ENGLISH TEXTS
Late April 2013: a bay foal arrives at Haras de la Cour du Chasseur in Normandy after a long journey from Parayle-Monial. His dam, Quarvine du Seuil, suffered colic the previous day and could not be saved. The youngster is just fifteen days old. He is in good health but completely disoriented, almost stunned as he steps down from the lorry. Bénédicte Barrier immediately takes charge: weighing him – on scales originally intended for pigs – bottle-feeding, then a veterinary check including a blood test and a snap test to assess his immunity. A lactating foster mare is already waiting for the young AQPS. Her task is to feed him and, just as importantly, to educate him so that he becomes a well-adjusted member of equine society. This trotter did her job well, as her adopted son went on to become … Défi du Seuil, winner of seven Group 1 races including the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham! Bénédicte Barrier and her husband Patrice began taking in foals in 2004 after first careers in the armed forces. She was an electro-mechanic working on helicopters, he a naval officer.“ It happened by chance,” recalls Bénédicte.“ We already bred showjumpers and the company Equitechnic offered us the opportunity to take over, in partnership with them, the adoption activity they had previously run with another provider. The early years were complicated because we had to find the right mares and we tested many.” These foster mares belong to Equitechnic, which has several hundred females primarily intended for embryo transfer. Seventy of them live year-round at Haras de la Cour du Chasseur. They are mainly trotters, along with a few riding mares. Kindness is one of the selection criteria:“ We must be able to handle them and in particular touch their udders without getting kicked,” explains Bénédicte. They must also have already foaled and respond well to the hormonal treatment used to induce lactation. The nurse mares are not covered; their lactation is induced. The advantage is having mares permanently ready to receive an orphan and not having to separate them from a biological foal in favour of another. However, the treatment is not effective on all mares and its effect can diminish over the years. Haras de la Cour du Chasseur receives around 60 % Thoroughbred foals, 35 % sport horses and a few trotters. A few kilometres away, in Bazoches-au- Houlme in the Orne, Éric and Myriam Alron also offer an adoption service originally based on draught mares.“ We started the activity over fifteen years ago, at a time when we struggled to sell our foals. It allowed us to keep our mares. I have Percherons and my wife has cobs!” On the 280 hectares of Haras de la Cauvelière there are also Aubrac, Charolais and Parthenaise cattle, Avranchin sheep and the stud’ s own trotters. Draught mares do not appeal to everyone, some fearing that their rich and abundant milk might make foals too heavy.“ Thoroughbred breeders like it; trotter breeders not at all. They think their orphan will turn into a Percheron by weaning!” smiles Éric Alron, who has fostered the siblings of a Prix d’ Amérique winner. He receives one third trotter foals, one third Thoroughbreds,“ and the final third, destined for equestrian sports, arrive at the end of the season.” To meet demand, Éric has also recruited trotting mares as nurse mares.
A Calling Bénédicte Barrier and Éric Alron both say it: taking in dozens of orphans every year is a vocation. It is not simply a matter of assigning a foal to a foster mother, but also of supporting the mare through the onset of lactation.“ We always have mares ready and as long as they don’ t have a foal we have to milk them. We can go fifteen days without a foal and then receive six in one week!” says the breeder. She works alongside her husband and an employee, Héléna Marie.“ Everyone has their role but nothing can go wrong. In April and May it’ s non-stop, day and night, weekends included. We’ ve managed up to 14 foals at the same time.” Éric Alron confirms:“ Either we’ re milking or we’ re bottle-feeding, it never stops! Loyal studs sometimes bring us foals in the middle of the night.” If tests show a foal
# 17 202