The only thing that could have been better on the tour is the Internet connection. Finally I have good enough connection to get online and post some photos from the first 6 days of our amazing trip. We have had a full schedule with lots of wonderful moments and hundreds of horses to evaluate and look at. Monday afternoon we arrived to Zaborek and all the guests got a perfect introduction to Poland when the owner of Zaborek, Arek Okon, guided us around Zaborek to see the museum, the windmill, the church, the Russian sauna and all the other buildings. A wonderful first day with a delicious dinner! Tuesday and Wednesday were spent at Janow Podlaski Stud. We saw all the horses being let out and later in the afternoon let in again, we walked through all the barns to look at horses and we saw most of them in hand. Tuesday after lunch we had the great opportunity to go with three carriages to the Bug River, to the colt-barn and around the farm – so much fun!! Wednesday morning started out early at 6am watching the race training, one of the horses that we saw training was last years Polish National Gold Junior Champion Barok. In the evenings we have had forums with videos, photos and discussion about the horses we have seen. We had also the great pleasure of having Director Marek Trela talking about the history of Janow Podlaski and he showed us many great photos with lots of great stories. Tuesday evening we had a surprise waiting for us prior to the forum, a wonderful concert with several very talented musicians. Thursday morning we left Zaborek and headed down to Krasnystaw and Bialka Stud. We spent Thursday and Friday at this wonderful place and we stayed for two nights in the beautiful town of Zamosc. On our first day at Bialka they had a breeding parade and then we looked at some horses from the Szamrajowka family, a family that we had seen at Janow as well, so the discussion on Thursday evening was very much about this family. We had a fantastic BBQ for lunch and one thing is sure, no one will starve on this tour (and it is a good thing that we are walking a lot after the huge meals we are having!). Friday morning started out with a walk down to the colt-barn and then we got to see when the 1 and 2-year old colts were let out to pasture. We then walked through the barn to see how the colts live at Bialka. Breeding manager Renata Kurzyńska gave us a great tour before we walked up to the other barns to see the rest of the dam families in the breeding program. We had an amazing treat in the afternoon when we got to see the Pride of Poland Auction star Perfirka (Gazal Al Shaqab-Perforacja) loose with her colt by Vitorio TO. Perfirka is such an amazing mare and someone will be a very, very lucky owner of her in August. I can not help being sad by the thought that she will not be at Bialka anymore as she has been so important for the stud, she is such a fantastic mare and her offspring are so wonderful. We got to see two of her daughters being presented, Parilla by Enzo and Perforia by Vitorio TO. Her third daughter, Perfinka by Esparto, is still on lease to Al Muawd Farm but will return to Bialka later this year. Perfirka sells in foal to Ekstern and I can not wait to see that foal! Saturday morning we left Zamosc with direction Warsaw and we went directly to the racetrack where Janow Podlaski´s race trainer Bogdan gave us a tour in the barn and he told us about the race training. After that we saw some races and one of the attendees on the tour, Helene Zaleski, had a filly racing today – Walmeria – so we had a horse to cheer on. Right before her race it started to rain and the thunder was over us. The rain was pouring down but Walmeria was a rock star winning the race! Congratulations Helene for breeding such a star! Saturday evening was a night off and everyone went down to the Old Town exploring Warsaw. Sunday will also be an opportunity for everyone to do some sightseeing and shopping before we leave after lunch down to Pinczów. Monday and Tuesday will be at Michalów Stud and I am looking forward to two more wonderful day with lots of amazing horses.
Posted on: Sun, 29 Jun 2014 01:45:52 +0000
Trending Topics
© 2015