Late 90's

I had always wanted a horse, since teenage-hood. I was in a 4H club with no horse. How sad!
But I learned a lot. And those 4H years (with no horse!) prepped me for taking english saddleseat lessons in 1992-1993 and then finally, for buying my first horse, a Morgan/Quarter Horse cross, in 1995. I enjoyed riding her and had many good times. But I had growing fears about her snarkiness that I did not want to deal with after she gave me a good chomp on my drawing forearm! So off she went. I took a nasty spill on another horse that broke my nose (and kind of damaged my desire to be around the things). However, the next horse came along, an unregistered Morgan, who I bought in August 1998. He was an old guy, at least 20. Bombproof but a hard keeper. I learned a great deal about how to take care of a horse with founder, heaves and an inability to put on weight in the winter.
But he was friendly, a nice lesson horse for the kids at the boarding stable and liked learning a few tricks. I had started learning clicker training basics in 1997 and this was the first horse I tried it on. In August 2000 I felt I was ready to train my own horse from scratch and that the old boy had one more adult beginner left in him. I sold him that month to another woman who was like me, getting started in horses as an adult, who wanted an old guy who could teach her horse-confidence. That he did- and he lived for 2 more years.
I had made a good friend from Sweden and she introduced me to the Norwegian Fjord Horse, a primitive horse breed from Norway. I fell in love with their gentle nature, good looks (I always said they looked like old new wave horses with their cool Duran Duran hairstyle) and train-ability.
My Fjord dreams waited until July 2001, when I was able to find an affordable 3 year old gelding, which I imported from Canada. How does this relate to Podengos? Well, it was with him that I learned, finally, how to import an animal from another country.
My ACD Rescuing was getting old to me at that point and I was lucky enough to find someone who was willing to take it over, eventually. She did take over in early 2004 and I could finally actually devote myself and my time (and money) to the pursuit of a Podengo.