“In terms of know-how, the pros aren't us, it's you.
»Seated in the proceedings room with the director of the national veterinary school of Alfort Christophe Degueurce, Thibaut Mathieu is about to sign a piece of paper which is nothing other than the fulfillment of a dream: see reborn the Fish Race in the best conditions.
An agreement was signed this Tuesday in Maisons-Alfort (Val-de-Marne) with the association which will resuscitate this event in September, the largest draft horse team relay race in Europe, the last edition of which dates back to to 2012.
And this is where the veterinary school founded in 1765, and more particularly its equine clinic, has a role to play: with the mobilization of about thirty people, it will support the veterinary aspects of the organization of this race. which pays homage to the tradition of delivering fresh fish from Boulogne-sur-Mer (Pas-de-Calais) to Paris.
At one time, without these horses, there was no fish to eat for all those who did not live on the coast.
On February 18, the government, through Minister of the Sea Annick Girardin, announced its support for the “rebirth of this great popular race” and participated in its official launch.
Horses trained since June
The starting point of this story is empty boxes.
Those that Thibaut Mathieu saw one day within the farm of the family of his girlfriend, originally from Hauts-de-France.
Intrigued, this amateur rider had questioned his in-laws.
“People began to tell me the story of the Boulonnais
(Editor's note: one of the nine French breeds of draft horses)
and the fact that horses were loaned for the Fish Route.
I thought to myself, why not restart the machine?
"
Now well underway, it has seen horses training since last June, for this race which has already gathered tens of thousands of spectators, even hundreds of thousands, posted near this old path used by the hunters. - tides which, under the Ancien Régime, carried horse-drawn carriages loaded with fish from Boulogne to Paris.
After several weeks of restoration, the “Travail de Bourgelat”, an instrument of restraint for horses protected as a Historic Monument, has returned to the ENVA site.
LP / Fanny Delporte
For the rebirth of the Route, 20 teams are expected.
Each is made up of 70 people and 11 pairs of horses who will cover a total of 300 km, taking turns every 15 km on average, in 20 stopover towns.
In 1999, the horses had not gone far from veterinary school: they had finished their race at the Paris - Vincennes racecourse.
On September 26, the arrival village will be located on the Champ-de-Mars.
"We are going to be the justice of the peace"
And so that it can be done without incident for the 400 horses who participate in it, a thousand with the horses mobilized for shows at the start and at the finish, they are teachers, clinicians and student volunteers from the school. who will watch over the grain.
"The school will be in charge of the veterinary and well-being part", explains the head of the equine clinic, Céline Mespoulhès.
She herself is one of the two veterinarians who will coordinate the entire operation.
The Maisons-Alfort veterinary school is one of the partners of the Fish Route.
Here, a horse operated for colic.
LP / Fanny Delporte
Because throughout its race, at each of its stages, a real network will be ready: the members of the veterinary school, as well as local veterinarians.
"The network will have the task of carrying out an entrance examination for the horses in order to check that they are suitable, and to check them at the various stages," explains Céline Mespoulhès.
"We are going to be the justice of the peace", summarizes the director of the school Christophe Degueurce.
This care is all the more valuable as after "nine years of absence, the numbers are even lower than those of 1991", the year of the launch of this race with the objective of contributing to the protection of the breeds of draft horses. .
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Passionate about riding, Thibaut Mathieu speaks of it as a “necessary” event to make the public understand that the draft horse is “a working, sport and leisure horse.
It can be a definite asset in cities, ”he says.
Beyond the event, the Fish Route association aims to register its action "in the long term" to promote the agricultural and maritime worlds.
