Update nr 1

I've just been out for a pleasant walk with my Transylvanian dog Mina, through the woods and along a pleasant grassy trail in the golden slanting evening light when shadows are long.

I have also, again, had to delete comments by another bigotted Romanian troll. Apparently I have disappointed the Roms. I did not do enough for them. I wonder which of the following was insufficient?

Bringing over a million euro ($1.5m) into their rural economy, a lot of money when a family income of 200 euro a month is normal?

Departing because it became patently obvious that a tourism business just wasn't viable thanks to high prices for services, poor quality of just about everything, and foreign tourists simply not wanting to see trash in the rivers and mountains clear-felled of their trees?

Employing half a dozen people on fair wages for the best part of a decade?

Creating a great deal of positive publicity and bringing visitors from forty countries to see Romania?

Tolerating being followed by the secret police and having my phone tapped as if these were normal occurences?

Forgiving certain of my neighbours numerous times for stealing from me, for gossip, for slander?

Before that, helping run an aid organisation that brought a considerable amount of food and medicine into Romania immediately after the fall of communism?

Perhaps I failed because I wasn't a magician? I couldn't suspend the laws of economics. Nor could I put a spell on hoteliers to serve food on time and hot. I was not able to blind tourists to the trash that was thrown down everywhere. Neither could I bewitch anyone with a work ethic.

But, believe me, I worked so hard and creatively that, had I been in any other European country - a nice civilised places like Austria, for instance; even former communist states such Hungary or Poland - my business would have flourished and local people with me.

A note to the minority of troublemaker: I will delete defamatory, libellous or otherwise offensive comments. My life and happiness are no longer predicated by a whining minority driven by envy and prejudice. I am beyond your clutches.

I did enjoy my walk. I appreciated the tranquility, the pleasure of walking along trails not lined with discarded trash, the sight of green hills not disfigured by ugly weekend villas, the wind whistling through wodds not hacked to pieces by indiscriminate logging, the knowledge that I live in a place where people care about their environment.

Comments

[Rebecca]

Great comments here, keep up the good work.

[Paul White]

Hi Julian,

Could you please help me with a request from a South American vet. He has sen some photos I took of wild horses the other day and wants to know if this breed has any relation the horses used by Attila and his hordes? I would really appreciate your opinion. Here is a link to the photos. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=114606&id=540269912&l=1829562ae7

Best wishes, Paul

[Dragos]

I think that for one decade you have done more than your share of good and constructive deeds. I will never forget the help with the farriery class you gave us, a few who wanted to learn. Also, to the best of my knowledge, you wrote the ONLY Romanian book in recent decades about farriery, including practical advices and using plain simple language instead of sophisticated phrases, so that everyone can learn from it.... too bad that very few people wants to learn around here....

[Laura]

People in the village still wistfully recall the "good old days" when you were working there and how much better it was for them. Every single one of your old employees would much, much rather work for you than the jobs they do now.

[Transylvanianhorseman]

Laura:

It is kind of you to comment. There has been a trickle of malicious posts by a couple of Romanian trolls - I have a good idea who is behind this - who have nothing but evil reports. I delete all such comments as a matter of principle. Were I a fraction as bad as they wish to make out, I would not have survived a year in that village nor have had friends there, neither would my business have done nearly as well as it did. If the mayor and his cronies has helped, rather than cast envious eyes across my property? (What is the betting that one of them will be the beneficiary of my investment?)Jealousy is a powerful drug. When someone objects that a foreigner made money from showing people "their" Romanian mountains, as well as promoting the bizarre propaganda that Romanians are morally superior, a strange and pointless (yet quite typical) nationalism is at work. If only they could devote that energy to installing a good, honest government!

[Magda Munteanu]

Hi Julian,
I'm Magda Munteanu, student for an MBA program at CEU Business Scool in Bucharest. I am doing an in-depth project about the possibility of launching an equestrian farm, similar to the one you had in Romania. It would be of great help to me to learn from your experience. Could you please contact me at +40723534210 or at [email protected]? I would appreciate a quick feedback from you.
PS: We met when I was working at BusinessWeek :-)

[I]

I'm very sorry to see that you're no longer running this superb movement. Three or so years ago I nearly booked to come but then didn't. I regretted it badly ever since. I had intended to approach you again, but not I read that you have been forced to pull the plug and that the situation seems gloomy, I am inclined to go elsewhere. Good luck and try to close the book on it. I