(…) After the 1830 uprising, by the tsar’s will of 1835, Kozienice was transformed into a majorate awarded to General Den for his services.

The beautiful spacious palace (formerly royal) located just outside the city and the park remained - they were incorporated into the city. However, after the resurrection of Poland, the Russian majorate of 1920 was classified as national property and transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture, which again gave 550 morgens of land to the management of state studs to establish a herd of English thoroughbred horses. The stud farm was built on a former farm. Although two farm buildings, very long, made of brick, could be suitable for conversion into stables, the appropriate reconstruction, as well as the construction of apartments for the servants and management, required a lot of time. Preparatory work lasted about two years and it was not until October 17 last year that 62 horses were moved from Janów to Kozienice, namely three stud stallions: King's Idler, Manton and Ballyheron, and two stallions from the depot of stud mares, 22 and 19 young ones. The number of mares was soon increased by four mares remaining in Janów and four given to private racing stables to be tested on the track and returned at the end of the season.

Two long stables, divided into cages (boxes), after complete technical modification can accommodate about 120 horses. The two-storey residential building houses the management, veterinarian and office. Separate apartments are for the grooms. In front of the stables, located at a certain distance, there is a large roundabout, where stallion rides take place every morning, and behind the barrier (inside) there is a free space for leading mares or letting them out.

However, in an educational facility, feeders are of primary importance.

The lands in the Kozienice region, as mentioned above, generally have a chalk base, however, as for crops and grasses, there is a significant difference in the lands located very far from the Vistula and those that are subject to its influence and moisture, and even partial irrigation. Namely, on the 550 acres, given over to the stud farms and located closer to the Vistula, a significant part contains very fertile lands and in this area we can see 40 acres of natural pastures, and 40 sown with various grasses (white clover is visible in them) and alfalfa (20 acres).

Lucerne is not yet widely used here, it requires very careful cultivation, with the right soil and fertilizers, but it is an excellent and nutritious feed for horses. The feeders (paddocks) are located at a certain distance from the stables and are surrounded by white wooden barriers, which in time are to be changed into ramparts with branches on top and ditches, i.e. fences used generally in England and France, and best of all to protect horses from accidents.

In thoroughbred breeding, the system of pens is adopted, with the division of horses according to age and sex. The release of herds into meadows with mounted guards has long been discontinued. In Ukraine (primarily) and in Volhynia, before the war, I saw purebred herds, consisting of Arabian and Anglo-Arabian and thoroughbred horses, guarded on vast, grassy areas by mounted herdsmen. But the former local conditions, especially in terms of space, land, and feed, were exclusive, separate. In Janów, despite very extensive meadows and pastures, an area of ​​2038 acres, the division of young horses according to age and sex into herds, thoroughbred horses did not enter them, they were kept in pens.

In Kisber, the famous pre-war Hungarian herd, the young thoroughbreds took exercise in the pens, and on the adjacent farms from spring on vast "empty areas", under the supervision of herd keepers.

It should therefore be assumed that the stud farm management, by creating a separate thoroughbred "nursery", aimed at a broader and special development of this breeding and an appropriate enlargement of the feeders in the pens.

Kozienice is topographically more favourable than Janów, it lies almost in the centre of Poland, and there is a railway line to the place (connecting the Bąkowiec station with Kozienice by a siding), which makes it easier to bring mares belonging to private owners.

The new main brick stable is being gradually finished and will house: stud stallions, about two stallions from the depot (also used as test stallions), in the middle of the building there will be a riding arena serving as a stable, and on the other side there will be a section for yearlings.

The stables, already occupied by the horses, have a water supply connected to the river, the boxes are spacious enough, there are no ladders or baskets for hay, it is placed in one of the corners of the box on straw, the troughs (wooden) are movable, secured on the outside with iron fittings, with a hook for attaching to an appropriately designed fitting on the wall.

Installing and removing the troughs is very easy, and has the advantage that the troughs can be cleaned better, and they do not remain overnight, which can be dangerous when the horse staggers while lying down, suddenly starts up and is unable to get up.

Instead of floors in the boxes and corridors there is heavily packed clay, resembling a dirt floor.

The stud stallions from Janów were acquired in England by a special commission together with a dozen or so others at auctions in Newmarket at the end of 1922. The stallions are as follows: light bay 9 1. King's Idler (Lomond — In Sight), bay with bald spot 8 1. Mantón (Bayardo—and Jane Grey Il). The stallions are purebred, of good exterior, and have competed successfully on English tracks. As for the dimensions, King's Idler measures 161 c. in height, 185 c. in volume, 21 c. under the knee. Mantón is 158 c. in height, 180 c. in volume, 198 c. under the knee. Mantón has very lean limbs, a very strongly connected body and a slightly sloping backline, a high neck, and a nice head. King's Idler does not reveal the size of a centimeter at first glance, but he gives the impression of a very noble horse. The yearlings that I had the opportunity to see are on average bigger after Manton than King's Idler. Manton had the most success in the breeding season - he raised 12 state mares in Kozienice, 39 private ones. King's Idler 8 state mares, 12 private ones, and 5 half-bloods brought from the area by breeders. The third full-blood stallion, Stawropol (Spearmint and Serenada), 5 years old, is still in the making, he was bought in England at the end of last year and sent to Kozienice to replace the also foreign Ballyheron, sent to Małopolska to the mating station of Mr. Ziętarski. Stavropol ran in England not without success, his type betrays his pedigree - his dimensions are satisfactory, namely: 162 cm. height, 181 cm. volume, 20.5 cm. below the knee - he covered 4 state mares, 16 private owners of full-bloods, 2 half-bloods - 5 mares brought from the area.

Turning to the mares, the basis of breeding - in Kozienice there are 30 state-owned, among them stand out: Gamma (Floreal - Gavotte), Chrysothemis (Gal'tee Boy - Hazlehen), Rusałka (The Story - Kassandra), Jone (John o Gaunt - Heroine), Blaustrumpf (Blondel - Chatter-Watter), Aragwa (Aboyer - Beatrixe). The herd mares come partly from the old famous herd of Michał Łazarew, or are imported from abroad or domestic.

69 mares of private owners were brought for the copulatory period and were housed in high and bright government stables. The following owners sent mares to Kozienice: Władysław Count Zamoyski 2, Konstanty Count Zamoyski 6, Stanisław Prince Lubomirski 1, pp.: F. Jurjewicz and A. Counts Wielopolski 6, Hieronim Prince Lubomirski 4, Tomasz Prince Lubomirski 4, Eugeniusz Grzybowski 4, Andrzej Count Morsztyn 3, Adam Prince Czartoryski 4, Michał Róg 10, Aleksander Grodziński 2, Kazimierz Dziekoński 3, Bronisław Szwejcer 4, Witold Charłupski2, Stanisław Maryewski I, Michał Berson2, Ludwik Orpiszewski 3, Aleksander Olszowski 1, Bohdan Wydżga 2, Ryszard Kwiatkowski 1.
To complete the breeding data, it should be mentioned that in the breeding season state mares brought 17 foals (9 colts and 8 foals), yearlings (1924 breeding season is 18 (10 colts and 8 foals). Foals from private mares were born in the breeding season 34 (15 colts and 19 foals)

The manager of the herd in Kozienice is Mr. Ryszard Zoppi, who has already worked a lot in the breeding field, being an assistant in Janów to Count Nieroth before the war, then to Colonel Czaplin, and then, during the war, he managed the Poltava thoroughbred herd named after "Michał Łazarew", by will submitted to the government.

Fabulous, historical events and evolutions contributed to Mr. Zoppi1 returning to Poland, he is now a citizen of Poland and devotes all his knowledge and experience to Polish breeding. The veterinarian is a Pole, Mr. Seweryn. Kozienice and also Janów remain in close contact with the board of the state studs in Warsaw, of which, as is known, Mr. F. Jurjewicz is the director.

In view of the economic crisis and agricultural reforms, the importance of government herds has increased even more, because the most valuable sires are concentrated in them. There is no talk of the old, magnate, broad breeding any more, it belongs to the past, citizen breeding is also decreasing, peasants are mostly drawn to cold blood, and yet the state needs noble horses to renovate the cavalry and not to buy horses abroad for millions. Lighter and durable horses are also needed for camps, transports, agriculture, and neither airplanes nor cars will replace them.

Author: Stanislaw Wotowski
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