“Cor de la Bryère (1968-2000) was one of the most influential sires of modern-day Warmbloods and is known as one of the greatest stallions of the century, second only to Landgraf I.”
proved with almost every major registry.” A prominent sire of great jumping ability, owned by the Swedish state stud and standing in Sweden for a few years, Quite Easy was part of Hilltop’s imported frozen semen lineup at that time. Then Quite Easy was leased and eventually sold to Ha-
ras de Brullemail, owned by Bernard Le Courtois. “When he took over ownership of Quite Easy, we were very interested in continuing to manage his frozen semen here in the U.S.,” she says. Natalie notes that Bernard is very committed to the Selle Français and today stands as the French registry’s president. With an agreement to import more of Quite Easy’s semen, “we started to look at some of his other stallions and discussed who would be a good fit for the American market. And with the guest stallion and international stallion pro- grams that we have it can complement our own breeding program without it being necessarily direct competition.” Therefore, a number of Haras de Brullemail studs are repre- sented by Hilltop, including Jaguar Mail (Hand in Glove xx x Laudanum xx x Almé), Tresor Mail (Jaguar Mail x Iowa), Ulgar Mail (Corrado I x Laudanum xx), Ulmar Mail (Berlin x Narcos II), Utrillo Van De Heffinck (Clinton x Heartbreaker) and Aliga- tor Fontaine (Noren x Dark Tiger xx). “Without having a North American chapter, the registry became less established and less well known,” Natalie contin- ues. “Breeders could still work with France and get papers but it was more complicated. It’s much easier to call a number here in the U.S. and speak with somebody here in English. So I think it’s a great benefit to U.S. breeders to now have a U.S. chapter again where they will be following the breed- ing rules from France and still be issuing papers from France. Now you have a U.S.-based office that is familiar with the differences in breeding culture and needs of the American market, where they can better serve them.”
the focus at the farm is dressage. We have a couple of differ- ent programs that complement our breeding program well: a guest stallion program for visiting stallions that are basically standing here via cool semen or that are here in the U.S. but limited to frozen semen because of their competition careers or aren’t based here at the farm. Then we have an interna- tional frozen semen program that Hilltop has been running for quite a long time.” “Quite Easy (Quidam de Revel x Landgraf I x Capitano) was one of the stallions in that program from early on when he was in Sweden,” she continues. “He is Selle Français approved. He is actually a Holsteiner stallion, Holsteiner-bred and ap-
Above: The SF gelding Palloubet d’ Halong recently sold to Qatar for a record 11 million euros.
54 May/June 2014
COVE SPRINGS FARM At Cove Springs Farm, owned by Lori-Lynn Davis and her
husband Jonathan, the focus is on jumpers and event horses. Based in the Washington Valley of Birmingham, Alabama and situated on 50 acres of lush pastureland, the farm breeds Selle Français, Holsteiner and Oldenburg horses, with a strong focus on the former. “I think the Selle Français really is primarily focused on
making excellent show jumpers,” says Lori-Lynn. “You want to breed sound body and sound-minded horses. That’s the one thing that I like about the mares that I have. What initially brought us to the registry back in 2003 was the fact that they have a high prevalence of Thoroughbred blood. I’m a rider prior to being a breeder. I enjoy a more sensitive horse that tends to be a little more forward. The higher percentage of
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