Haras national de Saint-Lô, Horse stud farm in Saint-Lô, France

The Haras national de Saint-Lô is a horse breeding center set across 7.5 hectares with traditional French architecture and specialized facilities for breeding and training. The grounds include multiple stables, training arenas, and dedicated areas for veterinary care.

The stud depot opened in 1806 under Napoleon I at the former Sainte-Croix abbey, with the first stallions arriving from Le Pin. The present buildings were erected from 1882, when the first stone was laid, and largely completed by 1890, though the last were occupied in 1898. Bombed on 6 June 1944, they were rebuilt identically after the war; a 2019 fire damaged the south-west wing.

The stud farm keeps around forty stallions and specialises in two breeds: the Selle français and the Norman Cob, whose national breed syndicate has its headquarters here. Each summer the Jeudis de Saint-Lô fill an afternoon with harnessed stallion displays by stud staff, followed by visits to workshops on dressage, show jumping and Cob presentation.

The site covers about 7.5 hectares along the route de Bayeux, with the long main facade, courtyards and lawns laid out in a single line, so allow time to walk between the stables and the station de monte. The south-west wing, housing stables 3 and 4, was damaged by fire in July 2019 and is being rebuilt from 2026, so parts of the grounds may be closed off. In summer the haras holds the Jeudis de Saint-Lô, an afternoon of stallion presentations and workshop visits.

In July 1958 the stud farm was the scene of the André Duguet–Francis Gougeon crime of passion, tried at the Manche assizes in Coutances. A fire in the night of 11–12 July 2019 destroyed most of the 19th-century roof frame of stables 3 and 4 and the covering station, a wing spared in 1944; all horses were led out unharmed. Rebuilding began in 2026.