About us

It was early in the evening, I was doing something with my father on Mount Zvijezda in the Dinaric Alps of Bosnia and Herzegovina. A thick coniferous forest encircled the valley on all sides, and as always on the mountain, it was pleasantly fresh. The silence seemed to accentuate the strength of the mountain. And suddenly from the distance I heard the thud of hooves. When they approached, I saw the outline of a man and a horse walking energetically next to each other. When the beautiful young stallion felt our presence he began to winny, neighing and prancing. The man was my uncle Miroslav. He adored horses and I’ll never forget his look when looking at a horse. That look impressed me with such a sense of awe of horses and wrote down the fate of my life with them.

In the 1980s, there were horses on almost every estate. Horse races were held in our area every year. My sister Bozana, our friend Zvjezdana and I, at the age of 9, went to visit my aunt. It took us half a day of riding to get there. My sister and I rode a black, strong and energetic mare, and Zvjezdana, her favorite horse, Cvjetko. We gave each other a leg up and got on the horses… First, slowly walking, and then a trot.

Growing up without TVs and computers, our imaginations worked like glowing balls; we told various stories as we enjoyed the ride. And then suddenly a bang, breaking branches, a flock of birds flying out of the trees, our horse pranced on its hind legs, and my sister and I crashed to the ground. We got up, shook off the dust from our clothes, gave each other a leg up, and got on the horse again… That’s how the love for these amazing animals-horses started.

In 2017, already an adult and father of 5 children, I led tourists, friends, and children on horses and organized the most beautiful route through Serbia. The Athens-Kassel Ride was organized by Peter van der Gugten, David Wewetzer, Tina Boche and Zsolt Szabo. They were headed from Greece to Kassel in Germany via Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia, and Peter asked me to find a route from Macedonia to Croatia, all on dirt roads over the mountains.

In May 2017, the day came. Peter called to say that they were on the border between Serbia and Macedonia. I got ready and drove to Nis to find them in an almost deserted village, horses grazing, saddles serving as beds, tent wings stretched, rain falling…

I also met young cameramen Mark and Sam, and in the evening we went to the local village. The gathering was unforgettable and the laughter enriched the atmosphere so that our English-speaking guests felt welcomed and at home.

In the morning, of course, we got up very early, fed the horses, prepared the equipment, and I searched the village for where we could get water for coffee. And of course, the poor man living in the very first house offered to make us coffee himself and invited us into his home.

We set off! They were already well-established, while I was looking for position and harmony with my horse Karabakh. The rain was falling so much that we couldn’t see almost anything in front of us. Petar did the navigating and the path led us right where the hikers had told us the route would be.

We arrived in Nis, and took a wonderful break with a tour of Nis before heading to Jastrebac the next day. Jastrebac! What a mountain, what a feeling. Before Jastrebac there are fields similar to the savannah, and we trotted for two hours without stopping. I thought to myself that if the horse just sneezed I would fall off it. When we arrived at Jastrebac it was a beautiful sunny day, with green May grass, and nature flourishing. We took a break and descended to the foot of Jastrebac on the other side of the mountain. After a hearty dinner and a tour of the thermal spa, we put on the saddle pads, tightened the tent wing and went to sleep. Can you imagine that feeling, the sound of horses when they chew the grass, the moonlight, the cold? I crawled into my sleeping bag and only my nose stuck out. Occasionally I looked at the stars and the outline of the trees until fatigue finally overwhelmed me.

You wonder whether I was sore from all the riding? Sure, I was bruised, but the euphoria kept me distracted and I didn’t notice it. At least not while we were riding.

Trstenik. The scouts and the rowing club hosted us, so I will always be happy to go to Trstenik again, as well as the Gledicke mountains… Tina Boche said that she’ll always remember waking up in the Gledicke mountains as one of the most beautiful mornings of her life. And indeed, that mountain is something special, magnificent, magical. Yes, that is the right word. A magical awakening in the shelter of mountain meadows.

After a few days we arrived in the area of Divcibare and Povlen. When you come to this area you feel like you are suddenly in another country, on the other side of the planet, unmatched and incomparable… Povlen fascinated me so much that in 2018 I bought land and started building the property we live on now. The hilly terrain that stretches for miles at 1000 meters above sea level, the view all the way to Durmitor, fresh air, the wind from the south in which I sometimes smell the sea, it’s all imprinted in my mind as a state of meditation. Even later today, I’ll be sitting on a horse and embarking on an adventure to explore the Dinaric Alps of this region. There is no goal, there is only the path and my faithful companion-horse.

Would you like to hear more stories while we light a campfire? Do you want to understand how we can and must live slower? Here is one way to taste that malt; the unobtrusive, natural way of symbiosis between man and nature.