Welcome

From leisure to competition, the Centre d’Equestre Val d’Adour is the perfect place to take pleasure in riding.  The centre is owned and run by Benedicte DuToit, a professional riding instructor with a state diploma, who has many successes to her name including champion of eventing.   

The centre is based at the foot of the Pyrenees and has 25 Anglo-Arabs and 11 ponies, down to Shetland size.  It has a 60m x 30m indoor riding school, a 60m x 40m outdoor ménage and approximately 2 hectares of cross country course.  It is surrounded by beautiful countryside with plentiful farm tracks along which organised rides can be arranged.

The centre offers the following:

• Pony lessons for young children.   A sporting activity that permits children to do everything with the ponies, from cleaning them and tacking them up, to riding lessons, fun games, such as horse-ball and obstacle courses, to jumping and gaining French certificates of competence (similar to the British Pony Club Tests).

• Horse riding for those aged 7 – 77 years old.  Professional courses in ridings kills, , stable management, horse care, dressage, show jumping and cross country, including participation in competitions.

• Riding for the Disabled.  Special equipment and courses are available for handicapped riders of any age.

• Accommodation.   The centre boasts its own gîtes that can house 4 to 24 people and offers the perfect location for tourism within the Pyrenees mixed with riding at the centre.   Bed and Breakfast or Full Board can be arranged.

Access.  The centre is located on the edge of the busy market village of Rabastens de Bigorre, just to the North of Tarbes.  A number of airlines fly to the region, including to Toulouse and Tarbes, but most people tend to use Ryanair who fly Stansted to Pau extremely cheaply. There are a number of car hire firms at Pau.  It is then just a 50 minute drive to the centre.

Language.  All riding lessons are taught in French, though Benedicte does speak some English.  The club already has a number of English members and should you feel concerned that language may be an issue, please feel free to speak to Peter Suddards who is an English rider at the club along with his daughter, and who lives next to the centre.   He can be contacted on 0033 562 43 03 99 or 0033 679 14 48 86 or by email psuddards@wanadoo.fr.

A view from the author.  As a former accomplished rider in the UK who now resides permanently in France I have been extremely impressed by the Centre d’Equestre Val L’Adour.  It has a warm welcome, excellent instruction and has that unusual ability to mix the hardship of striving for perfection with pure fun and exhilaration.  I fully recommend it to anyone who has a passion for riding.          

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