Mangalia

I spent my Easter days in Mangalia. I was delighted by the touristic harbour. I enjoyed the peace and quiet of the shore. I found plenty of gorgeous shells, I enjoyed the seagulls and the sound of the waves and wind. I found also some old friends -the swans - enjoying the safety of the marina. A flock made a habit of staying there every winter. The locals feed them and they enjoy the warmer climate there.

I also visited the local stud-farm. It is very big (650 hectares and 347 horses). It used to be bigger but it seems money are less for this kind of things. They have several lines of very valuable Arabian thoroughbred. I was surprised how tamed they were. Of course, they showed their personality demanding respect through their sounds and movements, but they also were very curious about the visitors and willing to let you pet them gently. It was interesting to find out that the Egyptian ones are smaller in height. You don't realize this when you see them in movies. I was told stories about how they throw the heavy wood and metal gates aside with a back kick. And about how one of them was stolen after the Arabian prince, who had intended to buy it, died. It disappeared in the night and nobody heard anything about it since then. They found the traces of it being extracted from the farm, but couldn't find the ship with which it was, most probably, smuggled away from the country.
It was a lovely walk through the farm, especially with the blossomed trees around. We visited the pregnant mares and found them very agitated.
A male pony had escaped. It wasn't at its first "prison break". It seems it was a master of escapes. Although neutered, it gave quite a chase to the men form the farm in its attempts of getting to the mares. It was funny to watch it being chased all around the fields either by the dogs, children or men from the farm. It seemed so happy and free. It was like a black and white hairy arrow.
We found out later that it went to its stable by itself and went in following another pony. So, all that commotion was only for its fun.
We visited all the stables with different breeds and generations. I liked these two horses who seemed to kiss. I was told they were very good friends and they did this all the time. This doesn't mean that sometimes they don't turn around and kick each other. Temperamental love!

 

I learnt about a Romanian breed, which took 30 years to be perfected. It is a very tall and strong. I understood that an Arabian horse can pull around 2 tons while this ones can pull 4or 5. They're huge.

Visiting around, we went also to the nursery. There a very friendly foal  played with us a lot. It was very attracted by my purse and began chewing on it. Like every youngster, it was looking for sweets.

At the end, our host took out a stallion. Thy have to be taken out at least twice a week and they have to do this with only one on a row, or else they'd kill each other. I offer you some images of his gymnastics. It stretches its legs and shows off its muscles, but also has time to look towards the mares' enclosure to see if they notice it. I was surprised how disciplined it behaved. It could have easily jumped over the fence, but it didn't. It also went towards the stables by itself when it saw the caretaker heading that way. It was like a good student who knows the rules and respects the teacher.