DIFFERENT HUNGARY

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 36, 12 February 1936, Page 5

DIFFERENT HUNGARY

WHERE HORSES ARE BRED

HOME OF THE ARABS

One morning, through the courtesy of the Hungarian Minister of Agriculture, and with a companion who had the gift of tongues (five, I believe), I motored out to see "Balbolna," where for more.than two hundred years the work of breeding purebred Arab horses and the scientific crossing of the same with English thoroughbreds has been carried on: first by the sovereigns for military purposes and pleasure; now by the Stale for the general betterment of the horses of Hungary and as a paying commercial proposition, writes E. C. Hind from Budapest to the "Winnipeg Free Press." Arrived at Babolna we were ■ mei and welcomed by the officers in charge, as the stud is still managed on military lines. First we saw the Arab stallions, ten in number and nearly all pure white. Lovely, proud creatures, grace and strength in every line and motion. I thought of Mrs. Heman's poem in the old Red Readers: "My beautiful, ray beautiful, that stands so meekly by With your proudly arched and graceful neck And dark aud flery eye." Just then the gentleman we were admiring banged the front of his stall ] with his forefeet and neighed defiance lat the world. • "Beautiful" beyond words, but "meek," no, no. But lovely as were the stallions, the 140 mares, many of them with foals at side, were even more beautiful. RESULT OF CENTURIES. There were also English thoroughbred stallions doing the name of their country proud, and crosses with Arabians, and then ten "Lipizzai" stallions, a breed probably never seen in Canada. It is the result of five hundred years of blending the best horse blood of Spain, Italy, and Arabia. This work was begun at Naples and carried on for years at Triest, where in old times the royal stables of the "proud house of Habsburg" were located. A somewhat heavier type than the Arabians, these horses are famous as both carriage and riding and hunting horses. That morning we saw 550 horses in all, and not one but would have tempted any horse lover to break nearly all the commandments to possess. -With great pride we were told that Babolna has beaten Arabia at her own game, and that now the royal stables of Egypt are recruited from this stud; something like a dozen stallions and mares being sent over in 1934. Crossing to the two hundred year old riding school, where daily young horses are being trained, we heard the story of Fadlallah el Hedad, Governor of this great institution from 1899 to 1913. As a lad of ten he had arrived from Syria with a very fine Arab horse, a long sword, and not much beside. He refused to leave the horse and was allowed to remain. Shortly after the Emperor came ,to visit the stud, saw the boy with the sword, and asked "how come?" Being told, he crossed over and took hold of the sword hilt. He got a good hard slap for his temerity. It was another version of a very old story—a monarch weary of servility entertained by independence. GOVERNORSHIP. Several times in -writing about, the horses he asked about the lad, finally gave him opportunities for education, aud in the passing of the , years the very great honour of the Governorship of the Institution fell to him quite naturally. We were shown, an oil painting of him in the mess of the officers. One look at that face and you were no longer surprised that he slapped an Emperor. As we wandered out into the beautiful tree-shaded courtyard, we came upon a grave-stone under a centuriesold acacia. It was a very handsome monument and it read. "To the Memory of Obajon, born in 1880 at Tell El Kelash in Syria, bought for Babolna in 1885 for six thousand francs. Chiei of the Arab stud for 25 years. Begot 312 foals; of these 112 were stallions and 56 mares. Died in 1910, and bred successfully right up to the final year." As we turned away from that grave, an Arabian four-in-hand dashed round a corner. All four stallions were descended in direct line from the first Arabian brought to Babolna a hundred years ago. The elaborate handmade and heavily decorated black harness with its gleaming buckles emphasised the white of the horses. The driver and companion in their winter driving coats of black heavily embroidered in red and their quaint beribboned hats completed a picture one would never forget. It was a grand good day and rejoiced one to realise that both for work and pleasure horses are coming to their own once more. It is doubtful if the driver would have changed places with a king, and I rather think his Majesty might be inclined to envy the driver. MORE HORSES. The following afternoon we left.by train for Mezohegvcs, a 42,850-acre estate on the south-eastern boundary of Hungary. The secretary of State for agriculture had kindly offered to "combine business with pleasure" and escort me and my companion with the gift of tongues, and at the same time select a stallion for which the Government of Poland was paying 6000 pangos, about £200. Arriving at night, we were abroad at 8 a.m. A high-seated carriage and four splendid black horses awaited us at the door. The morning was sharp and the wind cold, so we were supplied with long lambskin lined military coats with fur collars, and abundance of rugs. First another stallion parade; Arabs descended from Gidran imported from Arabia in 1815; Nonius, descended from a stallion of that name captured by Hungarian soldiers in France, also in 1815. There are two sizes of Nonius, "Great" and "Small." It was "Great Nonius" that drew our carriage. "Small Nonius" make splendid polo ponies, and are sold to both England and the United States for that purpose. Last, but not least, are the English thoroughbred half-breeds, all descended from Furioso, bred in Hungary in 1842, and North Star, imported from England ten years later. The cross has been maintained and developed so long that apparently the best characteristics of. both ancestors have been fixed in this new type. ITS OWN RAILWAY. It was joy to see the stud boys in their smart uniforms parade those horses. Nothing just right for Poland at Poland's price in that first parade. As a matter of fact there was not a horse among them that was not worth a great deal more than £200. We set off further afield, and this time my companion was relegated to a twohorse carriage while Second-Lieutenant. Keresztes came with me to point out, the features of the estate. It was n dash .of several miles along a road through the estate beside the estate's own railway. Finally we arrived at another stable as big as the Auditorium on Memorial Boulevard. Here the horses had just been in off grass for a few days. Making friends with a beautiful bay stallion, who evidently recognised the coat I was wearing, I leaned up against

his shoulder and watched that parade of twenty or more stallions. It was interesting to note the meticulous care with which the selection was made so that Poland should get full value for her money and the horse do credit to Hungary. Finally the decision was reached, and once more we dashed oft', miles and miles, hither and thither and yon, but never off the estate, and many interesting things were seen beside horses, but that is another story. Never have I enjoyed a day more; never have I felt so important as behind those horses, not even when I drove the three miles into Calgary a'nd along her streets with Slim Houston and the twenty-two-horse hitch and the 1400 bushels of wheat. Talk of motor-cars —no car that will ever be invented could equal the thrill of driving behind those horses witli their dash and fire and perfect unity of movement.