By Marc Berthon (translated by Jonathan Landi) / ANAA
Photography: Pierre Barki, SHF, Private Collection

The French Association Nationale Anglo-Arabe has gathered the testimonies of riders who have obtained good results aboard Anglo-Arabians in eventing and also endurance in 2020. As they love, respect, and strive to improve their horses, they all have some great stories to tell.

We have gathered the testimonies of riders – Arnaud Boiteau, Noémie Bosc, Aurelie Vinnac, Gilles Bordes, Donatien Schauly, Bjinse Venderbosch, and Mathieu Lebourlot – who obtained good results aboard Anglo-Arabians in three-day eventing and endurance in 2020. We have focused our attentions on this particularly revealing sample of the riding talent pool as they love their horses, respect them, and strive to improve them. And all have some great stories to tell... Given the endeavours of these women and men, the Anglo-Arabian (AA) breed clearly has a bright future ahead of it.

Arnaud Boiteau

Category: Eventing – CC JC > CCI-5* (Age-group classes for young horses: CCI-5*)
No of horses: 8
Top horse: Quoriano (SF)

Arnaud Boiteau, 47, is an equerry. After a solid professional grounding, which entailed obtaining the mandatory riding instructor and DEJEPS qualifications (needed for an instructorship), he joined the École Nationale d’Equitation du Cadre Noir de Saumur (Cadre Noir National Riding School) at Saumur (Maine-et-Loire region) in September 2000.
“My job involves the education and the sporting development of horses. It’s a role which is split between competition, galas, and teaching. I have to pass on technical and theoretical knowledge, and keep the horses I present in the ‘Reprise de Manège’ events [horses are schooled to dance in time with music], or in national and international competitions, in a state of readiness. It’s also incumbent upon me to prepare the horses who are entrusted to our care for the purposes of teaching students.”
Regarding his association with Eau Vive de Brenne (Upsilon - Quandi de Brenne x Sarastro), AA 29.83%, a six-year old grey mare, with an ICC rating of 138, and ‘Excellence’ classified, it’s a more personal story. “Allan Le Pors, one of my school friends whom I got to know in 1996, and very much a horse-lover like myself, had left the world of horses for a long time before returning a few years ago when he decided to invest in young eventing horses. He approached me with a view to training them. They included, Eau Vive de Brenne, whom he bought from Carine Van Ingen, of Élevage de Brenne fame (Indre region), when she was a two-year-old. He entrusted her to my care with a view to entering her in competition at the age of four.
“Carine Van Ingen, a breeder in the Brenne region, has produced horses who have excelled in competition. Eau Vive de Brenne is one of them, and a well-bred sort at that. Her sire, Upsilon, an Anglo-Arabian, was a prolific performer in the eventing arena and he has sired a number of successful performers in this area. Her dam, Quandi de Brenne, a daughter of Sarastro, was also a class act. When Eau Vive de Brenne was three years old we started the breaking-in process, teaching her how to get used to the saddle and the weight of the rider. At four, the age at which she could have competed for the first time, she was still physically immature. So I desisted from competing with her until she was a five-year-old.
“At about the same time, Allan embarked on a change of career and, unable to keep her any longer, we took her off his hands. The mare really started to up her game as she neared her fifth birthday. She has participated in about around 10 competitions, and has invariably finished in the top third of the field. This trend extended to the Pompadour finals in 2019, where she was ranked in the ‘Excellence’ class, and continued in 2020, as a six-year-old, when she was also ranked in the top 10. She’s a consistent sort and a very lively type... To read the complete article you need to be a subscriber

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