"Setting up in Calvados is, for a breeder, a guarantee of finding everything you need for your horse"

In the département, the horse industry employs 5% of the working population. Stud farms, riding and pony clubs are the leading employers. Then come all of the associated activities: saddlers, harness makers, horse-box manufacturers, horse food producers, blacksmiths, osteopaths, veterinary surgeons (52 surgeries declare activity in the horse sector, compared to 48 in Oise, which is home to Chantilly, the world's leading training centre)...

In order to perfect diagnosis and to reinforce horse care, three structures work in unison:

- the IPC (Institut pathologique du Cheval = Horse Pathology Institute), an AFSSA (French Agency for Food Safety) unit specialising in bacteriological, virological research and in perinatal pathologies
 For further information: www.afssa.fr

- the Laboratoire départemental Franck Duncombe, a laboratory specialising in equine biology
 For further information: www.cg.14.fr/economie/laboratoire/index.asp

- the CIRALE (Centre for imaging and research into equine locomotor disorders), a quite unique centre reuniting MRI, ultrasound and scintigraphy - all technologies exclusively used on man until recently
 For further information: http://cirale.vet-alfort.fr/