Story – Chris Hector
Photos – Roz Neave & Christopher King
If you think I can occasionally get a little sharp in my comments in The Horse, you should try reading the commentary of France’s leading horse breeding journalist, Bernard Le Courtois! His contributions to the yearbook, Annuaire Monneron, are superb, and his judgements delivered with a withering irony. Consider this assessment of one of the prized State Stallions of France – Elan de la Cour.
First of all, I am almost up in arms when I read the excessive publicity made about him in the little stallion guide edited by l’Eperon, in which he is described as a paragon of perfection and beauty. An ‘expert’ let it all go, and dared to write, without reserve: ‘There is little chance of being unlucky with this beautiful stallion, easy to cross… perfection in his build and mentality.’ Are we really speaking about the same horse? Elan is all but easy to breed from (or maybe they have never seen his foals), his build is far from perfect (but then, what is a perfect build?), and as for his mental qualities, he has never really used them in the rare CSIOs that he has jumped…
And on it goes
Yet like most equestrian journalists, Bernard is a mild, charming individual, a man of rare taste who lives in a wonderfully arty French farmhouse, of the grander variety, surrounded by exquisite horses and very very large Mastiff dogs.
We sat in the rose garden for this interview, the sun and the summer rain had taken some of the edge off the blooms, but it was still a magnificent sight – and all of it created since Bernard moved to Brullemail some 18 years ago. This I thought should be the reward of all good equestrian journalists…

Were you a journalist first or a horse breeder first?
“ I started as a journalist because my family was not horsey. All through my teenage years I wanted to be a professional rider, but my parents would not agree with this program. I studied until the Baccalaureate and then they wanted me to become a lawyer, so I went to University for two years. But after the Baccalaureate I had a break for one year to learn for myself if horses were really my way on earth.”
“ I worked for six months with Marcel Rozier, and there I learnt that I had not enough talent to be a professional rider, because there is only space for the few best ones, for the others it is very hard.”
“ I competed in the amateur Grand Prix, one metre forty, but I understood that I was not talented enough. After that I worked for six months on a stud farm and showjumping stable in the centre of France, owned by Dr Phillip Jouy, who was an international rider in the French team in the 70s, but this man was born very rich, that was the other way. Marcel Rozier was a self made man, he was very talented, and became a professional because he was very talented – talented dealer, talented rider. Dr Jouy was the other side, he was born rich and he can pay a lot of money for good horses and a good coach, with that he can compete internationally.”
“ I said to myself, I was born not so talented as Marcel Rozier, and not so rich as Dr Jouy, professional riding is not for me and I went back to university. When I was 21 I did my military service, but my passion was still for horses, and my bible was l’Eperon, the French equestrian magazine – not the l’Eperon like it is now, the old fashioned l’Eperon. The old fashioned l’Eperon was very professional with very interesting articles about lineage and breeding. My pleasure was always the selection, the art of breeding.”
“ I wrote some articles and one of my friends – she was a vet – told me, you have to send a copy of your articles to l’Eperon. No, I am too young; they would not be interested in me. She put the papers in an envelope and posted them to the editor.”
“ The editor of l’Eperon at the time, Francois de La Sayette was a very nice man, he said ‘you are exactly the right one to write for us’ – but this was natural because with l’Eperon I was like a sponge. I wrote my first articles exactly in the same style as l’Eperon. I started to work with the magazine in 1977, and for a couple of years I mixed journalism and the university, then I decided to stop the university.”
“ I proposed to UNIC, the French body that promotes our horses overseas, that I go to America to study the American jumping market to see if we could export to America. I spent six months in America. There I met an American who lived in France half of the year, Frederick Lorimer Graham who was the owner of Almé. He wanted to create a Selle Français breeding association in America, and he needed a director. I was very young, and I was very excited by the project, because when I arrived in America they knew nothing about the Selle Français, and it is very interesting to create something from nothing. In America I had the feeling that if you are young and you want to achieve, you can do it – in France at the same time, when I wanted to judge the horses or something like that, everyone tells me, you are too young, it will be right in twenty years.”
“ When I came back from America I went to visit l’Eperon and said I am sorry but I am going back to work in America. And Mr de La Sayette said ‘you can’t do that, because we sold l’Eperon to a publishing group, but only if you accept the position of editor.’ I decided to stay in France. l’Eperon was very important to me. I was there for five years.”
“ During the Los Angeles Olympic Games, with some other journalists, we rented a very nice villa. At that time there was no email, no internet, you only sent the articles by phone. One of my reporters, Karine Davilder was the twin sister to Pierre Durand’s wife, Nadia, and every night, Nadia Durand came to dinner with us, and we spoke about horses. One day she told me about Laudanum, and she said what a pity it was because Laudanum could be a great stallion but no-one wants to use him. He is down in the south of France and this year, bred only nine mares.”
“ When I came back to France, I went to see a Thoroughbred dealer to learn how they organize their syndicates. To syndicate a Thoroughbred was very usual but nobody thought of it for the sport horse. I decided to syndicate Laudanum. At the time I lived in Paris and I decided to put the stallion in La Manche, near St Lô, because he was a small Thoroughbred, and he needs huge mares, half bred mares like that were at St Lô at the time. Laudanum stayed there for 15 years – it was very difficult because Laudanum was a small chestnut with white legs and a lot of people say ‘oh we don’t like the colour, or we don’t like the white…’ I was not from Normandy, I was from outside, a journalist from Paris, and it was not really right for the traditional breeders.”
“ I went to visit Mr Fernand Leredde because when I syndicated the stallion Mr Leredde tried to lease him. I went to him and said, if you want to lease a stallion it means you are interested in him, why not take one share in our syndicate? After half a day he decided to accept, the price was very good. After that I went to see Mr Pignolat, another famous breeder, and I say Mr Leredde… and so on. To Mr Jean Brohier, and Mr Alain Navet, then I have the four best breeders in France in the syndicate. Once the best breeders bought a share, the others followed.”
“ The next year I decided to change my life, and looked for a farm. But I did not have the money to buy a stud farm, I wanted to rent. But it is very difficult to rent a farm. After one year I found this farm, in very bad condition, but the place was so nice, the ground so good – there had never been horses on this farm, only cows. I decided to create a stud farm here.”
“ The same year I had the opportunity to import Almé back to France. I was still a journalist and I spent a couple of days in Paris in UNIC, working in the archives. One day – it was very funny – the door of the President’s office was open and I heard a discussion between many people, about Almé. They were trying, with the National Stud, with the French Federation, to buy Almé.”
“ The National Stud proposed a very ridiculous price, the price of one or two, three year old stallions. The Federation said, oh Almé is maybe not so good because he has only produced Galoubet, and I Love You, they forgot Jalisco. The dealer who was selling the stallion was François Mathy in Belgium, and the price was higher than the French official people wanted to pay.”
“ After that I went to see the director of UNIC, and I said, these people are STUPID, we must get back Almé, he is the best stallion of the generation. They told me, we can’t do anything. I called Mr Mathy, and went to see Almé, he was leased to Zangersheide, and after nine months of negotiations… because I had not the money, and the bank does not want to lend me the money on a stallion that is too old to be insured. I had a deal with François Mathy, if I can get together a syndicate by August – it was now July – I could have the horse. I said to him, you bring the stallion to the International Show at Dinard so the breeders can see the horse is really magnificent. Perhaps they were jealous, but a lot of people said that the horse was very old, infertile and so on, and if the Belgian was selling the horse, it was because he was finished.”
“ When we showed the horse at Dinard, all the famous portraits of Almé, were taken that day, and the horse was magnificent. After that I wrote an article announcing that Almé was returning to France, and I received hundreds and hundreds of letters, with open cheques, we want a share of Almé, we don’t know the price, just fill it in! I sold all the shares in a couple of days.”

Almé

How many seasons did he serve?
“ Five, we syndicated him in August of 85, started to breed in 86, he was dead in 1991 – it is a very nice story. For me it was a very important way to start my new profession as a breeder, and a stallion owner. Almé and Laudanum are now recognized as two of the foundation sires of the French breed.”
“ When I was in America I met Katie Monohan, now Prudent, and she proposed to send Noren to France. Noren was a Selle Français who was in America. I was interested in Noren because he was a grandson of Mourne like Laudanum, and he was a Grand Prix winner. Noren arrived in France in 87, but he had many problems breeding and we could not organize a syndicate because he was not able to breed one hundred mares a year – only 20/25 a year. Noren was here for three years before the American people sold him to Italy.”
“ At the same time, Arnaud Evain had the opportunity to get back I Love You, who was a very famous showjumper in America. I helped him organize a syndicate, and together we brought out I Love You, and he stood here for a long time because he died this year, more than 30 years old.”
“ After that I was looking for a new Thoroughbred stallion but I was only interested in one that jumped in international competition. I like the Thoroughbred very much, but I want that the Thoroughbred to move and jump like a sporthorse, I’m not interested in a horse that only races on the track, that is not good enough reason to use him. When you want to produce a competitor, then the mare or stallion you use must have the qualities you want in that competition horse. To produce a race horse – use a race horse, for a dressage horse, use a dressage horse, for jumping it is the same.”
“ If you use a Selle Français, you use one that jumps in international classes, but if you use a Thoroughbred, you have to use a Thoroughbred that has also jumped in international classes. In France people use a Thoroughbred only because he is a Thoroughbred, for me that is not enough.”
“ It is very difficult to find a Thoroughbred stallion that competes Grand Prix internationally. Kathy Kusner heard about a horse in America – I remember Kathy Kusner very well from the 60s and 70s, one of my first really emotional moments with horses was in La Baule, with Kathy Kusner and Untouchable. She lives in California and she saw Hand In Glove in a World Cup Grand Prix class – she called me and said, I saw such a magnificent dark bay stallion, tall, huge and a good jumper… but it is not possible to buy him. Six months later she called me back and said that the rider had lost his sponsor, and the stallion is for sale. I flew to Del Mar to see the horse in a Grand Prix, and when I opened the door of the box – ‘Oh, it’s my horse.’ Hand In Glove moved like a dream… his rider was not really a professional Grand Prix rider, the horse was really natural, and for me, that was important. So we imported the horse.”
“ I syndicated him, and it was very funny the attitude of the people with Hand in Glove. Some people loved the horse because he was so beautiful, such a mover. A lot of amateur riders loved Hand in Glove. People would say, if I only have one foal in my life I want to have one by Hand in Glove. I saw some ladies crying and looking at Hand In Glove, because he was so nice, the emotion was so strong, it was very surprising.”
“ And some people, especially in St Lô said this stallion is too nice to be good, too heavy for a Thoroughbred…
Hand in Glove bred many mares each year, but not especially the best mares – a lot of amateur riders with mares. Breeders with the best mares don’t want to use Thoroughbred – also because of the BLUP, the French system that gives a rating to stallions.”
“ Hand In Glove was the leading stallion sire of four year olds with his first generation. Now he is the leading sire in France for amateurs. Each time he met a very good mare, he produced very well. With my own mare, he produced international winners. Last year in Lanaken, at the World Championships for Young Jumping Horses, there was only one stallion who produced more than one six year old finalist, and that was Hand in Glove.”
“ To use Thoroughbred is really difficult because of the BLUP rating – the Thoroughbred has no BLUP, and for the breeders that is a problem. I can speak against the BLUP for hours and hours.”

With Almé, what did he bring as a stallion?
“ The importation of Almé was important for the Selle Français, and for Almé himself. Staying in Belgium and Holland, and used by Melchior at Zangersheide, the influence of Almé was spread all over the world. Almé was himself very impressive, he was a very nice horse, his conformation was really nice. Maybe the hock was a little bit straight. His movement was very good, a lot of power – and we can find that in the offspring. And the type of horse – with a nice head. I have some great-great-grandchildren of Almé with the same head. Here all my foals have Almé twice on their pedigrees, sometimes three or four times.”

What are the qualities that Laudanum brings to a pedigree?
“ For me the line of Mourne is one of the best to produce showjumpers – I have Mourne, twice, often in the pedigrees of my foals. Alligator is the grand-child of Mourne, and Laudanum too, I have a lot of foals line bred to Mourne, and Almé. Laudanum himself was a very good jumper. He won in Puissance, in Grand Prix, in Speed classes, he was good for everything. He could have gone to the Olympics but the rider was too young. I read an article where Pierre Durand wrote ‘if I had Laudanum and Jappeloup at the same time, it would be very difficult to pick which horse to ride at a Games’. The mind of Laudanum was exceptional. He was very strong on his back. For me he needs mares with a lot of power – to cross Laudanum with a Hanoverian or Holsteiner mare, is fantastic.”
“ If Laudanum could have bred in Holstein twenty years ago, he would have been the best stallion in the world. For me, I used Laudanum with a couple of German mares, and each time the product was fantastic – like Oh Star, Chargar Mail – the cross with Ramiro, or Ramiro / Almé, Gotthard, was very interesting. In France Laudanum produced many horses that were winners in Amateur Grand Prix – 1.40, 1.50, with young girls, the horses were very easy to ride, very careful and very competitive. I think that is the best quality of Laudanum. I think you will find all the sons and daughters of Laudanum, bring the same qualities with them.”

And the stallion, I Love You?
“ I Love You was a very great champion, he produced many good horses – the females were not better but easier than the males. Jalisco is opposite, he produced better males than females. I Love You produced better females because maybe the males were too hot. I am upset that I Love You never produced a champion like himself, but he produced many good horses, but not a champion”.

Hand in Glove

Hand in Glove?
“ He produced only dark bay, some grey, never chestnut. He produced very nice movers, with his power. He needed mares that were not too big, because he could produce very tall very big progeny. I think Hand In Glove was perfect with a medium sized Selle Français mares.”

Jaguar Mail

You are now standing Hand In Glove’s son, Jaguar Mail – what does he offer?
“ For me Jaguar is typical of the horse I like. Dark bay, nice conformation, he moves really well. Very nice walk, trot and canter, very good balance. Very strong with a lot of power. A very nice mind, very easy in his head, and a very good mouth. He is very easy to ride.”
“ The combination of the pedigree represents all my favourite stallions, Hand In Glove, Laudanum, Almé – and with the grand-mother from Hanover by Gotthard. I think it is very good combination. He is very easy to cross with medium sized mares, he is tall himself, 176, but his dam is not so tall, and the foals he has are not too big. It might not be so easy with a 180 mare…”

Are we going to see more and more good stallions emerging as the lines are crossed – and not the super stallions that appeared in the beginning of the sport horse breeding – the Ramiros, Almes, Gotthards….
“ There are hundreds and hundreds of stallions in Europe. If you look at the story of Ibrahim, at the beginning no-one thought that he could be a leading stallion. Maybe in Holstein the breeders knew that Landgraf could be a leading stallion, but I am not sure they thought the same thing about Capitol. Capitol was not so nice, he was a huge horse, and now he is one of the best stallions in the world. It is difficult to know if the sons and grandsons of the best stallions now will be the best in the future. It depends on the cross.”
“ Take the example of Voltaire. Voltaire is half Hanoverian, half Selle Français, and in The Netherlands, he produced many good showjumpers. In France we have been using Voltaire for 15 years, and the result is not so good. I think the combination with the French mare was not so interesting – he is interesting because he brings back the Furioso lineage, the type and movement are interesting, but in their mind it is not so good, they are afraid of everything, not so strong in the back.”
“ Some stallions cross very well in a particular situation. For example, Cor de la Bryère. He was exceptional in the 70s in Holstein because he was a horse that was very quick with the front legs. He did not have the power on the back end, but he was a very electric horse, with the blood of the Thoroughbred, Rantzau, and mixed with the heavy Holsteiner mares, he was fantastic. But when we tried to breed Cor de la Bryère with the French mares, we had rabbits. Cor de la Bryère needed a very strong mare, and we didn’t have this kind of mare in France.”

But now if you go to Holstein the mares don’t look so different from the mares in Holland, or Hanover, or even France…. Are we moving more to an international showjumping breed where the regional differences have disappeared?
“ I think the stallion lines are now international, but the differences in the mare lines depends on the mentality and the culture of the people – and this selection criteria is not the same in Germany or France or The Netherlands. If you use a famous stallion from another country you are not sure that the cross with your own mare will be good. Look at Jalisco – the pedigree of Jalisco is fantastic, Almé and a Furioso mare. It was the best pedigree that we can imagine. Jalisco himself was a strong horse, very tall and huge, he jumped with power but he was not very careful with the fences. The eye of Jalisco was not very nice – like a cow – but he was one of the best young stallions of this time. The owner of Jalisco decided to breed just a few mares, but exceptional mares, the mares that went to him were the best you can imagine for a stallion. He produced many good jumpers with these mares.”
“ When we saw Quidam de Revel when he was four and five, he was small, not very impressive in the conformation, but he jumped very well. At this time, I don’t think anyone would have said, this is going to be one of the best stallions in the world. Sometimes it is hard to say, this stallion will be the best – it is not the best when it is three or four years old, it is the best producer the best sire.”

If you could have any stallion in the world that you don’t have already – who would you take?
“ I use some outside stallions. Last year, I took three mares to Dollar de la Murier, I like very much his type, his conformation, his power, and I think I have the right mares to cross with him. I use For Pleasure, I use Cardento, a son of Capitol. Ten years ago, I very much liked Sandro – I liked the type of Sandro, he was not the best horse in showjumping, but I liked the type, and the stallion lines – he was a grandson of the Thoroughbred, Sicambre. I kept one very good mare by Sandro, who produced very nice foals.”
“ I think the problem now is that people use a stallion because they can see him out showjumping, and they forget the breeding. When I use a stallion, of course I use that stallion to produce a good horse but sometimes I use the stallion to produce a mare, and hope to use that cross to produce a new stallion. I kept the Sandro mare because I liked that stallion very much – but ten years ago, when I used Sandro, no-one in France knew about him. At that time I was selling the semen from Zangersheide, but it was very difficult, there were maybe ten breeders using Sandro, or Carthago or Calvarro. Now Carthago is retired from the breeding program but he is one of the best stallions in the world. If you look at Sandro’s results – Sandro Boy is a fantastic horse, everyone has discovered Sandro Boy this year with Marcus Ehning, and now people say ‘Ah Sandro is a good stallion’ – but Sandro is dead.”

Are you looking for another Thoroughbred stallion?
“ I would like to find a new Thoroughbred but I don’t know where to go to find one. It is not possible in Europe because no-one uses or tests a Thoroughbred for showjumping. I think the only way to find a new Thoroughbred in showjumping is to go to South America, or maybe Australia or New Zealand – but it has to be a Thoroughbred who has won in jumping Grand Prix.”
For Bernard le Courtois, like all breeders, the search goes on…

check out Bernard's website at www.brullemail.com - you can even order a puppy!

This article first appeared in The Horse Magazine in December 2004