Hello, Istria!

I've been spending summers in Istria for quite a few years. My whole summer would be consisted of taking care of horses, riding and hanging out with Istrian people who are generally really funny, easy going but hardworking as well. I love them because every time I come to Istria I am around people who thought me how to live my life - work hard, give the best you can to everything that you are doing, but never forget to enjoy the fruits of your hard work and don't hesitate to share them with others. I think that is the best possible motto one can have.

For the past couple of years I frequently visit my very good friends in Pazin who also own a horse ranch and a riding club named KK Soko. There I always feel like a part of family and try to be of use to them as much as I can.  With them I have shared some of my greatest experiences. This time Iva came along as well. We spent a weekend at their ranch. It was an active weekend indeed!

We arrived Friday late afternoon so, naturally, first thing we did the next day was a 3 hours riding tour! Riding club is a frequent organizer of horse endurance events and have at least 30km of cleaned riding paths through the woods around the ranch. That way we didn't have to fight our way through the bushes but could simply enjoy our companionship with horses and beautiful intact nature surrounding us! There is around 20 horses at the ranch at the moment and most of them are used for tracking tours. They are all well trained, calm and safe to go trekking.

Afterwards Iva and I went to Poreč to meet a couple of our friends from Austria and took them to the ranch as well since they had a wish to go riding. We took them to the woods and by the end of the tour, they managed to guide the horses without our help and even get them to trot on their own. I was very proud of them! :) By the time we got back Iva and I came up with a decent payback for the time they threw water balloons at me in the middle of Vienna. We decided to use some of those water balloons that I happened to have with me in my camera bag. So I prepared them while they took the horses back to the pasture. The balloon war was not as successful as we planned, because the balloons didn't want to break properly (and we were all wet in the end, instead of just them). Heh, at least we tried ;). Owner of the ranch, Milan, offered us with some wonderful homemade honey schnapps as a warm up.

Weekend was a real blast, surrounded with wonderful friends, horses, nature and fresh air.  We came back to Zagreb with a good healthy muscle pain. It is a miracle how after riding you find out about the muscles that you didn't even know you had ;)

If you ever find yourself in Istria, make sure to visit the KK Soko in Pazin. Great time and wonderful atmosphere will be guaranteed! They offer riding tours to tourists as well, at really affordable prices. The best thing of all is that once you are there, you will never want to go away! :)

Talk to us, have you ever visited Istria?  Do you like horses? Would you try horseriding in Pazin?

Love,

Petra