The future of purebred Arabians perhaps lies in Saint-Martin-de-Boscherville, near Rouen.
At the Saint-Georges stable, Arnault Decroix has specialized for a quarter of a century in retempering, the method which consists of
crossing
the genes of a breed through successive matings in order to improve it, to avoid its weakening and defects linked to inbreeding.
His hobby: purebred Arabians, imported from Syria.
Unfortunately, the civil war, armed conflict and insecurity that continues to shake this Middle Eastern country have closed many doors.
Arnault Decroix is the son of farmers and trotter breeders.
In addition to his career in international transport, he continued the family tradition by becoming a breeder, trainer and owner-breeder.
First with the Boulonnais
(
nicknamed the “thoroughbreds of draft horses”
)
then with the purebred Arabians.
“I wanted to bring some from the East, use from time to time a purebred Arab male from the cradle of the breed among the camel tribes to mate him with Arab mares from our region.
The cradle of thoroughbred horses is the center of present-day Syria with horses that live in the rhythm of caravans and were resold at the gates of Damascus,” explains the Norman.
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From the 1990s, he established contacts with the Syrian equestrian authorities.
In 2000, with the AFAC (French Arabian Horse Association) and a former officer of the Haras Abou Jamil, Arnault Decroix left for a first study trip from Damascus to Aleppo which he would repeat in 2008 from Damascus to Deir Ez-Zor : “We still had the possibility of importing thoroughbreds following a decree from the European Union.
For a year, I did detailed work using the genealogical register published by the Syrians in 1995. Then, I met all the tribes.
»
Impossible to cross the obstacle
“In 2009,” continues Arnault Decroix, “I returned to Al Hasakah in the Kurdish zone to make three purchases and collect a horse offered by the Finnish consul in Damascus.
All four of them are on my property today.
These horses are breeders.
Some raced under my colors, particularly in Belgium where I had some success,” continues the public stallion, whose frozen purebred Arabian semen goes to Tunisia as well as to the United States.
Arnault Decroix has today given himself the mission of saving the thoroughbred race.
“Since the start of the civil war in Syria (in 2011) and those that followed in the region, including the current one in the Gaza Strip,” he explains, health barriers and the embargo have prohibited all trade. .
The climate is very harsh there.
We can no longer take out horses whose livestock are not threatened, except when they are stolen from Bedouin tribes by terrorist groups.
»
“With my nine breeding animals – because I have collected others at the Saint-Georges stable over the years – I can maintain the tradition of re-tempering,” rejoices Arnault Decroix, but at some point we will have to reopen the blood route to maintain the quality of our horses.
Experts say blood should be infused every eight years.
However, my horses are getting old... We need to return to Syria to preserve the breeds.
»