The history of "Les Petites Ecuries" in Maisons-Laffitte

Court of the rentals "Les Petites Ecuries" in Maisons-Laffitte
"Les Petites Ecuries" in spring 2017

When we acquire in 1999, these old stables that we will call "Les Petites Ecuries", these were the property of Doctor Durande, veterinarian, who exploited these buildings with Doctor Carpentier.

To accommodate and care for pets openings were pierced on the street side. The horses, see cows (yes, yes, I saw one!) Came through the main gate.

Two boxes had been put together to create an operating room for the horses. A spectacular operating table in wood and leather was installed there

The convalescent horses or treatment remained in one of the boxes, the dogs in a kennel. Michel and Nicole Sallet, who lived there, watched over them night and day.

Dr Durande had bought these stables from Mr Legrezy, a coach, who himself had bought them in November 1943 from the mythical André Adele.

Antiquy dealers since 1976, for 18 months we renovated these buildings respecting their history. So we saved one of the last horse stables still standing in town.  We practiced that faboulous  profession during 15 years.

In the 1960s, there were innumerable racing stables, including very large ones, such as that of the famous André Adele, who trained 250 horses out of 7 courts with 85 lads. Its stables were located at 56 avenue de St Germain, where several buildings were built (the residence Foch).

In the streets of my childhood, since I was at the André Ledreux boys' school on the Rue Saint Nicolas, long rows of horses converged towards the entrance to the forest, which was a very wide and sandy street. Every morning, each lad took out three racing horses, starting very early.

cavalier alleys
The "Grande Piste", narrowed in half by the forest that advances, starts from the railway bridge facing the Pavillon de la Muette and goes as far as the road to the Croix de Noailles (D 908)

The cavalier alleys of the forest, forbidden to the saddle horses, were raked and watered every day by the Encouragement Society. By sinking into the forest, they rejoined the "Grande Piste" (Route de la Muette, opposite the Pavillon From La Muette to the road of the Croix de Noailles), both wide and long, to spring into the morning mist.

It was natural to see horses return alone in the streets without their horseman. My grandmother enjoyed their dung to fertilize her roses and her kitchen garden.

Most of the buildings constructed after the war between the Rue de la Republique and the railway line, but also in Mesnil-le-Roi were on the sites of these stables or their "quarries". I have seen there, in the Rue Pierre Loti, the horses, in the stables which were almost the whole length of the street, from the corner of the Rue des Loges.

They remain many small stables that have been transformed into habitation, increasingly intense car traffic from the 60s, having chased these racing horses from this part of the city.

Have fun finding them! In our small section of Rue de la Republique, between the avenue du General de Gaulle and the Rue du Haut des Petits Bois, there are three of them, with "Les Petites Ecuries"

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