Day 4 - Monday
     In the morning, we went back to Veliko Tarnovo and visited the Castle of Tzarevetz.  It was a huge and incredible walled fortress at the top of a hill; once again accessed by several hundred stone steps!  There were a couple of ancient stone buildings, which had been built around 1185, all surrounded by a massive wall built into the side of the hill.  As a protective fortress, it would have been unassailable. 

     At the very summit of the hill stood a large church, well restored.  Although it was a beautiful building, we thought it was actually somewhat creepy inside.  The walls were painted with depressingly morbid murals that seemed to depict death and tortured souls.  The altar looked like some kind of sacrificial chopping block.
    We learned that the earliest findings of human settlements on the hill of Tzarevetz date back to 2000 years B.C.  In the late 5^th century A.D. it was a Byzantine fortress.  Khan Asparuh was the man who first established Bulgaria in the year 681, making Bulgaria the oldest country in the Balkans.  During the time period from the 12^th to the 14^th century Tzarevetz was the center of political and religious power in Bulgaria.  Our history for the week!

     We went back to Arbanasi to see a couple more horses, and then we drove to the town of Shumen.  One thing we had noticed on our travels was that there were traffic police everywhere.  Most vehicles would speed along and tailgate the car in front of them until they saw evidence of a police car; at which point they would slow down and fasten their seatbelts.  Never mind that they were driving down the middle of the road!  Cars would also often pass slower moving vehicles at unlikely times.  We noticed that Ilian would honk at the birds in the road to warn them he was coming, but not at the bus that he was passing with half a lane and the bus moving over toward him!
     We learned that there are many gypsies in Bulgaria.  They are not very well respected or welcomed, and are generally regarded as untrustworthy.  Ilian told us that it is customary for the gypsy families to sell the daughters to their prospective husbands, and a girl that is a good thief brings a high price!  

     We went to the stable at Shumen.  It was a large government owned stable, and different trainers rented blocks of stalls and trained there.  There were several nice large outdoor riding rings, and also a good-sized indoor arena, one of only three in the country.  We would have preferred to ride outdoors, but it was extremely cold, and the wind was whipping with a vengeance, so we opted for the indoor ring.
     We saw quite a few horses at Shumen, and most of them were really nice.  It was quite an adventure riding them in the indoor arena.  It was a large ring, but quite crowded.  There were Event horses, Jumpers and Dressage horses all schooling at once, as well as kids on ponies and beginners on school horses.  To make matters more challenging, midway through the day we finally found out that in Bulgaria they pass right hand to right hand when meeting another horse head on, where we are used to passing left to left.  No wonder they were giving us those dirty looks!
     We made another interesting discovery that day.  Throughout the week, as most of the people there spoke very little if any English, and of course speaking no Bulgarian ourselves, all of our conversations took place through our Interpreter, Lilia.  As she spoke excellent English, this worked pretty well for the most part, but of course some of the subtleties and nuances of how you were trying to put things across would get lost in the translation.  But much to our dismay, we found out that in Bulgaria, nodding your head up and down means no, and shaking it side to side means yes!  Of course this is the exact opposite of what we are used to; but we had no idea!  With all of the nodding we had been doing, they must have thought we were the most negative people alive!
     “Blah blah blah blah Shelby, blah blah . . .”

     Ilian and Lilia continued to pretty much wait on us hand and foot, including lugging around our purses, cameras and riding helmets while we watched the horses go.  We certainly weren’t used to being treated so well!
     We saw a number of horses at Shumen that had been on our list to see, but one of the interesting things about horse hunting is finding the unexpected opportunities.  When we first entered the arena to look at some of the more experienced horses, I noticed someone riding around on a bay that really caught my eye, so I asked Ilian, “What’s that one?”  It was a four-year-old that had a presence that I felt was really special, and one I put on my list of possibilities. 
     Anytime we had questions for the owners of any of the horses, of course it had to go through a translation by Lilia.  This worked well for the most part, but there were a few confusing times.  For instance, while Natalie was riding one mare that was not going freely forward, Lilia informed me that Ilian said, “The girth is off the horse.”  I had no idea what she was talking about, but then she corrected it, and said, “The mare is seeking male horses!”  This made a bit more sense!
     After we were done riding, we retired to the stable bar for a beer.  This is one of the great things about the stables in Bulgaria; they all have bars! 

     It was fascinating to learn from Ilian something of the history of the Sport Horses in Bulgaria.  From the early 1900s, until about 1940, the Bulgarian Warmblood horses were bred primarily for the military.  They were strong and hearty, and they could stand the rugged terrain, severe weather and long hours of work.  After the Second World War, two men, Krum Lekarski and General Stoichev, decided to improve the quality of the Bulgarian horses.  They imported thoroughbred stallions from Russia and Poland, and quality mares from England, Germany and Hungary.  These finely bred horses were crossed with the sturdy Bulgarian military mounts to create the Sport Horses found in Bulgaria today.
     Their breeding program has obviously been effective.   Based on the horses we had been seeing, I had come to the conclusion that the high quality of the horses in Bulgaria must be the best-kept   secret in Europe!   Perhaps I had been a little crazy to come here, but I was certainly glad that I had!

     We then headed back to Rousse for the night.  It was a drive of a couple of hours, which we mostly spent trying to get warm, and as we were getting progressively more sleep-deprived, trying unsuccessfully to doze.  On one occasion Ilian slowed down the tour bus and he and Lilia hastily fastened their seatbelts as we approached a police check.  A policeman stepped out in the road with a sign and signaled for Ilian to pull over to the side for a vehicle check, but Ilian pretended not to see him and kept driving.  We all spent the next few miles anxiously looking over our shoulders, but fortunately we were not pursued!

     Once again, Ilian insisted on buying us dinner.  Natalie and I really put up a fuss in advance, and said how it was our turn to treat them to dinner, and we really wanted to have a chance to repay their hospitality.  But Ilian wasn’t having any of it.  This was getting ridiculous!
     We went back to the Danube Plaza, checked in, surrendered our passports again, and squished all of our belongings once again into the closet-sized elevator.  We watched the floors go by through the little window, and stood in vain waiting for the elevator doors to open.  We passed the ever-present vacuum cleaner in the hall, and made ourselves comfortable in the same little room we had had earlier in the trip.  Our home away from home!
     As usual we couldn’t sleep, so we went to the bar again! 

Day 5 - Tuesday
   Back in the tour bus this morning, and back to Shumen for a second look at some of the horses.  Once again, it was cloudy, cold and really windy.  I was really regretting not bringing my warmest coat by this point.  Does the sun ever shine here?
     As at the other stables, any of the horses that we had a serious interest in, we took for a gallop.  In this case, we took the horses out in the biting cold wind and galloped along an airstrip runway.  There was no cross-country course there, but on the way out to the runway there was one cross-country fence.  It was absolutely vertical, with a narrow face, made of boards and stuffed with stiff cornstalks, and it was well over four feet high.  As I was riding out to gallop on a good jumping mare, the owners told me that I could jump that fence if I wanted.  I hadn’t really planned to, as it was about as uninviting an obstacle as you could ask for; but I did think Ilian might consider me a wimp, because I hadn’t jumped any of the cross-country fences at his stable.  So on the spur of the moment, I turned, picked up a “galup”, and pointed the mare at it.  Fortunately she sailed over the treacherous looking jump with ease; afterwards Natalie told me that the owners had been amazed when I jumped it, they had only been kidding when they suggested it!  Oh well, at least I proved I wasn’t a total wuss!

     In the last four days, we had seen a lot of horses that we really liked.  But after seeing so many, they can all start to run together in your mind a little, if you are not careful!  Fortunately, Natalie had been writing down all of the information about the horses, as well as our impressions and opinions of them.  We kept referring back to this ubiquitous notebook to refresh our memories on the details of each.  Probably the hardest thing to keep straight was their names.  We had looked at horses with names like Zavistliv, Viglaz, Desdemona, Zambo, Vigano, and Dalavera, just to name a few.  I really had a hard time with all the Z and V names!

     We then went to the ‘Horse Factory.’  This was a Government Breeding Farm, where hundreds of young horses are bred and raised every year. As two and three-year-olds, they are all tested for potential for racing, show jumping, dressage and eventing, to decide in which direction they should be pointed. They are then sold to private individuals. 
     The first thing we saw there were amazingly cute little shaggy pinto ponies.  They looked straight out of Thelwells.  They are bred there and sold for children’s ponies.  We went out into a pasture and looked at a large group of yearlings, and saw other fields with weanlings, broodmares and such.  They seemed to all be horses of quality.

     Almost all of the horses we had been shown had freeze brands on their backs, under the saddle.  We learned that the horses that are bred at these ‘Horse Factories’ receive these brands.  We realized that most of the sport horses in Bulgaria are bred at these Government farms, as we saw few that were not branded.
     We also learned that it is not unusual for riders to hack their horses 20 kilometers or so to go to a horse show or Event, and then hack home again afterwards, if they do not have a trailer.  The Bulgarian horses and riders both have to be tough!

     By this time I had seriously cold feet again; fortunately Natalie lent me some dry socks, and we went for our daily soup lunch to warm up.  Afterwards, we drove to the town of Varna, a coastal resort town and popular tourist destination, where we saw a couple more horses.  Then we went and had coffee by the Black Sea!  We stopped at a little restaurant right by the water, and walked out on the beach.  The Sea was beautiful, with big crashing waves, but it was not Black!
      We made the long drive back to Rousse, and we stopped by again the Photo Shop owned by Ilian’s brother, Krasimir.  Here we saw some show jumping pictures of some of the horses we were interested in, and received some more lovely gifts from Krasimir.
     Back to the Danube Plaza once again, and this time Natalie and I were on our own for dinner, as Ilian and Lilia needed a chance to spend some time with their families.  We ate at the hotel restaurant, which was quite fancy, and had a live band.  It turned out to be another surreal experience!  The band sounded quite good at first, playing some Bulgarian music and instrumental pieces.  But then they started doing ‘popular’ music.  It started getting really strange when they started to sing ‘Country Roads.’  From there they went on to some Elvis, with ‘Don’t Be True’ and ‘Blue Suede Shoes.’  This was all done with Bulgarian accents, and all with pretty much the same beat.  When they moved on to ‘Achy Breaky Heart,’ it was so bizarre that we pretty much lost it!
     It did turn out to be a wonderful evening.  Here we are, having dinner at one of the fanciest hotels in Bulgaria.  We started out with drinks and took our time over dinner, with soup, salad, main course and plenty of beer.  We ended up sitting there for several hours, having after dinner drinks while we listened to the amazing music.  The bill at the end of the evening?  It was $26!  For both of us!  We thought maybe we should just move to Bulgaria, our money would go a long way here.  But as Natalie pointed out, they would never pay our lesson prices!
     On the way back to the room I decided to indulge in a little drunken vacuuming; then it was off to bed.  Finally we were beginning to adjust to the seven-hour time difference and felt like we could sleep, now that it was almost time to go home!

Day 6 - Wednesday
     This was the day that we were to return to Sofia.  We stopped by Ilian’s stable in the morning for a last look at some of his horses, and then piled into the Tour Bus to start our journey.  The plan was to get an early start, so we could see some horses in Sofia in the early afternoon; but we had several stops to make before we could get on the road.
     First we stopped at the Photo Shop, where Krasimir showed us some more photographs of the horses.  He also gave us more gifts, some lovely CDs of Bulgarian music.  Then we went to the bank, to withdraw some money off of our credit cards, to pay for prepurchase exams.  We had the opportunity to stop by a souvenir shop and buy a few gifts; we purchased some beautiful hand-woven fabrics that they use as tablecloths, and some hand-made pottery.  Then finally, about two hours later than planned, we were on the road for Sofia!
     Even though were running late, we had the mandatory stop for soup.  Of course, Ilian paid for lunch.  In fact, he even insisted on paying for the beer that Natalie was buying as a gift to take home to her husband! 
     But actually, Natalie and I had come to a decision.  Ilian and Lilia had been paying for all of our meals, and buying us drinks.  They carried our bags, lugged around our stuff at the stables, gave us gifts and bought us flowers.  We were being treated like Princesses, and it had been making us slightly uncomfortable.  We felt we needed to do something about it.  So, we decided to just get used to it!  Being waited on hand and foot was not so bad.  In fact, we were starting to really like it! 

     As we drove along, we admired the lovely countryside once again.  But something was different.  I noticed a bright glowing light in the sky.  It was something unfamiliar.  It shone out very radiant, and hurt our eyes.  Was it a UFO?  Oh, it was the sun!  This was the first time we had seen it since the day of our arrival!  

     The drive back to Sofia was actually very beautiful.  It had been dark when we had done it before, so this was real treat.  We had lovely vistas of rugged snow-capped mountains, and rolling hills and farmlands.  Again, we were amazed at seeing the farmers with their pony and donkey carts; the things that we take for granted! 
     Freedom is another one of those things that Americans tend to take for granted.  We were stopped by the police for a random vehicle check, apparently this happens quite often in Bulgaria.  It was not a big deal, but a reminder of how different this culture is from our own.  

     Eventually, we arrived in Sofia, of course just in time for the rush hour traffic.  By the time we arrived at the stable, it was already getting dark.  Fortunately, this stable had an indoor arena, but it was still frustrating, as we had hoped to have the chance to ride the horse we were scheduled to see outside, where we could gallop.
     We had an appointment to meet with the veterinarian who was scheduled to do the prepurchase exams, at five o’clock that evening.  We were a little late getting there, but we met up with him in the stable bar.  Really, the stable bar idea is something that we should adopt here at home!  The vet reminded us of Sean Connery, so we thought we were in good hands!
     Then we went to try the last horse.  When we got to the arena, we were dismayed to find that the lighting was pretty much inadequate.  As we were trying to watch a dark brown horse with no white go around in the extremely dimly lit arena, at first it was hard to see him at all!  Additionally, the ring was filled with kids on ponies and people having lessons on 20-meter circles, so it was a real challenge to weave among them and jump some fences in the dark.  But this horse turned out to be one of the best we had seen, and one that Natalie was very interested in, despite the fact that he had a completely roached mane and forelock!  I told her not to worry, by Middletown in March, the mane would be grown out to about three inches long and sticking straight up . . .

     Then we retired to the bar, for some serious horse dealing.  It was not unlike Ireland, where most of the business is conducted in the Pubs as well!  Natalie and I put our heads together and made our final decisions on the horses, and then we had Ilian contact the various owners, so we could come to some definite agreements.  By the end of the evening, Natalie had purchased a really fabulous Three-day horse, and I had bought three exceptional young up-and-coming prospects.  All pending vetting, of course.  And believe me, since returning home, we have found the logistics of arranging vetting, X-rays and blood testing in Bulgaria to be a challenge!  

     Then we had a long hunt for a hotel.  After 3 or 4 aborted attempts, we finally found one with a vacancy.  We checked in and proceeded to have an argument with the lady at the desk about whether or not she was going to keep our passports for the night; we won and got our passports back! 
     We said goodbye to Ilian and Lilia, and went out for a midnight dinner.  We felt sorry for them, as they were then starting the five-hour journey back to Rousse!  We finally got to bed at half past one, which was great, as we had a five o’clock pick-up in the morning to go to the airport!

Day 7 - Thursday
     When our clock went off at four-thirty, we could hardly believe it.  Oh well, three hours of sleep should be enough for anyone!  We groggily packed our belongings, and staggered into the hall to catch the elevator down.  But it didn’t come!  We waited and waited, and pushed the button numerous times.  We were starting to get a little desperate, as our bags weighed a ton and we didn’t relish trying to drag them down five flights of stairs, when finally the doors opened.  But before we could get our suitcases in, they started to close again; a struggle then ensued as we wrestled with the elevator to get all of our stuff and ourselves in with the doors trying to close on our arms and legs.  Eventually we won the battle, and arrived on the ground floor.  Ilian had arranged for a friend of his to pick us up to take us to the airport, and sure enough, he was waiting out front for us at five!
     We left Bulgaria with some regret; we had a great trip.  We saw nice horses and made new friends, and enjoyed visiting a part of the world we had never seen before.  We would like to thank Ilian, Lilia and Krasimir so much for showing us such a good time!

     When we got on the plane to Vienna, for once in my life, I actually slept like a log.  We endured the endless flight back to Dulles; but what a shock when we finally got there; we had to carry our own bags!

Site Map | Horses for Sale | Breeding/Stallion | About Irish Horses | Working Students | Boarding and Training | Eventing with Phyllis Dawson | The Competition Horses | Team Windchase | Windchase News | Links | Home