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Our very discreet club – although present and active on Facebook – currently brings together around fifty members;all of whom are volunteers and  a majority  of whom are collectors of bits, stirrups, spurs, saddles or horseshoes. Other members of the club are mainly interested in the book documentation on harness and horses. These members are distributed all over the world since we have members – listed here in alphabetical order of the countries following : Austria, Belgium,Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Russia,  Switzerland, United States of America, United Kingdom , Uruguay and Venezuela . Although of an international character, many members are French. Let us remember, the club was created in 1986 by a collector of stirrups from Lyon..

Some members, thanks to their research, have become real experts in the field of spurs, stirrups, bits, saddles or horsehoes and even carriages and that, from ancien times to the present day. They are regularly contacted by collectors who are not members of CIDE and by numerous museums to identify items from their collections. And this, entirely on a volontary basis.

The club also counts among its members many French or foreign museums specialized in the field of horses such the Horse Museum-Saumur, the Horse Museum – Chantilly, the Hermes Collections- Paris, the Museum of the Horse –Tuxford / United Kingdom, the Arsenal and the Carriage Museum – Tsarskoie Selo / Saint Petersburg / Russia, or even including a department concerning the harnessing of the horse :  the Metropolitan Museum –New-York, the Departmental Dobree Museum – Nantes, the Museum of the Hermitage – Saint Petersburg /Russia, represented in the club by its curator of the Department « Scythe Culture ( Altaï horse riders - Siberia ).

 The club publishes a quarterly paper  magazine «  La Lettre du Club International d’Eperonnerie «  of more or less 110 pages, abundantly illustrated , produced with the collaboration of the members of CIDE. Among the files treated in one of the 133 magazines published till our present day , let us quote in particular : the harnesses of Black Africa, the cruciform stirrups,  the chamfer through the ages, spurs, stirrups and bits of the XVIIth century, the bone saddles of the XVth century, the bestiary on spurs, bits and stirrups in the world, the amazons,…… This magazine is exclusively reserved for the members of the club and is not distributed .

With its 133 current issues of approximatively 110 pages, it constitutes a veritable encyclopedia of harnessing from the Antiquity till the present day in all areas of the world and seems to be unique.

 Each year at the beginning of October an Annual General Meeting brings together a large majority of our members in a different place, with, -  depending on local possibilities - a visit to a spurs, bits, stirrups collection of a museum ( displayed or in reserve ) or of a private collection. In the absence of a local possibility, members are requested to bring with them one or two interesting pieces from their own collection in order to constitute a temporary exhibition during the two days of our meeting.

If you are interested in joining us, you will be welcome. It doesn’r matter if your collection is large or consists of only a few items. What matters to us is to be able to exchange information and to advance our knowledge in this area.

The amount of an annual subscription is fixed each year during our annual meeting but is only used to cover the printing of the 4 yearly magazines of more or less 100 pages, its plasticized binding, postage charges and stationery.

Our address : contact@club-cide.com