The story
The Haras National de Lamballe is one of the cradles of the Breton horse breed, formerly known as the Norfolk-Breton. The archives of this stud, from 1864 to 2016, occupied 252 linear meters, but only 49 linear meters have been preserved following archiving work completed in October 2018.
First depot, 1780–1790
A temporary stallion depot was established in Lamballe in 1780, housing 19 horses, including 7 Breton bidets. The creation of the official stud dates back to a royal stallion depot initiated in 1783, following a report from the Rennes Academy of Agriculture. This depot was set up in the autumn of that year within a stable at Lamballe's Saint-Martin barracks, with an annual rental fee of 240 pounds and the employment of two grooms and a master marshal for the eight royal stallions. Four new stallions arrived in February 1785, then two were transferred from the bishopric of Saint-Malo. A veterinarian trained at Alfort was appointed in 1785. The stallion depot was abolished in 1790, as were all other royal stud farms and depots.
Attempts to restore the depot
The depot was gradually restored under the Empire. On June 24, 1807, the Prefect was ordered to visit the Ursuline and Augustinian convent in his town, and then on September 3, the Sainte-Catherine convent: none of these locations was chosen for a stallion depot. On January 7, 1809, the Minister wrote that the installation costs were too high to establish a stallion depot in Lamballe.
In 1814, the remaining stallions were evicted from the barracks to make room for prisoners of war. In 1819, Lamballe mayor Collas de la Baronnais reported that foreign horse traders were buying the commune's best animals from breeders and again called for a stallion depot, a request he had made previously in 1818. The following year, six stallions were sent by the stud farm administration to the town of Lamballe, to the home of innkeeper Lagadec. Lagadec was caught breeding his horses to the detriment of those entrusted to him, and not charging the prescribed prices. The mayor suggested housing the stallions in the Saint-Martin barracks.
Second depot, 1825–1833
In 1825, the attempt to create a real stud farm failed. The mayor of Lamballe called for a stallion depot to be set up in his town, and the Dinan arrondissement council passed a resolution to this effect. A royal decree of January 16, 1825, concerning the reorganization of the national stud farms, ordered the purchase of the Saint-Martin barracks (then owned by M. Micault de Mainville) by the town of Lamballe; the town and the département then contributed financially to the installation work. Mr. Gravé de la Rive was appointed head of the depot, then quickly replaced by M. Thiery at the end of 1828, who was in turn replaced by M. de Coëtquen des Ormeaux de Coëtdihuël. M. de Salinis ran the depot from 1831 until its closure in 1833. Four stallions were acquired between 1826 and 1830. The Côtes-du-Nord equestrian commission, meeting in February 1829, emphasized the high quality of the department's broodmares and asked Lamballe for funds to buy the best local stallions before they were sold commercially. However, with the opening of the Haras National de Langonnet, the creation of a stallion depot in Lamballe was deemed unnecessary. The depot was administratively abolished for budgetary reasons in 1833. A letter from the Prefect dated March 5, 1834, ordered the transfer of equipment and horses to Langonnet. The development costs incurred were lost, and the four stallions were transferred to Langonnet. The depot was officially closed in 1834, after eight years of operation. During this time, it had been overseen by four different directors. This led to protests, notably in the Journal des Haras, where breeders voiced their concerns about the closure. The closing of the depot is noted in the register of the Côtes-du-Nord equestrian commission as a "calamity that spreads discouragement among breeders". Numerous complaints from breeders reached the prefect and the general council, as the transfer of equine breeding activities to Langonnet for the entire Côtes-du-Nord department caused major disruption. In December 1835, the prefect forwarded these complaints to the minister, deploring the costs incurred by the town and the département, to no avail. In 1836, the General Council asked for the Lamballe stallion depot to be re-established.
Definitive creation of the stud farm
Against a backdrop of opposition between the military and stud administrations, on November 12, 1842, a royal decree divided the management of national stud activities in the former province of Brittany into two parts: the departments of Côtes-du-Nord and Ille-et-Vilaine fell to the Lamballe stud, which was then created in its definitive form.
We believe we can now announce that the re-establishment of the Lamballe stallion depot has been positively decided and that the ordinance will be published shortly. Situated in the midst of fertile, well-cultivated regions, immensely rich in beautiful broodmares, this establishment cannot fail to produce the greatest good and to contribute powerfully to the improvement of the various breeds of horses that are spread over the soil of Brittany.
At the time, it had only one stable. A second stable of the same size was built the same year. This public stud was theoretically responsible for the 70,000 broodmares in the two départements, many of which were bred by private stallions. The stud was briefly managed by M. Paulin de Thélin, who managed to generate substantial revenues, despite the cost of the work, which had put the town of Lamballe into debt. His management was controversial due to his kinship with Achille de Montendre, and the struggle between the stud farm administration and the military remontes administration. Many vicissitudes followed, with frequent changes of management between 1842 and 1852.
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In 1842, the stud welcomed Brittany's first Norfolk Trotter stallion, Sir Henry Dimsdale, who bred for a year before being transferred to the Haras National de Saint-Lô. At this time, the stud also housed Percheron diligence horses and military saddlebred stallions of the Thoroughbred, Arabian, and Anglo-Norman types. In 1844, there were 35 stallions, including 7 Thoroughbreds. An incident was reported in 1852, when the inspector general of remounts, General des Carrières, visited the farm and declared that horses from the south of France (Arabs and Beards) were better suited to the haras and stations of southern France. The mayor of Lamballe informed the prefect, who in turn communicated the mayor's request to keep Arabian and Barb stallions at the Lamballe stud.
In 1857, the Haras National de Lamballe received a brief visit from Napoleon III. In 1864, the trotting stallion Norfolk Flying Cloud was imported from England to the Lamballe stud; he was to become the sire of Corlay, one of Brittany's most famous stallions. The departmental boundaries were changed in 1860, with Lamballe taking charge of the northern part of the Finistère département, while the Ille-et-Vilaine département was entrusted to the Haras National d'Hennebont. In 1865, a report from the Haras Administration stated that without wishing to proscribe the breeding of draft horses, it would be useful to replace Lamballe's draft stallions with Anglo-Norman and Norfolk stallions.
Following France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, the Lamballe stud expanded with the construction of stables No. 3 through No. 7, providing accommodation for up to 350 stallions. Thanks to a warm welcome from breeders, Lamballe increased its imports of Norfolk Trotter stallions from England, via northern Finistère. The first attempts to breed the artillery horse by crossing with the Norman carriage driver, aimed at supplying military horses after the defeat of 1870, were unsuccessful. Benéteau submitted a report to the departmental council, in which he lamented the 'routine and mistrust' of local draft horse breeders and called for the development of lighter, faster horses. From 1885 onwards, there was considerable resistance to the stud's breeding policy.
From 1900 to 1950
Breeding activities were reorganized in 1900 with the appointment of a new director, Mr. Dupont-Auberville. The stud also suffered a fire that same year, destroying part of its archives: no more statistics are available between 1870 and 1900. The appointment of a Breton-born stud inspector, Mr. Auguste Ollivier, and Mr. Dupont-Auberville's position as director in Lamballe, provided support for traction horse breeding. He brings to Lamballe a renowned Norfolk stallion by the name of Denmark Vigorous. In 1909, he worked with M. de Robien to create competitions for harnessed artillery horses.
Before World War I, traction horse breeding had become extremely prosperous. The conflict decimated the horses concerned, but at the same time encouraged breeding activities. During the war, Lamballe's stallions were in great demand in the hope of replenishing the military horse population. In 1917, the Lamballe stud district had 65,000 mares and 391 national stallions, compared with 1,017 private stallions. During the interwar period, the Corlay station, managed by Lamballe, focused on breeding gallopers, while the Breton breed bred at Lamballe became heavier through crossbreeding with the Ardennais while retaining the gaits inherited from the Norfolk trotter. In 1927, the Haras National de Lamballe was the second largest in France, with 127 sub-agents. In 1928, it housed 384 stallions, including 324 of Breton breed. In 1938, the Lamballe stud suddenly gained in reputation thanks to the stallion Naous, who had arrived at the Callac station. This master of the breed reproduced for 14 years. Just before World War II, the stud had 327 breeding stallions, most of them draft, for the 21,000 mares in its district. In the second half of the 20th century, the Lamballe stud was able to maintain its breeding activity thanks to the conversion of draft horses to meat, and the development of racehorse and sporthorse breeding.
From the 1950s to 2000
In the 1970s, director Jacques Lippens initiated a wave of Connemara pony imports.
In 1980, the Lamballe stud employed 68 staff and had 103 Breton stallions, 21 of which were saddle horses or ponies. The decline in the draft horse market reduced this figure to 46 Breton stallions in 1993, but the number of covers per stallion increased, testifying to the efficiency of the establishment, and to the improved quality of breeding equipment, with increasing use of ultrasound. The stud was one of the first to introduce artificial insemination for its draft stallions, in 1980.
In the early 1990s, the Haras National de Lamballe managed the breeding of some 2,000 mares, as well as stud farms in the towns of Bégard, Bourbriac, Callac, Corlay, Lannion, Loudéac, Merdrignac, Quintin, Rostrenen, Landivisiau, Lanmeur, Lannilis, Saint-Pol-de-Léon and Saint-Renan. It also houses horses and ponies belonging to riding associations, and young horses in training, outside the breeding season. In 1990, together with the Haras d'Hennebont and the Breton Horse Breeders' Union, it began to organize carriage driving competitions for draft horses. In 1993, Breton stallions from the Lamballe stud took part in the first French interbreed endurance cup for draft horses.
Transition to syndicat mixte management
In July 2006, the Haras de Lamballe Syndicat Mixte was created. It includes four local authorities: the Brittany region, the Côtes-d'Armor département, Lamballe Communauté and the town of Lamballe.
On October 15, 2015, the Institut français du cheval et de l'équitation (IFCE by its acronym in French) announced that this stud, like all the sites it manages that are not national in vocation, will be put up for sale in January 2016, unless an agreement or partnership is signed before the end of the year. Investors are few and far between, but the equestrian vocation of the site should not be called into question. The syndicat mixte will acquire the Lamballe stud farm in autumn 2016. The evolution of the site's function includes accentuating its equestrian vocation by diversifying the breeds of horses accommodated, welcoming residents, organizing shows and art exhibitions, creating a museum, and innovating.
A prefiguration association for the public interest group aimed at preserving the Breton horse was created in December 2014 and has since been based at the Lamballe stud farm. It takes over the calibration missions previously carried out by the IFCE. In 2015, a rapprochement, then a twinning, is envisaged between the Lamballe stud and the El Batan stud in Tunisia.
The stud received a 130,000 euro subsidy from the Brittany region for its operations in 2019.
From Wikipedia’s article on Haras National de Lamballe, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4