Listed as a Historical Monument and the flagship of the national stud farms, the Haras National du Pin is the third tourist site in Lower Normandy after Mont-Saint-Michel and Caen Memorial. The French language assigned a specific term to places where horses were bred as early as the Middle Ages. Thus, according to the Robert historical dictionary, the word haras (stud farm) would have appeared in the 13th century in the form haraz. It could be derived from the old Scandinavian hârr (who has gray hair), according to the most frequent color of the dress of the horses, or the Italian dialect ara, which designates a shelter for horses.