Clippety-clop, clippety-clop through a Polish stud farm
Transport via a horse-drawn carriage and left, the stables
POZNAN, Warsaw – The palace is stately, warm and inviting. But it also has large paintings, drawings and antiquated surroundings, conjuring up images of ghosts and sounds of fugitive footsteps in the corridor after everyone goes to asleep.
Laughingly, I tell the host “There must be ghosts here.” Instantly he walks up and regales the group of visiting Asian journalists on how a building planner who was redoing the place many years ago before the new owners took over, heard footsteps in the corridor. She beat a hasty retreat but returned years later after the place was buzzing with activity. She was certainly not the last to be frightened out of her wits. A young Indian journalist in our group, was herself worried. “I won’t be able to sleep at night,” she said. Thankfully for her, her bed was in a 5-star hotel elsewhere with modern furniture, brightly lit corridors and room service for company!
The Asian journalists, on a September 24-29 study tour of Poland, are inside a palace dating back to 1840 but the real fun is outside in the stables of Stadnina Koni (means stud farm), one of Europe’s largest horse breeding centres at Pepowo village, several km away from Poznan, the nearest big city. The palace is surrounded by nine hectares of forested patches and a landscape park, common background in other stud farms in the country.
Stately and spooky: The palace dating back to 1840 now surrounded by one of Europe’s largest horse breeding centres
After a quick look-around the palace with amateur photographers clicking away using mobile phones, Ipads or anything that captures pictures and loads of evening snacks, tea, coffee or fresh fruit, we are transported to the farms and stables. Vrrrrrrrrrrr… our ‘driver’ whistles and off we go, proceeding bumpily on cobblestones through forested paths … clippety-clop, clippety clop. It’s not a car, not a bus or a motorcycle. It’s a carriage drawn by two horses and guided by a coachman.
After a 5-10 minute ride through the countryside, the two carriages arrive at the stables. The tradition of breeding horses in Pepowo is very old and done with great expertise, ensuring good breeding results. Sindy, the top prize winner, is cautiously friendly and allows curious visitors to pat him on the head. Sindy has won numerous world titles over the past five years. Alongside the stables is a small museum of carriages, old and new. The stud farm has 100 horses including 25 females.
Horse breeding for carriage races, a popular sport in Europe and the US, is not a viable business. Generally used to further the sport, the farm is however made profitable by the presence of 1200 head of cattle only for milking purposes. These thoroughbred cows are comfortably ensconced on a 5 hectare farm – part of around 2000 hectares owned by the stud breeding centre – where a modern milking facility is set to open next month with the best equipment money can buy.
Currently the farm produces 50,000 litres of milk a day while a large portion of the food for the animals comes from rows of cornfields. During our visit to the fields, a giant corn harvester is at work cutting the corn and loading the stuff on a truck that runs parallel to the at-work harvester.
The stud farm company’s business model is simple; profit from the cows to pay for the upkeep of the horses. Farm officials call their ‘residents’, happy cows as these are purely to provide milk and not for slaughter. Milk from five cows pays for the maintenance of one horse. Some of the cows are of the prized variety, winning numerous awards at domestic and international competitions. The milk production is supervised by computer – the process of feeding animals and the process of milk production is completely automated. The highest hygiene standards are maintained for milk production and breeding, as well as the best possible breeding conditions for animals today (optimum feed, ambient temperature, humidity, etc.).
Musical apples: Plucking apples to the strains from a portable music player
After a couple of hours on the field and shown around the almost-completed and soon-to-be-opened, new milking centre, the visitors return to the palace in the two horse carriages accompanied by the delightful sounds of clippety-clop, clippety-clop and the vrrrrrr… command from the coachman.
The u-shaped antique dining table that can seat more than 20 guests is laid out with food and drink fit for a king. The now-weary group of journalists tuck into the food like famished horses at times swapping tales with the hosts and farm manager about ghosts, spirits and ‘footsteps in the corridor’. By now our young Indian journalist colleague, throws caution to the wind and the earlier fear of ghosts and ‘sleeping nightmares’, to wade into the delicious food at the table prepared by a chef who also cooks for the 80-plus workers on the farm. The next day, the final part of the tour, is spent visiting a milk processing plant and family-run apple orchards in another part of Poland.
At one of the orchards, a family happily plucks apples from rows of 7-foot tall slim trees, sometimes humming to songs coming from a portable music player on a truck. Plucking apples to the rhythm of the music or musical apples, as I would call it, was the perfect end to a week-long tour of Poland.