Today we would like to tell you a story that we believe you will find it interesting, especially those who are animal lovers. This is the story of Marija Duda, a horse lover who will tell us what is life like living with horses and how they changed her life. Marija is also known for helping our “honey heroine” Atidze Muratova (documentary Honeyland ). She lives in two locations, one is New York, and the second is Macedonia, where she spends a lot of time during this period.

Macedonia is a very attractive country for keeping and riding horses. The relief of the country provides real adventure tours that are often organized in Western Macedonia, including: Galichnik, Mavrovo, Rostuse, Ohrid, but also parts of Eastern Macedonia, such as the famous air bath Berovo.

Marija says that she currently has two and a half horses, because one mom (mare) is pregnant and expects a baby.

She keeps the horses in the village where she has a house, and where besides the horses she keeps four dogs and six cats. Her house has a very good location in the village surrounded by fields and only three houses in the neighborhood which is ideal for breeding horses.

Her plan is to organize a horse tours soon and she says that 15 km from her home lives her friend who also keeps horses, which is ideal for a longer tour. But what is changing her mind at the moment is that she wants to focus on the animal treatment programs and she wants her NGO Pink Support to launch pilot events this summer.

Marija says that her parents were against her living with horses because as a child she was known for “stealing” horses and donkeys to ride them when she lived in the countryside while later in 2012 she started taking professional riding lessons.

Two years ago she went to Africa on an adventure in order to ride and meet different types of horses.

Marija says that it is very easy to fall in love with the horses. She has adored them since she was a child and never thought that she would return to Macedonia or that Macedonia would fulfill her childhood dream of having a ranch, animals and doing what she loves, and at the same time she is having a completely different life in New York. By registering a horse kennel, she confirms that her passion for the horses won’t go away as easily as many expected.

She says that one should be careful with the horses because they can feel every positive or a negative energy in a person, the anger and everything that we carry on us, and that can be reflected on them.

According to her, people in Macedonia should pay more attention to how they treat them and horses should be valued more. She is making a comparison with us and the West where today there are excellent programs used by many patients with various diseases and children with special needs.

Her goal is to transfer this energy to Macedonia, and to make this country her second home where such programs will be implemented.

For her the horses are not pets to watch and to listen to us consistently, but they are partners that should be trusted as a leader if we want to deserve their trust.

Marija is very happy to be in Macedonia.  Her daily routine is to use every nice, sunny day to take her horses to pasture while she enjoys drinking coffee or tea with biscuits and reading a book.

Collecting hay in the summer is one of her favorite activities, followed by horse riding at sunset. She has always had interesting experiences with the horses; especially the one with her mare Fida that loves to drink coffee from her cup.

Marija advises everyone who wants to breed horses that they should constantly upgrade their knowledge by reading literature about them, learning from the village elders and having a great patience.