Ibrahim was discovered by the legendary horse dealer, Alfred Lefevre at a local show in Caen . He bought him from his breeder, René Haize for 500 francs.
Ibrahim's dam, Vaillante went on to produce a number of other foals for Mr Haize including the State Stud stallion, Mersebourge and a number of good broodmares by Gagne Si Peu.
However it was her first foal, by The Last Orange who was to assure Vaillante her place in history. The Last Orange was born in 1941 and stood at St Lô from 1945-1952. He descended from the famous Thoroughbred lines of Eclipse, Matchem and Herod, through his sire, Orange Peel – who was considered the progenitor of the modern Normandy horse.
In all, Orange Peel sired 19 sons from 1924-40 at St Lô.
In 1956, Ibrahim won the title of champion of his age group and was sold to the State Stud St-Lô and stationed at Sartilly.
In his tribute to Ibrahim (Breeding News, September 1999) French journalist, Pascal Renauldon, writes of discovering a tribute to the stallion, written under the nom de plume, Armoricus. It is a great celebration of the stallion who had just died:
"Ibrahim clearly distinguished himself by his remarkable conformation and the silhouette he passed on – to his sons, but especially to his daughters – has determined the cast of the ‘improved Normandy horses'. Although a solidly built type, Ibrahim's shiny bay coat displayed very fine, almost orange dapples, that revealed his noble blood. He had the presence of a king, a beautifully proportioned head with big eyes, emanating controlled power. In fact, everything about him was big, from his elegantly carried, long neck, smoothly merging with long withers into a supple back, Other qualities were a well-angled shoulder and impressive musculature. Even standing he covered a lot of ground; strong and powerful upper legs with low knees and hocks, short, broad cannon bones. If he had any faults, maybe his hocks looked a little soft, like many of his kind."
Ibrahim was the most famous Stallion at the St Lô Stud in the 60's & 70's . He bred between 1956 and 1973, but took some time to gain popularity. Despite having won the 3 year old Stallion competition, the Normandy breeders took their time before realising how good he was!
His first crop of three year olds mainly sold abroad, with two of his sons going to Switzerland , and a two year old – Ofelus du Mesnil - to Belgium .
In his first years as a stallion he even bred with Normandy Draught mares. He covered 40 heavy mares between 1956 and 1966, and in 1961 he was so shunned that he bred not one single sport horse!
His luck started to turn in 1965 thanks to the mare, Norvale. One of his 1957 crop, she had produced several foals before she began her sporting career as an eight year old with Jean-Michael Gaud. The pair graduated to international ranks, and were soon joined by others – Petit Prince C and Alain Navet, Quo Vadie with Michel Raoul-Duval. Still the breeders were not convinced, and in 1966 he covered three riding mares and one draught.
The following year, Jean-Michael Gaud produced another jumping star, Tango C, and more mares arrived. He started to average about 25 foals a year, climbing to a record 54 mares for 33 foals in 1969. And only one of them a Draught!
In 1970 Ibrahim progeny were the stars at Fontainebleau when his four year olds dominated the jumping finals: Alcazar D, Aurore C, Azimut, Arteban and Almé – while the five year old class was won by the mare Val de Loire B.
He had more than 30 stallions in France and elsewhere and dozens of international winners. He also had a lot of glorious broodmares as daughters and it was incredible to see them all lined up in a row during the broodmare competitions.
The breeding of Ibrahim with the daughters of the Thoroughbred, Ultimate was truly miraculous. It was from this marriage that the best products were born. Almé is the best example.
Some of his best stallions were : Almé, Digne Espoir (Kibrahim), Double Espoir, Elf III, Quastor, Dynamique, Ukase, Tanael, Cor De Chasse in France, Fantastique, Hedjaz in Belgium, Viveur, Que D'Espoir (Switzerland)
In CSI, his best products were : Norvale, Quo Vadis, Orsietain, Tango C (1st Berlin Grand Prix ), Taxi De Sartilly, Uri B, Varin, Val De Loire B (Olympic Games, Montreal, Horse of the Year USA), Valacampagne, Alcazar D, Artaban, Bavolette, Denis de Vauptain, Iman d'Or …
Ibrahim was classed 1st in the list of French Stallions producing winners in CSO in 1970, 1974 & 2nd in 1971, 1972, 1973 & 1975.
Even today the influence of Ibrahim is strong. In the six year old finals at Fontainebleau in 2002 an analysis of the 20 top stallions (ie. those with at least 3 horses in the event) shows Ibrahim blood in 15 of the 20, especially through Almé but also Jalisco!

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