Ignacy Jaworowski with MITRA
Last Sunday, i.e. 18th September, we commemorated the 18th death anniversary of Ignacy Jaworowski, many years’ Director of Michałów State Stud.
Ignacy Jaworowski came to Michałów on 15th August 1953, together with the broodmare band from the then liquidated Klemensów Stud near Zamość, where he acted as the Deputy Director. During his 44-year-long career as the Director of Michałów Stud which lasted until 30th June 1997, not only did Ignacy Jaworowski significantly increase the number and quality of broodmares that are the backbone of Michałów breeding but, above all, he built the brand recognized all over the world. Thanks to Director’s enormous knowledge and exceptional breeding intuition, the Michałów-bred horses started winning top prizes of the most prestigious shows and fetching high prices at the auctions in Poland and abroad.
Director Jaworowski can also be called a visionary when it comes to horse breeding also due to his exceptional capability to choose breeding stallions. It was his idea to use the chestnut MONOGRAMM, the grandson of the legendary BASK, who left some outstanding offspring in Michałów, including chief sires EKSTERN and GANGES. For his astonishing achievements as Arabian horse breeder, in 1991 Ignacy Jaworowski received the American “Breeding Oscar” as the best foreign breeder.
Apart from his contribution as the Arabian horse breeder, Ignacy Jaworowski promoted the Appaloosa horses, nearly extinct in Poland in the 50’s, and he was also the one to introduce Jersey cattle to Michałów.
In the memory of his closest coworkers, Jerzy and Urszula Białobok, director Jaworowski was “the role model when it comes to honesty, hard work and patriotism and even though he was a great breeder, he remained humble when it comes to the difficult art of horse breeding.”*
Ignacy Jaworowski was buried in Michałów and in 2013, on the 60th anniversary of the Stud’s existence, the monument commemorating this exceptional breeder and wonderful person was built in front of the stud office.
*Source: Urszula Białobok, Jerzy Białobok; „Great breeder passed away”; Polish Horse 10, 2004, page 11
Photos: Michałów Stud Archive