About the Henson horse

At the outset, the Henson horse is a result of crossbreeding between Fjord stallions (from Scandinavian countries) and local producing mares from several origins: thoroughbred, French saddle horse, anglo-arabian, etc…).

In the early seventies, the initial vision of its creators, Lionel and Marc Berquin, was as ambitious as pretty simple: to produce a true versatile, sturdy, energetic, rustic and safe “leisure” horse, able to live outdoors all-year-long. That is to say, at a caretaking cost as affordable as possible.

Founded in 1982, the Henson Horse Association –and the one of the Bay of the Somme Riders- has been the driving force over 30 years and has never depart from the initial philosophy: to stay as close as possible to natural conditions for living and breeding and to make the horse a trustworthy friend for a large number of riders, enjoying shared emotions and discoveries.

At the outset of the 80s, the French Agriculture Administration became quite interested by the approach and encouraged the Association to carry on working on the breeding and caretaking philosophy. But, it took until the “Bay of the Somme Riders Association” moved to the “Domaine du Marquenterre”, in the early 90s, to reveal the whole potential of this creation, this estate becoming a sort of “Promised Land” of the Henson horses.

In 1995, the “A” part of the Henson stud-book was locked, based on the considerations that there was a rich enough genetic potential, being accrued from 1973, to be able to work in autonomy.

2003 then came as the year of the true “award”, with the official recognition by the French Ministry of Agriculture.

Today, the “Henson Adventure” carries on…

Following the official recognition of the new breed in 2003, new objectives have been set along two main directions :

• Quality of foal handling, schooling and training in order to not only produce genetically sound horses at the top of their native qualities, but also well adapted to a wide array of leisure-oriented equestrian disciplines, such as outdoor riding, horse-drawn carriage or equestrian games,

• development of the “Espaces Equestres Henson “ concept, to offer, elsewhere than in the Bay of the Somme region, an innovative formula, especially for outdoor riding activities, which more and more meets the aspirations of the largest audience.

The “Espace Equestre “l’Etrier” Fort-Mahon-Plage” has become the second successful implementation of the concept.

While taking the time and care to ensure a well-mastered development, we are convinced that the concept will meet other successes, based on the winning formula : Henson horses, caretaking in natural living conditions and adjacency to areas of outstanding natural beauty and of wildlife interest.