Written and Translated by Dr. Walter Huber
Nonnenhorn, Germany
Printed in the German Shagya Arabian Magazine:
Shagya-Araber, Band 9, 1998

She is a real true horsewoman, the American lady Linda Rudolphi, openly curious and interested in everything, which is connected with horses and has a great passion for the noble riding horse. It was a great pleasure for me to take a small trip through the Hungarian Studs with her and her husband Joe. Years ago she purchased - with sure instinct and through favorable circumstances - the SHAGAL son *BUDAPEST out of *BIALA, bred by Ulla Nyegaard and imported in-utero. This exceptional son of SHAGAL awakened her love for the Shagya-Arabian. With great care she trained *BUDAPEST under saddle, making him known through success in competition.

Besides crossing *BUDAPEST with Shagya Arabians, she is crossing him with Thoroughbreds, Arabians, and Hungarian Halfbreds (Felvers). Due to his special quality he has been given the honor of being chosen to bring the Shagya's genetic heritage to a band of 30 broodmares of Kisberer origin, which are kept, on a 30,000-acre ranch in Nebraska. Dr. Joe Rudolphi, a veterinarian by profession, attended a veterinarian congress in Bologna, Italy. This presented a perfect occasion for the Rudolphi's to travel to Europe and to see for themselves the roots of the Shagya-Arabian at the Babolna National Stud in Hungary and its' horses. As the owner of SHAGAL I have corresponded with Frau Rudolphi for quite a while. Now for the first time, we meet in Budapest, Hungary to drive together to Babolna. I felt very honored to guide our American friends around to see this treasure of our breed. We enjoyed immensely that Mr. Attila Janik was able to join us. He was until recently second in command to stud manger Mr. Rombauer and knows so much about Babolna's history and the Shagya-Arabian. The studfarms's setting delighted Frau Rudolphi, presenting itself in full flower and brilliant sunshine. Attila Janik told us interesting details about the past of the National Stud. We watched the stallions in their runs; KEMIR V, mature and beautiful; the solid black BATAN; the classic GAZAL XIV; the cadenced dancer GAZAL XV;and the renowned PAMINO who after a long stud season appeared to be a bit tired and slimmed down. This horse, PAMINO, is a blessing for the stud. "A good horse is a good horse," - this statement of Linda Rudolphi says everything.

In the foal pasture the Rudolphi’s were enchanted by the grace of the broodmares and their foals. “Who is who,” was their recurrent question. Sometimes it was impossible to tell, as the foals did not have their identification brandmark yet. That was easier in Oelboe, where the young stallions are raised. Here we wandered across the spacious pasture and could easily identify the typey AMOR-sons, the strapping SAPHIR offspring, the colored and solid BATAN kids, the placid GADAR sons, and the unfortunately rare SHAGAL get.

The climax of the day was the drive home of the horses, what else! Only in action Arabian bred horses show their full grace and beauty. In an elating gallop with gloriously expressive faces, eyes wide open and ears pointed forward, the young stallions reached the courtyard and homestead of Oelboe to enter their stalls. The Rudolphi’s were captivated by all they watched and experienced of the exceptional and beautiful horses. The advance in breeding is evident at Babolna. Stud manager Tamas Rombauer has done excellent work in the past years.

The next day again was dedicated to horses, but this time with other breeds. We visited the National Thoroughbred Stud Dios-Puszta with its’ rich heritage - the new workplace for Attila Janik. There time seems to be at a standstill. Here you still feel the spirit of the great IMPERIALxx, the hero of the racetrack, unbeaten in Eastern Europe, winning stakes in Austria and Germany and placing a respectable eighth among the elite in one of the most coveted races of the world in Washington, USA.

In large, tree-lined pastures graze big-framed Thoroughbred mares of correct and athletic build with promising foals romping around them. Standing at stud are acclaimed Thoroughbred stallions, including the son of the legendary NORTHERN DANCER. But at this studfarm you will also find two Sporthorse sires: the Holsteiner COLONADO (COR DE LA BRYERE x LANDGRAF); and the beautiful Trakehner JACKSON by the top stallion MICHELANGELO. Attila Janik trains these two stallions. At Dios-Puszta Stud the spirit of the old Hungarian tradition of horsebreeding continues.

In the afternoon we made a stopover at the biggest private studfarm of the Kisberer breed near Szirak north of the city of Budapest. The owner is Mr. Janos Loska. We were pleasantly surprised by the quality of this beautiful noble horse breed, here well managed and further developed by the proprietor of the 150 hector studfarm. Among the broodmare band we discovered a Shagya-Arabian mare from the GAZAL VII line. Mr. Loska plans to use a Shagya stallion next year. There was not much time left to return to the airport. The farewell was heartfelt and in anticipation of a reunion America in the near future.