Coffee with Jean-Louis Gouraud

Jean-Luis Gouraud, author of numerous works on horses and horsemanship, is one of Europe’s most respected equine experts. He travelled on horseback between Paris and Moscow. We had a coffee together on September 9th.

We haven't seen each other since the summer of 2024. Our mutual friend, Bruno de Cessole, was nominated for several literary prizes this fall, including the Renaudot. I noticed that his novel, "Tous finit bien que finit", mocks literary prizes in particular, and that this could offend the jurors (whom the book treats as dupes). J-L replies that the president of the Renaudot committee is astute enough to appreciate Bruno's provocation.

J-L apologizes for not having been able to convince his publisher, Actes du Sud, to acquire my book for a French edition. They balk at undertaking the translation, which might prevent them from making any money on the book. J-L shows me a summary that Jean Pierre Digard has made of Raiders. I briefed J-L on the ongoing translations into Russian, Chinese, and Turkish, noting that the Chinese translation will be an adaptation, to conform to the party line, or at least, Chinese sensibilities. We note that Emperor Qian Long is in good odor with the party, as he is the one who bequeathed China its current borders, notably Xinjiang.

Returning to Raiders, the only flaw J-L mentioned is the poor quality of the illustrations. He is currently preparing a new book where he needs to deal with the difficulties of reproductions, especially since he wants images in color. His book deals with the “conversion of the horse” to Christianity, and how saints acquired mounts they certainly never rode, like St. Paul on the road to Damascus or St. Martin sharing his robe with a beggar. J-L believes that painters preferred equestrian figures, since they looked more heroic than pedestrians.

Speaking of illustrations, J-L recounts how, while working on his book about Giuseppe Castiglione, a Jesuit painter at the court of Qiang Long, he visited the Palace Museum in Taipei. The curators took him to the third or fourth seismic-resistant basement to show Castiglione's original scrolls. Among other things, he had the chance to see the life-size "100 Horses" scroll, each animal depicted in a unique position. J-L was able to reproduce this image in the resulting book with a large, fold-out insert.

We talk about the gifts given to the emperor by the steppe peoples, the importance of which several paintings by Castiglione demonstrate. I used one of these images in Raiders. This tradition of gift-giving continues today.  First the Soviet Union and now Turkmenistan  have been offering Akhal Teke horses to heads of state in the purest tradition. J-L Gouraud had already told me about the misfortunes of the Akhal Teke presented to Mitterrand, which the president entrusted, without the knowledge of the public, to his clandestine daughter Mazarin. According to J-L, the president's error of judgment consisted not in privatizing an official gift, which he was entitled to do, but using the state apparatus to bring it from Moscow for his benefit.  We discussed another story, that of the young English diplomat charged with taking charge of an Akhal Teke presented to Queen Elizabeth II. Finally, I told J-L the story of the American ambassador to Ashgabat who did the dirty work of refusing an Akhal Teke horse, because US government lacks both imagination and tact. At the same time, Xi Jinping, like Qian Long, receives these horses as gifts every year.

J-L laments the fact that, on the one hand, the Turkmen frequently offer mediocre or even defective Akhal Teke horses. One of the problems with this breed is that the Turkmen claim to manage their studbook, whereas in the Soviet Union, this was Moscow's role. The majority of the breed does not live in Turkmenistan, but in Kazakhstan or elsewhere. The Turkmen are suspected of introducing English thoroughbred blood to create horses better suited to racing.

This operation is understandable, in the sense that the Akhal Teke horse has lost its raison d'être. The Turkmen developed a horse with endurance and undemanding in terms of hydration. They used it to raid caravans and kidnap slaves from their neighbors. As a Russian officer of the time said, "Once we eliminated raiding, this horse no longer had a reason to exist."

All domesticated animals, J-L continued, are human creations. The large Shire and the small Shetland are the result of generations of breeding with specific uses in mind. Now, J-L laments, breed diversity is threatened by the reduced use of horses in the modern world. "They only have two functions today: racing and sport." The Germans breed good horses for dressage and competition, while the English breed racehorses.

While breeders continue their work patiently—knowing that the creation of a breed can take two or three human generations—science can now perfect a tailor-made animal through selection a gene that determines speed, for example. While a complex organism like a horse has several million genes, we have identified certain specific genes that have a direct impact on desirable traits. The English company Genus PLC is developing animals that give birth without veterinary intervention, or that are more resistant to heat waves. Now, using the CRISPR process, we can insert the selected gene into a cloned embryo—as Argentines are now doing to polo poneys. It's only a short step, warns J-L, to create super-powerful men. The temptations will be strong.

We also discussed Ludovic Orlando's book, which is being published in English this month and is the subject of my review in "Asianreviewofbooks.com." J-L congratulates the author for clarifying several points about the history of horses, notably the Przewalski lineage. I salute the astute diplomat who dismisses the Saudis and the Native Americans without offending them.

J-L is going to Russia to dedicate a horse cemetery, containing the remains of the horse ridden by Alexander Pavlovich for his triumphant entry into Paris in 1814. During the 19th century, more than a hundred celebrated horses found their final resting place there. Abandoned by the Bolsheviks, damaged by the Nazis, the Soviets forgot its very existence. J-L managed to convince the Russians that this site merited restoration. After 30 years of struggle, a rededication will take place in April 2026.