Based on the provisions of Section 19a of Act No. 111/1990 Coll. on State Enterprises, as amended, we announce the results of the selection procedure for the position of Director of the National Stud Farm "Topoľčianky", a state-owned company, which was held on January 8, 2025.
This year the little ones did not miss the arrival of St. Nicholas at the National Stud Farm in Topoľčianky. As is tradition, it was preceded by a rich accompanying program. However, the biggest attraction for the audience was the fairy tale story in the magical atmosphere of the upcoming Christmas holidays.
On the occasion of the meeting of the Government on November 27, 2024 in Topoľčianky, the director of the National Stud Farm Topoľčianky Samuel Sokol welcomed the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Slovak Republic Richard Takáč, the State Secretary of the Deputy Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic for the Recovery Plan and Knowledge Economy Alena Sabelová, and the State Secretary of the Ministry of the Environment of the Slovak Republic Filip Kuffa. The rare visit toured the stud farm and all 5 bred horse breeds. As part of the short program, the riders demonstrated mirror riding pas de deux and demonstrations of exercises from the Classical Topoľčianky School.
This year, the breeders at the National Stud Farm Topoľčianky commemorated an exceptional jubilee. On July 21, 2024, a sturdy Lipizzaner stallion was born at the Hostie stud farm. That would not be anything extraordinary, but this stallion is the 9,000th foal born in the 103-year history of the National Stud Farm. Conversano XVII-9 was born out of the dam 775 Sotéria by Favory XII Allegra (from the Stornela family). This elite broodmare has already bred 10 foals and her daughter Salencia is also active in the stud farm. The stallion's father is the bay stallion, Conversano XVII Grandéza, who, after the performance tests he completed in 2018 in the Elite class, was included in the sports testing in dressage.
On October 24, 2024, stallion performance tests were held at the National Stud Farm: 2 Lipizzaner stallions, 2 Hucul stallions and 1 Shagya-Arabian stallion owned by the National Stud Farm “Topoľčianky“ š.p., one Shagya-Arabian stallion and one Arabian thoroughbred stallion owned by a private breeder.
Every year, the National Stud Farm and the Slovak Equestrian Federation end the sports and breeding season with a festive Hubert's Ride. This year's participants were accompanied by truly beautiful sunny weather with pleasant temperatures and a romantic palette of autumn colors.
The Selection Committee for Horse Breeding of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Slovak Republic (hereinafter referred to as the "MPRV SR") held the autumn horse breeding evaluation at the "Topoľčianky" stud farm on October 16-17, 2024.
On October 17, 2024, the President of the Slovak Republic, Peter Pellegrini, visited the Nitra Self-Governing Region. He concluded his regional trip with a visit to the National Stud Farm in Topoľčianky, continuing the tradition established by the first Czechoslovak president, T.G. Masaryk, when each of the former Czechoslovak and Slovak presidents visited the National Stud Farm.
On September 7-8, 2024, the second part of the Slovak Dressage Championships took place at the Topoľčianky National Stud Farm. This time, categories were announced for young horses, pony riders and seniors. Based on the fulfilled qualification criteria of the riding pairs, all categories were opened except for 7-year-old horses, where the minimum number of participants was not met.
On August 31st, almost all vaulting clubs from Slovakia gathered again in the National Stud Farm. The reason was the penultimate round of the Slovak national ranking Slovak Vaulting Cup 2024. For all trainers, lungers and their horses, it was an opportunity to improve their previous scores in their category. Almost 50 individuals, 3 pairs and 3 groups performed here. The performances were truly fantastic, there was something to watch....
On August 10-11, 2024, the Slovak Dressage Championship was held at the Topoľčianky National Stud Farm. Of the four announced categories, three were opened based on the fulfilment of the qualification criteria for the riding pairs - the children's category, younger juniors and older juniors. Unfortunately, the young rider category did not open due to the lack of the minimum number of participants.
On July 21, 2024, popular horse races were held again in Topoľčianky. It was the eleventh horse race day in Slovakia this year and the second in Topoľčianky. The pleasant summer weather attracted more than 2,000 fans of this adrenaline-fueled equestrian discipline.
On July 6-7, 2024, the first of three planned dressage events took place at the National Stud Farm. Competitions were held at levels from "Z" to "T", including tasks for young horses.
As part of the first foreign visit at the level of agricultural ministers today, July 1, 2024, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Slovak Republic, Richard Takáč, welcomed the Minister of Agriculture of the Czech Republic, Marek Výborný. The topics of the joint talks were mainly the common agricultural policy, imports of agricultural commodities from Ukraine, problems with large carnivores and deforestation.
After a break of several years, the penultimate weekend of June 2024 saw the return of international driving competition at the Topoľčianky National Stud Farm, with the Slovak Championship taking place at the same time. Preparing such an event is one of the most demanding of all equestrian disciplines, both organizationally and financially.
PROGRAM:
7:00 AM – 8:00 AM Horse loading
8:30 AM Passport check, horse measurement
9:30 AM Pre-selection Presentation of horses at a walk and trot on hand, at ease, followed by evaluation of the pre-selection.
10:00 AM HORSE PERFORMANCE TESTS
10:15 AM Performance tests: type, exterior, arrival (dressage)
11:15 AM Performance tests: marathon, dressage test, driver's show.
3:00 PM Evaluation and recording of performance tests.
On the penultimate weekend of May, the first of this year's sports events took place in the grounds of the National Stud - the May Prize of the National Stud Farm Topoľčianky. More than 120 riding pairs from all over Slovakia and the Czech Republic came to test their strength, which resulted in 330 starts. Competitions were opened from the ZM to M (130 cm) level. As part of this event, one of the qualifying rounds of the Young Horse Criteria, which is covered by the Association of Horse Breeders in Slovakia, was held. The rich audience backdrop made the atmosphere of the entire event pleasant.
SELECTION COMMISSION
1st May is traditionally associated with the Open Day, which is extremely popular among the general public. This year it was the XXIV th year of welcoming the new breeding, sports and tourist season. In addition to the National Stud, Chateau Topoľčianky, Topoľčianky Castle, Topoľčianky Village and Topoľčianky Park also took part in the event. The pleasant almost summer weather attracted more than 15,000 visitors.
On April 17, 2024, as part of her visit to Topoľčianky, the President of the Slovak Republic, Zuzana Čaputová, visited the Topoľčianky National Stud, thereby maintaining the tradition established by the first Czechoslovak president T.G. Masaryk, when each of the former Czechoslovak and Slovak presidents visited the National Stud.
