2018Ljubicevo Equestrian Game - First Day Cover

In the immediate vicinity of Požarevac, on the right bank of the Great Morava, Prince Miloš Obrenović built a summer house for his wife and children in 1858. In addition to the facility, he built several stables where he held his horses, perhaps the only private horses in Serbia in Turkish times.

Prince Miloš donated this estate, called Morava, and all the horses on it, in 1860, to the state. The horse farm which was the second largest in Serbia at the time was a part of the Horse breeding Institute Dobričevo near Ćuprija. The management of the Institute was later moved to Požarevac, and then to the Miloš estate Morava, which Prince Mihailo Obrenović named Ljubičevo in honor of his mother Ljubica.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Ljubičevo was a horse-breeding institution of the European rank, with about 500 heads of pure breed, studs from Constantinople and fillies from Austria. Over the decades, the horse farm survived numerous misfortunes of national history, but a revival always came after a tough period. On several occasions it suffered devastation, and in 1965 it was restored at the initiative of the equestrian club Veljko Dugošević.

The restoration of the horse farm was also encouraged by holding of Ljubičevo Equestrian Games, an international sports and tourist event created in 1964, as a reflection of the tradition of the people of the Stig and the Pomoravlje region, and its eternal love for the noble animal – the horse.

The beginning of Ljubičevo Equestrian Games is marked by the parade of the participants. Before the parade, previous Knight of the Ljubičevo eventing hands over the saber to the mayor of the City of Požarevac, who after the end of the Games hands it over to the new winner of the Ljubičevo eventing.

In addition to gallop and harness racing, endurance riding, equitation competition, children’s equestrian voltige, horse show and horse cart race, this event also has a unique competition in the world – Ljubičevo eventing. In this competition, brave knights on horses compete in five traditional disciplines: mace shooting, arrow shooting, spear shooting, saber cutting and courier riding. The winner is entitled the Knight of Ljubičevo, and receives the red knight’s cape and the saber.

Expert collaboration: Sandra Šarčević, Graduated Geographer-Tourismmologist, Tourist Organization of the City of Požarevac and Jelena Vukazić, Graduated Philologist, Director of Tourist Organization of the City of Požarevac.

Expert collaboration: Vladimir Živanović, the Director of the Tourist Organization „Zlatibor”.

Artistic realization of the stamp: MA Boban Savić, academic painter.