Our trip to the Pride of Poland Arabian Horse Sale in 2006.

We have raised Champions, owned National Champions and have been to many shows and barns where we have been blessed to see many other National Champions in the flesh.  I was not prepared for what my heart felt at the Pride of Poland Sale during our visit in 2006.  There were a few horses that simply took my breath away!  Literally!  I'm not an overly emotional type of person, but there was one mare, Eudocja, that literally brought tears to my eyes!  She was AMAZING!!!  Here, 10 years later, I still remember her like it was yesterday.  If I were a wealthy woman financially, that mare would be gracing my pastures now! 

This is where the VIP pass really came in handy for us!  With it, we were allowed to stroll the sale barn stalls, ask to see any horse we wished out of the stall and were allowed to enter their stalls to visit with them one-on-one as well!  Talk about being in horse heaven!  Sigh.......

There were bidders there from all over the world and it was quite interesting to watch the individual dynamics of this bidding process.  For instance, Eudocja was sold to Australia, however, the man making the decisions at that group's table was definitely from the middle east.  He told the Australian what to bid and which horse to bid on, etc.  I'm fairly certain Eudocja ended up eventually in the middle east somewhere.  This group bought the most horses at the sale, a whopping 13 which included the highest selling mares (Gehenna and Hula) and the highest selling stallion (Espadero).

Some people tried to pretend that they were not interested in a particular horse, yet you could tell by their body language they definitely wanted to go home with that horse that day!  Other people wore their hearts on their sleeves and it gave me a "warm and fuzzy" feeling to know that the horse they just purchased would be a treasured friend and family member to them!  Yes.....watching the bidders themselves was almost as interesting as seeing the horses!

My favorite horse of the sale was, hands down, Eudocja!  She was a 2003 chestnut mare owned by Michalow Stud.  Eudocja's sire was Ekstern and her dam was Eunika (by Wachlarz).  There was just something extra special about her.  She exuded class and carried herself in a very regal manner, yet she was so incredibly sweet and personable!  Eudocja sold for 49,000 euros to Australia.  She was bred to Emigrant for a 2007 foal.  (This foal turned out to be a chestnut gelding named Eugrant El Adien.)  She must have initially went to Australia, as that is where her 2007 foal was born.  After that though, I cannot find any further information about this mare. 

Eudocja

Eudocja



Eudocja

My next favorite mare was Hula.  She was a snow white grey 10 year old mare, born in 1996.  Her sire was Penthagonn and her dam was Hulanka (who was sired by Probat).  She was owned by Bialka Stud.  She also sold to the Australian buyers for 160,000 euros.  Apparently they had similar tastes as my own!  Hula was a spectacular mover, with a gorgeous throatlatch, typey head and very nice, hooky neck tied into a lovely full body with a level croup that was topped off with a high tail set!  Just a lovely, lovely mare!

Hula



Hula

The next incredible mare that caught my eye was Pepesza, a flea bitten grey mare of extraordinary beauty!  She was 13 years old at this 2006 sale.  Her sire was Eukaliptus and her dam Pestka (by Probat).  She was bred by Janow Podlaski Stud and was sold to Hennessey Arabians in the USA for 135,000 euros.  She still reigns supreme at Hennessey Arabians and they have embryos available from this fantastic mare!  See their website here:   http://www.hennesseyarabians.com/all-sale-horses/embryos-for-sale/pepesza 

Pepesza's photo graced the front of the sale catalogue for 2006.  Her daughter (sired by Ekstern) made history by selling for 1.4 MILLION euros at the 2015 Pride of Poland Sale!

Pepesza

The next beauty that I admired was Loretta.  Another grey mare born in 1993, she was 13 years old at this sale.  Her sire was Wojslaw and her dam Linda (by Palas).  She was owned by Michalow Stud and sold to the Canary Islands for a bargain price of 20,000 euros.

Loretta



Loretta



The grey mare Esteria (14 years old, born in 1992) drew my attention, as well as the attention of the Australian buyers.  She was sold to them for 9,000 euros.  Her sire was Gabaryt and her dam Elektra (by Bandos).  Her owner was Bialka Stud.

Esteria

Then there was Esturia, a 10 year old mare (born in 1996).  Sired by Ecaho and out of the mare Esklawa (by Eukaliptus).  She was owned by Michalow Stud and sold to Belgium for 30,000 euros.

Esturia

The stallion that commanded my attention and that of most in attendance, was Espadero!  His sire was Eldon and his dam Ersparceta (by Fawor).  Espadero was born in 1999 and had a successful race career already to his credit (20 starts with excellent placings in 18 of those races).  He was owned by Janow Podlaski Stud Farm.  He was the highest selling stallion at this sale.  He sold for 210,000 euros to the Australian buyers.

Espadero

Espadero



Espadero

While all of the horses were beautiful and a treat to meet and see, these are the ones that stood out to me.  For full sale results and more pictures, visit this link: 

http://www.arabianflashlights.com/Shows2006/PolandSale2006.html


In next week's blog, we will visit Warsaw Poland.  It's always good to have some non-farm related travel incorporated into these trips too!  Until then, enjoy your week!

The 2006 Polish National Champion Arabian Horse Show!

As promised, this week's blog will take you through our experience at the Polish National Champion Arabian Horse Show that we attended in 2006.  It's hard to believe that's been 10 years ago!!  In light of current events, I believe we were fortunate to have attended.  If you haven't heard, there have been major changes at the helms of Poland's Arabian Horse breeding programs this winter.  The future and quality of the programs seem to be in question currently.  What will the future hold there?  No one knows, but hopefully things will sort themselves out and the breeding of beautiful athletes will continue on, as it has before.  The Polish Arabian horse is a very important part of the recipe for success in the grand scheme of Arabian horse breeding worldwide.  Here is one link describing the current situation in Poland (in regards to the State Stud farms for Arabian breeding). 

https://theflyingshetlands.wordpress.com/2016/03/05/the-future-of-the-polish-arabian-horses/

Now, let's go back in time to 2006 and our trip to the legendary Janow Podlaski State Stud Farm and the National Champion Arabian Horse Show that was held there.  Each August since 1970, Poland has hosted what is called "Arabian Horse Days" at Janow Podlaski Stud.  It's an event to honor Polish Arabian horses and consists of three major parts:  the Polish National Arabian Horse Show, the Pride of Poland Auction/Sale and stud visits to not only Janow Podlaski but to Michalow and Bialka as well.  Unfortunately, time would not allow us to add in the visits to Michalow and Bialka on our trip.

If you are thinking of planning a trip to this event, I would suggest going through the official website for tickets.  Here is their link:  http://www.prideofpoland.pl/  They were wonderful to work with!  We opted for the VIP passes and they were WELL worth the extra cost!  We also opted to make our hotel accommodations through them as well.  They provided transport to and from Janow each day and also provided transport for us from and to Warsaw.  Very easy and worry free way to travel and leaves you to enjoy your experience and time there, without worrying over things yourself.

We stayed at The Hotel Stajnia Cugowa.  Lovely public areas and very whimsical feel to the hotel grounds.  Our room was very basic.  The elegance of the public areas stopped, when we entered the room itself.  It was clean and safe, however you would do well to remember that you are traveling in a former eastern bloc country and their 5 star rating is much different from a 5 star rating in the USA.  If you haven't traveled in those countries before, it can be a shock at first!  Below are some photos we took of the hotel and grounds.

Entrance lane to the hotel.  One of the whimsical carved statues stands in welcome near the sign!

 

Entrance to the hotel.



Main building of the hotel.

 



Hotel grounds.

Walk-way to the Guest House for the hotel (where we stayed).
 





Guest House.

Beautiful inside entryway of the Guest House.



Our sleeping room.

 

 

 

 

 



Our bathroom.  Each room DID have a private bath that was nicely appointed.


 

There were wonderful, whimsical carvings all through-out the hotel grounds!!  It was fun to walk the forest paths, explore and find them!

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The hotel had a stable (in use, though not for horses at that time) and also had an old stable that was used now as storage.  It was interesting to see the architecture and lay-outs of the area.  The stables had originally been built in 1898!!

 

 

Part of old stables converted to a storage facility.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a van that took us to (and brought us back from) the stud farm each day.  Janow Podlaski Stud Farm came to be in 1817.  Up until a couple of years before we visited (we were there in 2006), they didn't have electricity at the farm!  The tours, show schedule, sale schedule, etc all were dependent on daylight!  If it rained, you were out in the rain!  Now they have electricity and a very lovely indoor arena they use as well. 

 

At that time (I am not sure if this has changed or not), the cars were not able to drive directly up to the barns.  You were let out in a parking area and walked up a path to the outdoor show area, barns, etc.  As with any National Level Horse Show, there were vendors to be visited.  It was a bit different than in the USA though, as these vendors set up outside.  They had antiques for sale, a few horse related items and artists too.  The vendors were set up along one of the paths leading to the show area.  Some of them were located in tents, others just had their wares in vans that they brought in and parked for the day.  It had been raining before we arrived and this particular path was quite muddy!  They had placed boards down to walk on, to try and keep you out of the mud.  We purchased a lovely old butter churn to bring home!  We could have easily purchased a lot more, but we were limited to what we could carry home on the air flight.

 

 

Mud path to the vendor area.

One of the horse related vendors....a carriage maker.

A wood working vendor's site.  He had absolutely gorgeous handmade items!

 

 

The outdoor show ring was all grass.  No fencing surrounded the area either.  Tables had been set up  under a barn awning at one side of the ring (this was the VIP area).  Bleachers were erected on another side.  We were lucky that Mother Nature was kind to us that day.  The temperatures were comfortable and the skies while cloudy, did not rain on us.

 

 

The outdoor show ring.  The area under the white overhang was the VIP area.

Another view of the show ring.  VIP area on far side of ring, bleacher seating area to the left.

Another view of the show ring, with VIP area far side to the left and the area to the far side and right was the bar and food court area.

 

 

 

Some of the show was held inside their lovely indoor arena.  They presented some of the awards inside too and this is also where the Pride of Poland sale was held.  Ringside tables were set up and we were literally so close, that dirt from the horses hooves (when they trotted by) was thrown up onto our table!!  It was REALLY a treat, to be that close to these National Champions and see their incredible movement, up close and personal!!!!!

Ejrene

Emandoria

Gaspar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, they were really that close to us!  The indoor photos were taken with a regular camera lens...no zoom lens at all!!  In Emandoria's photo, you can see the VIP ringside tables in the background.


Now for some more pictures of the horses showing.  Horse's name is shown in the photo caption.
 

 

Ejrene

Emandoria

Emesa

Aslan

Aslan

Grafik

Emanda

Embra (on left) and Gaskonia (on right)

Gaskonia (at 19 years of age!).

Gaskonia (left) and Gaspar (right) going head-to-head for the title of Best in Show!

Gaskonia

Gaspar (left) and Grafik (right).

Grafik

Top Five 2 yr old fillies.  R-L:  Emandoria, Ejrene, Pistoria, Ekina and Pernila.

Waiting patiently for the call to show!

The horses are all shown in-hand, also known as a halter horse.  They are broken down into different classes by age and sex.  The winners of the female and male classes show against each other respectively, to compete for National Champion Filly, National Champion Mare, National Champion Colt and National Champion Stallion.  Then there is a Best of Show class, where each of these National Champion winners show back against each other, for the Best of Show title.

There are three judges per class.  Each judge scores each horse on 6 different attributes.  Arabian Type, Head, Neck & Shoulders, Body & Topline, Feet & Legs and Movement.  They are given a score from 1 to 10 (and 1/2 points can be used also...ie: score of 9.5), with a 10 being Ideal.  The scores are then added up and the highest score wins.  After the judges have judged the class, the individual horse scores are announced and shown by score cards for the audience to see.  The winners of the class are then announced and ribbons are awarded. 

Scores being revealed.

They had the official National Champion Presentations at a different time, bringing out the National Champions one-by-one for the audience to enjoy them individually.

National Champion Yearling filly, Sefora.



National Champion Mare AND Best in Show, 19 yr old Gaskonia!



Gaskonia

Gaskonia...I just loved this mare!  She was simply breath taking!

Gaskonia's official presentation ceremony.

National Champion Stallion, Gaspar.

Grafik, National Reserve Champion Stallion.

National Reserve Champion Stallion, Grafik.

National Champion Filly in front, Sefora.  National Reserve Champion filly in back, Emandoria.

National Champion Colt, Alert.

National Champion Filly, Sefora.

National Champion Mare, Gaskonia.

National Champion Stallion, Gaspar.

National Reserve Champion Filly, Emandoria.

National Reserve Champion Stallion, Grafik.

Unlike our USA National Arabian Show, the Polish National Show also had a "half time" entertainment!  The shows were fun and also allowed you to stand, stretch and get something to drink or eat if you wished during the intermission.  Below are a few pictures of the entertainment. 

 















For a complete listing of class placings, please see the following link. 

http://www.prideofpoland.pl/national-show-results-2006

Next week's blog will be dedicated to the Pride of Poland Sale that we attended during this 2006 trip.  Have a great week!