Lajosmizse and the Puszta Horse Show

Our guide/driver took us to a horse farm near the small town of Lajosmizse. This place hosts groups of tourists like us to see the horses and the Hungarian cowboys called csikós (sounds a little like "chicos").

These fellows dress and ride very differently from American cowboys, as you will see in a subsequent post. They also all carry whips, and I'll treat you to some video clips of that as well. We were greeted with a round of whip cracking and the next thing you know they are driving a herd of horses around the paddock. The soil here is sandy resulting in a field of deep and dusty sand. Although we felt perfectly safe behind the wooden rail, these animals were really charging past us.



This post consists of photos of this charging herd as they came past us. It was quite exciting to see. I hope you appreciate it as well.

You can see the csikós behind the horses, driving them ahead. Even in this poor view of him, you can tell that he is dressed in bright blue and black with a black hat that has blown off his head.

I found the horses mesmerizing as they galloped past.

All the gray horses are Lipizzaners such as you would see on display in fancy shows in Vienna (as we saw a few years back).

Being in the curve of the track, give the impression that the horses are running right into us.

Looking in detail at the look on the horses faces, which I could not pause to appreciate at the time, shows an intensity that you seldom see. And these fellows are just running about on a farm. Imagine what you'd see if you were to meet a mounted horseman as you tried to invade Hungary!

All the colors and sizes of these horses...all the dust from pounding hooves...this scene even made me tired.

You can almost tell in the photo below that the csikós has his whip wrapped about him with the handle draped over his chest, ready for immediate action.

And this part was just the warm up for the main show that you see selections of in coming days. Stay tuned for more equestrian fun.