Jerzy Grabowski

Rider, breeder, director of the Stallion Stud in Kwidzyn, trainer of the Polish team in eventing at the Olympic Games in Munich 1972.

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Jerzy Grabowski made his mark in the history of Polish horse riding primarily as a trainer of the eventing team in the 60s and 70s. To all those who remember him, he is associated with the inseparable pipe and the smell of noble tobacco. He was one of those who stood out in the times of the crude PRL with his original image and open mind. But let's start from the beginning...

Our hero was born on January 19, 1928 in Abramowicze (Lublin Province). There have always been horses in his life. Father, Janusz Grabowski, bred these noble quadrupeds with the cavalry in mind. At that time, we had the best in the world, famous for the "Miracle on the Vistula".

Jerzy Grabowski was entering adulthood right after World War II. His future was to be decided by his mother's letter addressed to Stanisław Hay, director of the State Stallion Stud in Sieraków. In this letter, Mrs. Zofia Grabowska informed about her husband's death and recommended her son for an apprenticeship in Sieraków. Stanisław Hay and Janusz Grabowski were friends, in the interwar period they studied at the same year at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences.

In Sieraków, the young trainee met Krysia, the director's intelligent and attractive daughter. Close relations between the Hay and Grabowski families became even closer in 1952, when Krystyna and Jerzy got married. The fruits of this relationship were two children: Małgorzata and Janusz (who inherited his grandfather's name).

In his professional career, after graduating from the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Poznań, young Jerzy Grabowski, M.Sc. Engineer, worked in various units of state horse breeding (since 1951 assistant director at the Posadów stud farm, from 1952 deputy director at the stallion herd in Gniezno , from 1962 deputy head of the Selection Department in Służewiec, from 1963 director of the stallion herd in Kwidzyn).

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Author: Mieczyslaw Zagor

The entire publication and other sources can be found in the Polish Digital Equestrian Library (click)

Below you will find links to related materials in the Polish Digital Equestrian Library.