Who hasn't heard of them – the white horses of the Camargue, said to live in complete freedom in the wetlands of southern France?
When I first read about them, my imagination ran wild: long sandy beaches with galloping white horses, powerful stallions with flowing manes fighting over their mares, mothers surrounded by fluffy white foals. Romantic, dreamy, a little naive – and I simply had to go there.
Cold, rough and flat
When I first travelled to the Camargue in October 2017, I woke up from that film very quickly. The Camargue was cold, rough and flat. The Mistral was blowing – a cold, dry and strong wind that sweeps down the Rhône valley towards the sea. But on the way to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer I saw the first horses standing by the roadside, and they made up for the unfriendly welcome straight away.
Are there still truly wild horses in the Camargue?
Parts of the Camargue are inaccessible, so a few truly wild horses might still exist there. But as a rule, every horse you see by the road, in the marshes or occasionally on the beach belongs to a manade – a traditional Camargue breeding farm.
One of the principles of Camargue horse breeding is that the horses live as wild and free as possible. Mares give birth out on the pasture without any help from the gardians, the riders who work the manade. The foals grow up in large herds and are raised by them.
Life is not easy for these horses: summers are extremely hot and in winter the Mistral blows. There is no shelter, so you see them standing out in the marshes in all weathers – often with a cattle egret at their side. Their large, broad hooves are what allow them to move through the soft, swampy ground.
Even today, the main job of the Camargue horse is to work with the gardians, herding the black bulls and the horse herds.
Why the foals are not white
Here is something that surprises many visitors: Camargue foals are not born white. They are dark brown to almost black at birth, and their coat only lightens gradually over several years until they become the white horses everyone knows. Photographing a mare with her dark foal is one of the most beautiful contrasts you can find here.
Photographing the white horses
Today I live in the Camargue, right on the Étang du Vaccarès, and the horses are part of my everyday life. Together with local gardians I organise horse photography sessions: white horses galloping through the water in the marshes, horses on a wild stretch of coast, and stallions at sunrise. These are the images many photographers dream of – and with the right light and the right timing, they become reality.
Would you like to photograph the white horses of the Camargue yourself?