The mare makes the difference: Gerbe d’Or

Photo Lot n°11 - October 2020 - Implanted Embryo - Conthargos of the sister of the Grand Prix winner with Ben Maher, Sarena! Direct damline of Gerbe d'Or

There are mares that really have stamped the warmblood breeding. One of them is the Selle Français bred mare Gerbe d’Or (Starter – Quoulette x Babuino, breeder: Albert Lebrun). She was born in Brittany, France in 1972 and sold to the breeder of Albert, Bernard Lebrun. It is said that the line of Gerbe d’Or belongs to the best lines of France.

Quoulette jumped under the saddle of Albert Lebrun the six year old cycle in France, she only produced two offspring; Gerbe d’Or and Imam d’Or. Gerbe d’Or produced 18 offspring, from them are 15 mares and 16 offspring are by the stallion Elf III (Ibrahim – Osyris x Ultimate xx, breeder: Armand Lebrun). Gerbe d’Or her first offspring was born in 1976 and her last one in 1996, so 20 years later! Elf III was stationed as a private stallion with Bernard Lebrun. Imam d’Or jumped at 1m60 under the saddle of Hervé Godignon, but unfortunately this horse died quite young.

Eric Navet rode two daughters of Gerbe d’Or, Midinette Deux and Osyris, he recalls: “Osyris was a mare with a lot of blood and very competitive. Before her, I showed her full sister Midinette Deux which was very generous and competitive as well but with a little less scope but both were super quality jumping mares. On both mares one could feel a lot of blood coming from Gerbe d’Or line. So much thoroughbred from Starter by Rantzau (PS) and also dam side with Babouino (PS) and Ultimate (PS).”

Even in several generations after Gerbe d’Or riders can still feel the blood coming through. It was said that Gerbe d’Or was not an easy mare but she became an outstanding broodmare.

Elevage de Vains

The last daughter of Gerbe d’Or was Isoline III. She became broodmare at Elevage de Vains. Jean-Baptiste Bihl recalls:

“This blood line is old and had a lot of winners since decades. We still have the last daughter from Isoline III, Florentine de Vains by Nabab de Rêve, so she’s 100% original French blood and we expect an embryo from her with Fahrenheit de Vains our stallion from the bloodline of Kelfie so we have a double cross Gerbe d’Or with this! Isoline III was a very beautiful but also a very small chestnut mare. She gave us 3 offspring from 3 different CSI winning stallions:

• Perle de Vains by Robin II Z who ranked CSI **** and CSIO ***** with Jordan Schoch
• Sixtine de Vains (Sarena) by Calvaro who won CSI ***** with Pius Schwizer then Ben Maher
• Titan de Vains by Canaletto classified in CSI ** with Luc Couteaudier (who had started Sixtine at 4 and 5 as well).

She only gave horses with a very good performance mentality and a lot of blood. As she lacked size we had put Calvaro on her which was her best product Sixtine (Sarena). In addition we have the 3 branches in question:

• Kelfie through Ismène du Thot, notably mother of our super stallion Fahrenheit de Vains (Cornet Obolensky) who covered 101 mares in 2020 at only 5 years old. We have a daughter of Ismène du Thot, Obligée de Vains by Allegreto still in breeding.
• Traviata through Diavolo de Vains, daughter of Volodia d'Argouges and Opaline du Reverdy by Allegretom, she is Traviata's great granddaughter.

We have sold Divine de Vains by Non Stop out of Isoline III in foal a few years ago years. We still flush some embryos with the only daughter of Sixtine/Sarena: Byzance de Vains (Ogano) competiting currently with Nicolas Delmotte at 1m45.”

Elevage d’Argent

One of Gerbe d’Or her daughters is Geryle (Beryl de la Lande), she was sold to Haras des M from Gregory Mars. Her daughter Nefertari de Mars (Galoubet A) was sold to Lionel Saivres, he recalls:

“I started this line with Nefetari de Mars. I bought her because I am a fan of Galoubet A and I knew in 2006 that this line makes great mares. Nefertari de Mars has a lot of blood and she is a charismatic mare. I used Kannan 7 time with Nefertari de Mars. When I purchased her in November 2005, her first foal Roanne de Mars by Kannan took me in a very impressive sensation. She is with lot of blood. The choice was good. This Roanne de Mars competed on CSI5* at 1.55m for Spain. I know that Casall needs to be crossed with electric mares. I would like a mare by Casall. That's why I crossed 3 times Casall with Nefertari de Mars.”