Guest gift for a state visit
Frank-Walter Steinmeier: Reunion with his horse in Mongolia
Frank-Walter Steinmeier with his horse in Mongolia 2014 (archive photo)
© Soeren Stache / DPA
Around ten years ago, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, as Foreign Minister, received a whole horse as a gift during his visit to Mongolia. Now he has returned to Mongolia as Federal President and wanted to know how “Thundering Hooves” was doing.
If you visit Mongolia as a state guest, you may even be given a whole horse as a gift. That’s exactly what Frank-Walter Steinmeier experienced about ten years ago during a visit, at that time still in his role as Foreign Minister. The young horse was named “Thundering Hooves” and remained in the East Asian nation when Steinmeier returned to Germany.
When Steinmeier came back to Mongolia as Federal President, he asked about his protégé: “I’m very excited to hear how ‘Thundering Hoofs’ is doing now and whether he still remembers me,” said Steinmeier. Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh instructed his staff to visit the horse with a photographer and document its life.
Gift in Mongolia: Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited his horse
The result was presented to Steinmeier during his two-day state visit: “Thundering Hooves” lives as a semi-wild horse around 620 kilometers east of Ulan Bator and is probably quite happy. The stallion has had a difficult time. He lost his herd in a fight and wandered aimlessly alone for two and a half years. He recently founded his own herd – with four mares.