitation of territories and grassland by horses. In France, the horse industry would use at least 0.5 million hectares and it’s possible to identify spatial distribution specificities for each of its four sectors (racing, sports and leisure, work, and meat). Their development is linked to the new territorial dynamics and equestrian activities both complement and compete with urbanization in suburban areas and agriculture in rural areas for land occupation. There is a wide diversity of horse production systems. The study of parasitism and health value of grass and conserved forages has been useful to adapt the standard conditions of this production. In rearing conditions, grazing systems are adapted to the kind of horses and the period of the year, as equines can be fed entirely in their box or they can adapt to a complete herbivorous diet. Moreover, thanks to their grazing behavior, equines present several environmental advantages for land maintenance, but their association with cattle is useful to maintain the forage value of meadows.

Citation Info

Save
Cite
Email this content

Share link with colleague or librarian

You can email a link to this page to a colleague or librarian:
Email this content
or copy the link directly:

https://brill.edhh.ma/abstract/book/9789086867554/BP000066.xml
The link was not copied. Your current browser may not support copying via this button.

Link copied successfully

Collapse
Expand

Forages and grazing in horse nutrition

Series: EAAP Scientific Series, Volume: 132

E-Book ISBN:: 9789086867554

Publisher:: Wageningen Academic

Print Publication Date:: 01 Nov 2012

Subjects
- Life Sciences
  - General
  - Animal & Veterinary

Metrics

	All Time	Past 365 days	Past 30 Days
Abstract Views	155	38	8
Full Text Views	5	0	0
PDF Views & Downloads	1	0	0

African Studies	Education	Media Studies
American Studies	History	Middle East and Islamic Studies
Ancient Near East and Egypt	Human Rights and Humanitarian Law	Musicology
Art History	International Law	Philosophy
Asian Studies	International Relations	Religious Studies
Biblical Studies	Jewish Studies	Slavic and Eurasian Studies
Biology	Languages and Linguistics	Social Sciences
Book History and Cartography	Life Sciences	Theology and World Christianity
Classical Studies	Literature and Cultural Studies

Subjects

Authors

Open Access

Product Information

Company

Contact

Territories and grassland exploitation by horses in France

Citation Info

Share link with colleague or librarian

Forages and grazing in horse nutrition

Table of Contents

Metrics

Metrics