Another exciting trip! This trip started with speding a few days in Copenhagen where Hallie Goetz joined me. Kjell Jormfeldt of Sweden joined us a few days and we drove back to his place in Sweden. He took us on a marvelous tour of a few of the local sites. We stayed in an old farmhouse near his place. We were able to look out over his lovely Shagyas in the field every morning. A tour of some of the Shagya farms nearby and a ride on his Shagyas through the woods completed our few short days there. Then back to Denmark via the ferry - and several more Shagya farms to visit. We had lovely hosts and cannot thank them enough! Christine and Jacob Pedersen, Tina and Eskil Vad (owner of the beautiful stallion Rie Kairo), Louise Collinson (owner of the powerful bay stallion Dartan), Lene Mollegard, Gitte and Jorgen Hoberg (owner of the gorgeous stallion Ghazzlan), the Karlsson family, Ase Skjaeret (owner of the athletic stallion Legolas). Then off to Northern Germany to visit our good friend Carin Weiss who has a large Shagya breeding farm. So many beautiful Shagyas! Our next stop was to the Al-Samarraie residence where we met up with my good friends - the Aussies Bec and Darren Hogan! What can I say about the horses there - very athletic, performance horses. They have the stallions Olymp, Komet and Okeano. A long drive through the rest of Germany to Vienna. The traffic was horrendous into Vienna! Like LA traffic at rush hour! The Austrians put on quite a show! We went on a horse drawn carriage ride through the city, took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Spanish Riding School, and saw a showing of Shagyas under saddle, jumping and in harness, all while sitting at the old Vienna racecourse in the pouring rains (we stayed dry, but I felt bad for the riders). After the meeting I was invited for a quick overnight trip to Topolcianky (the State Stud in Slovakia). I went with Rudi and Sabine Meindl and we joined several other Shagya breeders there. We toured the stud with director Michael Horny, spent the night in their newly built hotel, then returned to Vienna with horse in tow (a new purchase by Rudi for his breeding program). Again, an incredible trip and lasting memories, as well as new friends!
