Consummate Jumper: The
The Selle Français C
The SF Studbook Registry Re-opens in the United States
or de la Bryère. Almé. Galoubet. Quidam de Revel. Recognize these famous sires? Found frequently in the pedigrees of jumpers, event horses and even dressage horses, they share a common heritage: their bloodlines originate from
France’s leading sport horse breed, the Selle Français (SF). These horses have played a significant role in influencing many other Warmblood and sport horse breeds around the world. Unfortunately, support for SF breeders and competitors on this side of the Atlan- tic has had a bit of a rocky history. Gratefully, recent developments have changed the outlook for the breed and the registry now has a promising future in America.
NEW BEGINNINGS When the Selle Français Studbook North America closed its doors in 2008, it was
an all too familiar scenario. Back in the late 1990s, the Selle Français registry in the U.S. closed and the North American Selle Français Association, Inc. (NASFA) began. For whatever reason, past attendants of the U.S. registry didn’t stay the course. So when history repeated itself again in 2008, Selle Français breeders here in the U.S. were forced once again to transact business di- rectly with the ANSF (the Studbook Selle Français, in France.) This was not an impossible task, but a circuitous one nonetheless from the standpoint of the time and language differences. More importantly, there was no American registry presence with a viable means to promote the stallions of this con- summate jumper breed to potential customers. Fortunately, it didn’t “take a village” to revive the Selle Français here in the
states. It only took one man, Jean Yves Tola, a familiar figure as a breeder of 15 years and owner of the North American Studbook as well as the brain- child behind the Young Horse Show series. (The series, launched in 2011, targets horses one to five years of age with classes in hand, schooling jump chute, hunter/jumper cross rails, flat under saddle and dressage under sad- dle. It’s modeled after a combination of the French and German system to develop young horses. Jean Yves says, “It’s a common practice overseas but lacking here.”) A lover of the Selle Français as he was growing up in Paris, Jean Yves picked up the reins to bring the studbook back to America. “I was really disappointed it closed because I love the breed and I love the blood,” he explains. “The Selle Français is the first registry that has really bred jumpers from the very beginning, even before the Germans, and it shows. Their ex- pertise at it is incredible. Their blood is everywhere. Cor de la Bryère is one of the foundation horses in the Holstein horses for example.”
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BREED Pronounced Sell-fran-SAY, the breed traces its roots to the lush countryside
of the breeding districts of France’s Normandy region, where sturdy Norman by Anne Lamoriello 52 May/June 2014 mares were crossed with English Thoroughbreds, half-bred stallions and outstanding fast Norfolk
Roadster lines. According to Elwin Hartley Edwards in The New Encyclopedia of the Horse, “It wasn’t long before the Norman breeders were producing discernible types suited to the requirement of the
Photos courtesy of the ANSF-US
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68