08/01/2020

Highest Order of Merit of Iceland for Günther Weber

At the beginning of the year, the passionate horse breeder, host of legendary international championships at his stud near Neubrandenburg and the founder of the company, Günther Weber, received an extraordinary honour in Iceland. The Icelandic President Guðni Th. Jóhannesson had invited him to his residence Bessastaðir outside Reykjavík and awarded the dignitary, who was born near Marburg, the Order of the Falcon and thus the highest national award of the Republic of Iceland.

This Order of Merit (Fálkaorðan) was founded in 1921 by the Danish King Christian X. Since 1941, the award of the oval medallion - enamelled blue on the front, gold rimmed and decorated with a silver falcon - has been the responsibility of the President of Iceland.
From him Günther Weber now received a tribute to his great and decades of service to horse breeding in Iceland (Kvistir Stud) and to building bridges to Germany (Schloßberg Stud). The horse with its unique gaits and its special character is one of the very best ambassadors of Iceland, said the President, and Günther Weber has been working for many years to enrich the life of Icelandic horses in their country of origin and also in Germany through his breeding, with events and a generous support of the voluntary work of the association.

The new bearer of the Order of the Falcon was very pleased: "I am very touched and grateful to receive this award. Iceland and the Icelandic horse have been an inseparable part of my life since the 1980s, and I consider it an enormous privilege to be able to look back on so many wonderful memories thanks to the people and horses that have accompanied my path during this time".
Günther Weber was accompanied on Bessastaðir by a number of Icelandic companions. Afterwards, the group met with other friends and colleagues at Weber's stud farm Kvistir in the south of the Island - to celebrate the end of the day under the sign of the Order of the Falcon!