About us

Andrei

My story begins with a dream. My grandfather, a shepherd guiding his sheep far from home during the seasonal transhumance, dreamt that his horse was returning from a nearby mountain with a baby in the saddle. He immediately called my father in the village, and simply asked, “Is it a boy?” The response came, “Yes.”

I grew up in that village, spending whole summers high in the Carpathian Mountains with my sister and our grandparents. We lived in traditional huts and I helped care for our animals - sheep, cows, dogs, horses, and donkeys. Life in the mountains was wild and free, with no bathrooms, no running water, and no worries beyond the well-being of our animals.

At the age of 12, I was determined to become a shepherd, declaring that I would quit school and acquire 200 sheep with my grandfather’s help. My family did not approve and I felt social pressure to make something of myself. So I became an engineer, later founding a construction installations company in Bucharest. Business was good, but I felt restless. My soul longed for the freedom of the mountains and the joy of riding horses through the wilderness. I traveled the world, believing I had wanderlust, but the fire inside me told me I needed something more…

Amalia

I was born to a family of dairy farmers, and spent my summers in huts in the mountains, just like Andrei. My grandmother and I would tend to the cows, happily picking fragrant mountain flowers, as she told me stories while knitting wool. We often roamed the woods, gathering mushrooms and foraging other wild edibles. I inherited a love for medicinal plants from my mother and grandmother while learning how to pick, dry, and prepare them.

My passion for nature led me to study chemistry and biology in high school, and I initially pursued a degree in the food industry, intending to become a food engineer. But I quickly realized I wouldn't be happy in a factory. I grew up with a healthy diet and I was concerned about healthy living, so instead I earned a master's degree in nutrition.

During my master's degree, I had the opportunity to work in a kindergarten and I’ll never forget the day of my interview. The moment I stepped into the school tears came to my eyes. I knew that working with children was my calling. However, while studying and working in Timișoara, a flatland city far from the mountains, I longed for the hills and forests of my childhood. Weekend hikes were not enough; I dreamed of living in the mountains again...

Horses Nest

One spring day, while visiting our respective childhood homes, we crossed paths for the first time. A newborn foal had just arrived, and we both went to see it - Amalia hiking up from her village and Andrei tending to his family’s mare. We met again two years later in Bucharest, where we bonded over our shared desire of returning to our roots.

We come from neighboring villages, separated by a ridge where we often hiked together while we were dating. We resolved to build our own modern “hut,” a well-being retreat where people could reconnect with nature and themselves. And so, Horses Nest (Cuibul Cailor), a home for horses and people together, was born in the very place where we first met, on that ridge.

We encountered challenges along the way. On Andrei’s 40th birthday, after weeks of fruitless drilling, we finally struck water at 120 meters deep, because we refused to give up. It was a validation of our path, a continuation of our shepherd ancestors’ spirit of persistence and endurance. Horses Nest is our way of living close to nature, preserving the traditions of our past, and sharing that peaceful existence with others. It is more than just a business; it is our home and our legacy.