Match-making for Victoire...we breed horses...horse country around the Chateau...

Dear friend,
 

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses,” muttered Michel, shaking his head. He limped toward the stables. 
 
Courtomer is set in the midst of horse country, close to the Haras du Pin, the oldest and most prestigious of France’s national studs. Private studs are tucked into the surrounding hills and vales. Since we like to ride, it was hard to resist the charm of raising horses. Michel handles our little élevage of broodmare, her offspring, and a stallion, long retired from his youthful glory as an eventer.
 
I had no idea Michel had a penchant for the Bible, but he certainly knows horses.
 

“Shouldn’t we trust in horses?” I asked. “Is something amiss?”

"I’m so glad you mentioned it," he replied. “J’ai un petit souci pour Victoire. A little concern regarding Victoire.” 

An old print of The Darley Arabian, imported into England from the Ottoman Empire in 1704

Victoire is our poulinière, literally foal-bearer. She has given us three fine foals, one now a jeune cheval of five years, a two-year-old pouliche and a yearling, pronounced “yareleengue.” (How unFrench, I thought! After all, here is a country that insists on calling the “zipper,” an American invention, the “fermeture éclair.”)

We’ve always had concerns about Victoire. And high expectations, as her name, Victory, suggests. 
 
She was the first, long-awaited and only product of her beloved mother, Gavotte, who was not only my sport horse but bore the blood of champions through her parents and their ancestors. Her father was that prolific stallion and jumping star, I Love You, son of Almé, grandson of the great Ibrahim and Girondine. On her mother’s side, Gavotte was thoroughbred all the way back to The Darley Arabian – who was one of the three Arab horses imported into England between 1680 and 1724 to found the thoroughbred racehorse.

Up in the hills that surround Courtomer is one of the finest studs in France. The owner grows heritage roses and writes poetry. He keeps mastiffs and cairn terriers. He wears heavy black glasses, like Christian Dior in the 1960s. And best of all, beside the stables is a stone monument. Here lies the great demi-sang stallion Almé, laid to rest in 1991 at the age of 25.

Like a patriarch in the Old Testament, Almé was one of the founding sires of the Selle français race. This breed was developed in the 1950s to combine old-fashioned regional demi-sang – literally “half-blood” – breeds into a unified studbook. The idea was commercial in inspiration, but laced with old rivalries and gallic mercantilism. Dutch and German horses were winning all the prizes in international show jumping – and selling for hefty sums. French breeders and the French National Stud wanted the podium and the purse, too.

Almé’s life illustrates the way traditional Norman horse-breeding flourished until very recent times, and how it changed.

Victoire's second foal, India, explores the green grass. She is Keywest's daughter.

His mother, Girondine, was an Anglo-Norman demi-sang who pulled a plow when she wasn’t delivering a foal. Her own mother had done the same. They were horses bred for strength and docility. Her own father, on the other hand, was a dappled black thoroughbred from Ireland called Ultimate. He was stationed at the local branch of the Haras nationaux, as part of the National Stud’s mandate to improve the quality of French horses by providing free stallion services to anyone with an approved mare.

For centuries, the Haras nationaux had worked closely with farmers, incentivizing them to use their work horses to produce for France’s cavalry -- as well as for mills, mines, transport and leisure pursuits like the hunt. By the 1950s, local breeds that had been developed for pulling carriages and hauling cannons were no longer of interest. The tank had ended the mounted cavalry charge. Tractors replaced the horse-drawn plow and harvester. Thus, the development of the Selle français, in which the heavy Anglo-Norman race would be lightened and quickened with thoroughbred lines.

In 1965, Girondine’s owner chose a then-unknown Anglo-Norman demi-sang stallion, Ibrahim, to sire her next foal. Born on the Cotentin peninsula of Normandy to dairy farmers, young Ibrahim had been picked up at the one of Normandy’s traditional horse fairs by a marchand de chevaux, a horse dealer, with a sharp eye for a likely prospect.

Old-time horse dealers in 1970, at one of Normandy's many horse fairs

Ibrahim, stationed in his turn at the Haras national de Saint-Lô in Normandy, didn’t attract much attention at first. Local farmers distained his services for all but cobs, the small, hardy draught horse they still used in the 1960s. His greatest attribute was his grandfather. Orange Peel, a pure thoroughbred born in 1919, was a progenitor of the 20th-century Anglo-Norman horse. Breeding a mare with his grandson was a way to get back to bloodlines you could trust.

By the time Ibrahim’s obituary was written in 1973, however, the horse was “the best Selle français stallion of the 20th century.” His offspring were stunningly successful showjumpers. And his son Almé was not only a great showjumper, he went on to have the same brilliant stallion career as his sire. One year, in 2002, 3 of the 4 winners at the World Equestrian Games were his descendants.

Exported to Holland, Almé returned to our corner of Normandy at the age of 18, purchased by a syndicate of French breeders led by our neighbor. Here, in the hills beside Courtomer, he continued to serve mares until shortly before his death in 1991.

Almé, with a chateau in the background as befits this "chef de race"

“Almé avait une aura incroyable. Presence. Style. Classe,” remembered our neighbor, his normally reserved tones swelling with pride. “And sweet-tempered! He never reared.”

Ah! one’s heart swells in unison. After all, Almé’s very blood flows through the veins of our own Victoire. Our neighbor led me into the stables to recommend Ulmar, a great great- grandson of Almé.

Ulmar, munching hay peaceably in his stall, was a fine silvery grey stallion. His services would a little cheaper than his more famous brother Ulgar. Eurocommerce and Norma were the reassuringly dull names of his parents. And five generations back, Almé’s father Ibrahim shows up three times in his pedigree.

Victoire’s little grey colt settled our chippie into a nice, gentle broodmare. And despite missing a year of training because of le confinement, the grey colt is starting to make the rounds in the Cycles classiques, competitions aimed at selecting young jumpers for the highest levels. Ah, we can dream!

Ulmar and Victoire's son, her first foal, at the age of 4

Now, Victoire is ready for another foal – and the opportunity might not last long. We are at the end of the breeding season. But Ulmar moved to Florida a few years ago. And our own stallion Keywest is not the galant he once was. Thus, the “petit souci” for Victoire.
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“En fait, le petit souci, c’est Keywest,” says Michel.

“It will kill him,” he adds elliptically.

Keywest, his handsome head hanging down, coughs pathetically. He looks sheepish.

“Summer pollen gives him asthma,” explains Michel, stroking his neck. He snaps the lead chain onto Keywest’s halter and they walk back to the stables.

As twilight slowly falls over the green countryside, we settle down to enjoy a glass of amber-colored “pet nat”—the latest organic wine -- with the Guide Selle français des jeunes étalons 2021.



A bientôt!

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The Haras du Pin, created by Louis XIV to promote horse-breeding in France, is a short drive from the Chateau and well worth a visit next time you are here.

PPS. We are taking reservations for the Chateau and the newly restored and decorated Farmhouse for 2022 and 2023. Some dates are still available for this year, too. Please write to Heather or Béatrice (both are bilingual in English and French), or, of course to me, at info@chateaudecourtomer.com. We look forward to hearing from you!

Concours d'atellage at Haras du Pin, from 21 to 24 July...

Not just breeding but guided tours, competition and visitor activities at the "Versailles of the horse" near the Chateau de Courtomer