This year’s celebration of hunters, foresters and horsemen took place at Michalow Stud, traditionally on 11 November, Polish National Independence Day. Many horse owners responded to the organisers’ invitation. Not only the riders were in attendance (21 pairs arrived), but also the carriage drivers, for whom a carriage driving skills competition was held in the afternoon. Representing the stud this year were two carriages: BALEJAŻ (Bonat – Tatiana / Birkut) and BASZKIR (Bonat – Ballada / Birkut) driven by Rafał Szyper, the other CHARTUM (Czar – Tunezja / Bonat) and CHORWAT (Czar – Tahiti / Birkut) driven by Kazimierz Łuczak. Under saddle the Michalow Club was represented by three horses – the stallion ECHARON (Ontario HF – Echara / Wiliam) ridden by Marta Jaros, the mare ESCORTERA (Alert – Esmeraldia / QR Marc) with Iwona Sternak and KORAB (Pegasus – Karbala / Emigrant) under Marta Kulczyńska.
The celebrations started with a ride into the forest for the horsemen and harnesses, during which the traditional search for the fox took place. This year’s King of the Hunt was Mateusz Skowron riding the mare MILA (Luban – Mika / Hipon), representing the Wrzosy Riding Club.
After returning from the traditional run, the horses participating in the Hubertus were decorated and presented. Then Oliwia Kowal on ELGORIUSZ (Medalion – Elgora / Poganin), bred at Michałów Stud, presented her prepared show.
Another highlight of the celebrations was the carriage driving competition, which included three agility competitions in the single, pair and pony categories. The first of them was won by Dominik Barnaś with the horse ASMAN – relieved by Wojciech Magnes; in the pairs category, the best was Paweł Pełka, driving the Friesian geldings RINGO and FLORES with the reliever Jakub Kawiorski. The last carriage driving competition dedicated to ponies was won by Mariusz £azarz with a pair of Polish horses MILO (Galant – Monti / Trokar) and POSTĘP (Nikko – Pomona / Nigrus).
The organisers would like to thank the National Agricultural Support Centre, the Agricultural School in Chroberz, which prepared a traditional hot snack for the Hubertus participants, and the country housewieves’ club “Michałowskie Wianki” for the delicious bread with lard and sweets.
We hope that next year we will meet in equally large numbers to celebrate the Michalowski Hubertus Konny, and in the meantime, here is a photo gallery from this year’s edition.
