France has a superb trotting museum

Grosbois, France – Nestled within the 1,100 acres of the Grosbois Training Center just outside of Paris, is a huge former castle. It is spectacular and it is the home of the French Trotting Museum since 2010.

The 1,100 acres came under control in 1563 by Raoul Moreau, then the treasurer of Spain, whose relation Nicolas Harlay de Sancy, the Surintendant des Finances et des Bâtiments du roi, built a château there at the start of the 17th century.

Over the many earlier year’s the property changed hands many times and as the castle grew, a large moat was built around it.

During World War II, Grosbois Castle served as a hospital for the American Red Cross. Army troops were also quartered by the hundreds in the castle.. Elisabeth Berthier de Wagram was the last owner of the property. She died in 1960 and due to taxes, upkeep and other financial reasons, the property was sold in 1962 to René Ballière, president of the Société d’encouragement à l’élevage du cheval français, who bought the estate to set up a training center for trotting racehorses.

While the moat had been drained and now features a beautiful lawn where we saw peacocks frolicking about, the original walls and barred windows can still be seen.

After you enter the museum the first gallery you come to shows the origins of racing, dating back to 2,735 years before Christ, which was the first Olympic games held in Greece.

The second gallery shows the origins of the trotting races in France. The first official race was held on September 25, 1836 on the Cherbourg beach. Other galleries exhibit French horse sculptures, the creation of the French Trotting Breed, Vincennes Racetrack, known as the Temple of Trotting in Europe, an entire gallery on Betting and Racing, the training center at Grosbois, the evolution of the harness and equipment and the immortals of the trotting world.

There are also many displays of harness racing in Currier and Ives paintings from America, where the birth of harness racing as we know it first began.

Perhaps the section I liked the best is part of Gallery 6 that is devoted to jobs linked to the trotting races. It not only shows a multitude of jobs connected within the trotting industry including a breeder, trainer, driver, jockey, veterinary and equine dentistry, farriers, equipment supplier and more.

But the French have taken it a step further with their horse racing schools. They offer full-time education relating directly with the trotting races. The school prepares students for diplomas as caretakers and exercise riders after two years of schooling both classroom and hands-on and there is also a three-year program in equine enterprise management.

Being just ten years old, you cannot compare the French Trotting Museum to that of the much more established and older Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame in Goshen, New York. But let’s give credit to the French in that over the years to come this exquisite castle will continue to grow with more interesting exhibits and displays.

Perhaps the accompanying photographs can tell the story better than words can.

By Steve Wolf, for Harnesslink