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Pompadour’s stud farm was created in 1764 by King Louis XV, in this province of Limousin, which was renowned for horse breeding. The estate lies upon several hundreds of hectares and occupies many of the old seigneury’s annexes, in the towns of Arnac Pompadour, Beyssac and Saint Sornin Lavolps.
After the French Revolution and the destruction of part of the castle, the stud farm was reorganized in 1801. For 50 years, each new director strived to convert and to modernize the different sites. In particular, they invented the Anglo-arabian breed and the origin stud farm, by selecting and introducing Arabian horses. The most active and perceptive was Antonin de Lespinats. From 1834 to 1843 he created the race track, re-established the « La Rivière » broodmare station , and set up the stables and pastures where he divided the horses by ages, resulting in the most complete stud farm ever to have existed.
Pompadour went downhill for some time, then in 1874, the Bocher law redefined the administration of national stud farms, with districts and an officer corps (pron : core). From 1876 to 1878, spacious stables were built at Puy Marmont to greet more stallions.
After 1945, with the development of horse-riding as a sport, Pompadour resisted and remained. The stud farm’s missions were reinforced thanks to the constitution of breeding nurseries, essentially for Anglo-arabian horses and to the national and international development of the Limousin breed of cattle, which originated in Pompadour.
Today, like many stud farms, Pompadour no longer has a reproduction activity, but it is the only one that still has an Anglo-arabian farm, on the nearby site of Chignac. It is also a prestigious venue for competitions.
