I spent August 1989 in Poland following Tadeusz Mazowiecki, who was elected Prime Minister, forming the first non-communist-led government in the Soviet bloc. This was such an amazing story to cover after spending years working in Poland during the communist era.

I didn’t want to head home. I love Poland, and wanted some down time in that beautiful country.

I’d heard about the stud at Janow Podlaski, but never before had the time or more importantly the permission to travel there. Now that it was finally possible to travel freely, I decided to drive In my blue Polski Fiat the two hours east of Warsaw, and spend a day with the horses. So I threw my trusty Leica M6, three lens with a few rolls of tri-x into a bag, and headed off.

The stud was founded in 1817 and to this day is state owned. I photographed the director Andrzej Krzyształowicz who was responsible for preserving this institution in the turbulent times after the end of the Second World War. The stud is still famous around the world for their Arab, Anglo-Arab and Janów horses.

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©Justin Leighton 2026