FRANCE (by Adriana van Tilburg) Genetiqu’Anglo was created by former showjumping rider Aurelien Lafargue (37), who hails from the Lot-et-Garonne, region – one of the largest producers of Anglo Arab horses in France. “Many horses of a very high level are born in Lot-et-Garonne”, says Lafargue. “We are the department that offers the services of a representative that works with farmers. It is a professional service that other departments don’t offer, or very little”.

“Like all other agricultural, livestock or crop production, we are faced with external competition with horses from Germany or Holland. But riders are not mistaken when they choose this destination to find their future mount.

Alongside his presidency of Génétiqu’Anglo, he is president of the AA and Sport Horse Breeding in Lot-et-Garonne. Lafargue has been elected to an administrative post with ANAA (Association Nationale Anglo-Arabe) since February 2018 because, in his opinion, Génétiqu’Anglo is at variance with the studbook where he identifies a lack of clarity and visibility for the AA breed.

I began in 2013 when the National Stud started to sell their stallions. I gathered together a group of breeders to buy the stallion Nathan de la Tour (Fusain de Defey - Suzy de la Tour x Faritchou, bred by Jean-Michel Garnier). In 2014 we started our first breeding season and Nathan de la Tour covered 60 mares. The National Stud then leased more stallions to us. Génétiqu’Anglo was created in 2015. I am from the South West of France and the AA lines are originating from this area, it is the local breed. The private sector did not want to start with the AA breed because of the small number of horses.

For the 2015 breeding season we had Nathan de la Tour, Quercus du Maury (Quatar de Plapé - Jasione x Samuel, bred by Renee Laure Koch), Fusain du Defey (Phosph’or - Jacinthe du Maury x Fol Avril, bred by Christine Abadie-Gien), Fango in Blue (Véganum - Bergère du Château x Iago C, bred by Alain Pinaud), Rock’n Roll Animal (Quatar de Plapé - Ladybird de Buissy x Cook du Midour, bred by Haras de la Gisloterie). In 2016 we added another stallion to the association: Vasnupied de Jonkiere (Laurier de Here - Maéva du Levezou x Défi d’Armenti, bred by Francois Rouille) and in 2017 we added Upsilon (Canturo - O’Vive x Fusain du Defey, bred by Patrick Sisqueille) and Cestuy La de l’Esques (King Size – Gaia Of Ultan x Ultan, bred by Laurent Jamault). This year we will re-invest the money in buying two more stallions.

So at the moment we have 13 stallions for sport breeding and two for racing. We keep searching for stallions with pure AA lines. Upsilon is a cross breed, because his sire is Holsteiner Canturo (Cantus - Fara x Calando I, Stamm 162, bred by Herbert Diederich). The criteria is that we are looking for a stallion that is willing to perform, the model should be perfect, good movement, and the stallion should already be in competition. The quality of the semen is for us also very important...