Bábolna is to be privatised and the stud dissolved!

... The land which belongs to the stud, on which today the dams graze peacefully with their foals, has become an object of speculation. Tamás Rombauer has been fighting for the stud over period of 17 years now, throughout a variety of different political constellations in Hungary. As Stud Director he has fought frequent battles with the ministries and corrupt politicians – and now they seem to have succeeded in calling "checkmate". Please read Tamás Rombauer's letter and – in a public action – help us to bombard the authorities of the Ministry of Agriculture with e-mails. Within the next few days we shall be publishing the relevant addresses and also preparing a letter in Hungarian which you can download and then send on. A convincing reaction from the general public is required if we are to achieve a worthwhile result. It is essential for us to make every conceivable effort. Because – as the well-known saying goes "Nothing ventured, nothing gained". With God's help and our own positive efforts, perhaps we may be able to achieve something. PLEASE HELP - EVERY INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTION COUNTS! Very best wishes Gabriele Boiselle

LETTER Tamás Rombauer:

Dear Friends!
I would like to inform you, that with 17th January 2008 I have been withdrawn as director of Bábolna National Stud Estate Ltd., and at the same time my employment with this company has come to an end.

The decision has been made by the National Council of Property Agency and has been executed by the director general of the Corporation Responsible for National Properties. In the background of the affair is the acquisition of 11.000 hectare of land of the earlier company, the Bábolna Corporation, from which until today the Stud could not get any hectare. Moreover, the decision of the government regarding this (namely that the Bábolna National Stud would get 760 hectares of land) has not been executed for one and a half years. Their intention is to give the stud together with the horses to trusteeship, for which there is no operable pattern in the world.

I have been in charge of the breeding program of Bábolna Stud for 17 years and during the last 5 years I was the director of the whole National Stud Estate Ltd. (2 studs, the Arabian Stud Bábolna and the Englisch Thoroughbred Stud in Dióspuszta, the tourism, botanic and zoological park, operating of the electric network, maintenance of the traditional buildings, organising fairs and exhibitions, school). We have reached significant results, in which our breeding, professional co-operation with international organisations and breeders played an important role. All this needed all my time and attention, and so I could not accept many invitations that I received in the last years. Thank you for your understanding!

I would also like to thank everybody, who granted help to Bábolna in the past, mainly since 1990. The place would not be enough to make a list of these people, and I am sure, there were some of them, whom I would forget to mention, but Mr. Krzysztalowicz/Janow, Mr. Eckehard Frielinghaus (ISG) and Mr. Jay Stream (WAHO) are lucky, that they do not see, how the breeding work of 219 years will be eliminated.
Depending on my free time I will go on to assist the activity of the MALE (Society of the Hungarian Arabian Horse Breeders) as “volunteer”. Together with the directors of other European State Studs, we have begun to co-ordinate the activities of the National Studs of Europe, and have planned to create a Society, the European State Stud Assembly (ESSA). The necessity of this is now confirmed by what is happening in Bábolna and in Hungarian horse breeding.

Only the loud protest of the national and international public can help Babolna and prevent similar actions. At least, such a protest will probably make those responsible to re-consider what they have done.
This is by no means only a national problem, since the question to preserve a cultural heritage of Europe, in this case the Shagya-Arabs, is to preserve a horse breed, which has been qualified by the Hungarian Parliament as an endangered one. Regarding preservation of this breed, the President of Hungary, Mr. László Sólyom has committed himself. Decision regarding the future of the Bábolna National Stud can be made by Prof. Dr. János Nagy, President of the National Council for Property Agency, as well as the Financial Minister, Mr. János Veres.

“Today us – tomorrow you” - this could be the slogan, since every breed, which is in state ownership is threatened by this danger. And without any basis, the private breeders are not able to preserve what is considered a “not so modern” breed. Your protest can be successful if the press is also informed about what is happening. In case, you are going to do something in this regard, is our Society ready to help you. Once more thank you for your co-operation. Tamás Rombauer

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