Mangalia stud farm, founded almost 100 years ago by royal decree, hosts over 200 horses of the Pure Arabian breed, one more beautiful than another, which fascinate by their performance.

The stud farm was established by a decree signed in 1926 by King Ferdinand and officially opened in 1929. There is still the first stable built in that period, a stable that has been rehabilitated and which currently houses nursery stallions - breeders, 15 in number, "the elite of Mangalia stud", the head of the unit, Constantin Ancuta, told Agerpres.

Constantin Ancuta has been working at Mangalia stud farm for 20 years and likes to present the farm, employees, horses and other animals around the stables. About the 52 workers employed at the stud farm, he said that almost all of them live for rent in the National Forests Company (Romsilva) houses inside the unit, and a few are commuters. By behavior, they all seem part of one family.

36 public stallions live at the first stable, well cared for by Sorin, a young man who grew up on the stud. His parents left Bacau, his birthplace, in search of a job, got a job at the stud farm, lived here until they retired.

"I love taking care of horses. I live at the stud farm, from here I went to the army, and here I came back," Sorin said. He proudly recounted an episode of his activity, when the wife of former president Traian Basescu, Maria, came to Mangalia to do equity, and he was one of the horsemen who accompanied her.

"We have 580 hectares of land. We grow oats, barley, jar, we have peacocks, but we also put technical crops: sunflower, to make crop rotation and to be able to access funds from the Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture (APIA). We have fodder for another stud farm, we do not complain about feed, we have funds, all the activity of the stud farms is supported by Romsilva and part of the funds are obtained from APIA. Look! This is an orchard founded last year, cherry, sour cherry, we have children in the stud, they can eat. Here, straw bales, wheat straw. For basic agricultural works we hire a company providing such services," Constantin Ancuta explained.

Purebred Arabian horses for sale are housed in another stable.

"We have a number of 12 horses now. We are selling them because of their advanced age, they were mother mares, now they are 19, 20 years old. We are also selling youth from training, for example, out of 15 horses, three are put up for sale," the representative of the stud said, adding that the price is between 3,700 RON and a little over 10,000 RON, plus VAT. The buyers are "those who love horses and have a business - riding, those who have guesthouses, those who do sports - endurance or galloping".

Another stable of the stud is the one for pregnant mares and those that have given birth and have foals. The caretaker is Radu, who said that he has been working at Herghelia Mangalia for 44 years and that he comes from a town near northwestern Baia Mare. He also met his wife at the stud.

The old stable of the stud, the first to be built, currently houses 15 purebred Arabian stallions, cared for by Ion, a man who also seems to be a lifelong friend of the horses. The stallions stretch their heads and are gentle when caressed. Horses are painted on an external wall of the building, paintings that the head of the stud said he paid for with his own money, being made by a painter from Mangalia.

In the fodder shed of the stable there are also bags of brewer's yeast, which mixed with ground barley becomes food for the horses.

According to Romsilva, "the breeding nucleus of the Arabian Pureblood breed, bred in the environmental conditions of the southeastern Mangalia stud farm, has gained a distinct place in the world, through its phenotypic qualities, through its production characteristics (energy capacity) and breeding, consecrating internationally the name of Pure Arab Blood of Mangalia".

In addition to the zootechnical profile, the stud farm is also a center of recreation and tourist attraction, the complex having a trap and gallop hippodrome, well arranged and maintained.

Guillaume Fillet, a French citizen who brought gallop racing back to Romania, purchased two mares from Mangalia stud farm several years ago.

"We are talking about a Frenchman passionate about horse breeding, a tradition respected from father to son. He bought from us, from Mangalia stud farm, two mares. One became champion no.1 in Belgium, on the hippodrome, after which she was transferred to France, where she had her location and mated with the most valuable stallion," zootechnical engineer Ana-Maria Pruna said.

The head of the Mangalia Stud also said that a lot of directors, artists came to the stud to rent horses for filming or just riding, such as Sergiu Nicolaescu, stuntman Sobi Cseh, poet and politician Adrian Paunescu, politician Corneliu Vadim Tudor, actresses Stela Popescu and Ileana Stana Ionescu.

In his office, the paintings of horses and some medals catch the eye.

"This is a public riding stallion, the Cygaj line is the 77th product of the stallion Cygaj, imported from Poland, baptismal name Samuel. The horse promoted the national stud as a public riding stallion in the first phase, then promoted as a nursery stallion," Ana-Maria Pruna said about one of the paintings.

About the two medals, the head of the stud, Constantin Ancuta, said that they were won at the El Zorab Horse Festival, held in September 2003 in central Sibiu.
"I participated with two Pure Blood Arabian horses, one 11-year-old, who took third place in beauty and another, 7 years old, who took second place in his group," he concluded.AGERPRES(RO - author: Nona Jalba, editor: Florentina Peia; EN - editor: Maria Voican)