Galoubet A (Alme Z x Nystag) is considered to be one of those stallions that shaped the sport horse breeding in the last decades. Although Baloubet de Rouet is his most illustrious son, Galoubet has a string of top horses and influential sires to his credit. Quick Star, Quatoubet du Rouet, Touchdown, Qredo de Paulstra, Skippy II, Taloubet Z…the list just goes on and on. Yet, like so many of the great stallions, Galoubet almost didn’t make it.

He was unfashionably bred, being out of a trotter mare, Viti. Her sire was Nystag, an honest trotter, but no super-star. But on dam side, she had Obok, the dam sire of individual showjumping gold medallist at the 1964 Games, Lutteur B. Apparently Viti was not fast enough to race and she was sold for showjumping. She had a good canter and wonderful form over a jump, but was a difficult horse to ride and retired to the life of a brood mare, producing 13 foals including Galoubet. His father, Alme (Ibrahim x Ultimate), a sucessfull competitor himself, sired other great stallions, such as Jalisco B (Alme x Furioso xx), Ahorn Z (Alme x Ganeff) and Animo (Alme x Amor) and is one of the rare sires whose influence can be compared to that of his son, Galoubet A.

As a three year old, Galoubet A was good looking, but was still an offspring of a trotter and as such rejected as a three year old at the stallion selection. Luckily, he was not gelded and went on to compete with Gilles Bertran de Balanda, a rider that liked him so much that his owner Jean-François Pellegrin, bought him despite being advised by many, including the great Nelson Pessoa, not to do so. As a seven-year-old Galoubet started to compete internationally, immediately winning many GP’s, French national title and 15th place at the European Championships. Popular with the crowds for his spectacular jump and notorious bucks after the jump, he continued to rack up victories in NC, WC and other competitions and finished of his career as a 10 year old after World Championships in Dublin in 1982, where he was part of the gold medal winning team.

Despite his results and the fact that show jumping had other great horses with trotter background, the likes of Halla and Jappeloup, it took a long time for breeders to fully accept the greatness of Galoubet. Nevertheless, he was one of the first horses in world to make use of the new technique of AI. In the first AI season, he sired 60 foals, the famous Q generation, 12 of which became licensed stallions, with nearly all of them jumping internationally! Unhappy with the number of mares in France, Galoubet’s owner moved him to the USA, where the great stallion continued his pioneering work, his semen chilled and shipped all over the world. Until his death at the age of 33, he produced many spectacular horses and some of the most popular stallions ever, proving to be one of the most influential jumping sires of last century. His genes can be found in any studbook, either directly or through his sons. In German jumping lines, his influence came mainly through his son Baloubet du Rouet (Galoubet A x Starter) and his grandson Balou du Rouet (Baloubet du Rouet x Continue) . In great twist of opinion, Baloubet du Rouet, the best of Galoubet offspring, was ridden initially by Nelson Pessoa who disliked Galoubet as a youngster. With Nelsons son, Rodrigo, whose career he changed forever, Baloubet won record three WC Finals in a row (Helsinki 1998, Gothenburg 1999, Las Vegas 2000) as well as team bronze at 2000 Olympics in Sydney and an individual gold at 2004 Olympics in Athens, a feat that speaks for itself.