Over recent decades, the Hortobágy Equestrian Days has grown into the region’s most influential event, known even beyond the country’s borders.Continue reading
The three-day program series of the Hortobágy Equestrian Days, the biggest summer event in the Puszta, begins today, July 15, with dressage and driving competitions, and horse shows at the Máta Racecourse.
This article was originally published on our sister-site, Ungarn Heute.
The main goal of the event is to present the past and present of the pastoral culture of the Hortobágy region, as well as the work of the Máta Stud Farm and its collection of horses and carriages.
During the 54th annual Equestrian Days, six hundred riders and about a thousand horses compete on the puszta, four hundred dancers entertain the guests, and children are entertained with various handicraft activities. Traditional puszta dishes are prepared in the ovens: about four hundred kilos of Hungarian Grey Steppe and Hortobágy Racka Sheep meat will be prepared at the foot of the Nine-arched Bridge during the three days.
In addition to the national and international show jumping competitions, there will also be a foal championship, and on Saturday the Hortobágy Gallop will begin, the regional qualifying round of the national show jumping competition, the winners of which will compete in Budapest in the fall.
In honor of the 50th anniversary of the dance hall movement this year, the organizers are preparing a large open-air dance hall in the riding hall of Hortobágy. To the sounds of the Bürkös Orchestra, the Dance Festival of the Carpathian Basin will accompany the program and invite the audience to dance.
Stilt walkers, puppet shows, storytellers, theatrical performances, children’s dancing, and cotton candy clouds await the youngest at the Children’s Riding Village, while sixty folk artists, craftsmen, and artisans offer their wares at the Craft Fair.
The Hortobágy Equestrian Days also features the Muzsikás Ensemble, a band that plays popular songs of the ballroom dance movement, to which young and old, big and small can dance the night away on Hortobágy.
The detailed program is available here.
Here are some photos from the Equestrian Days of previous years:
A rider of the Pusztai Fox Nomadic Traditional Association at the opening of the 50th Hortobágy Equestrian Days on July 9, 2016. Photo by Zsolt Czeglédi/MTI
Csikós (the mounted horse-herdsman of Hungary) at the opening of the 50th Hortobágy Equestrian Days on July 9, 2016. Photo by Zsolt Czeglédi/MTI
Pusztaötös at the 51st Hortobágy Equestrian Days on July 8, 2017. Photo by Zsolt Czeglédi/MTI
A csikós with a whip at the 52nd Hortobágy Equestrian Days on July 6, 2018. Photo by Zsolt Czeglédi/MTI
Source: MTI
Featured image: Pusztaötös at the 51st Hortobágy Equestrian Days on July 8, 2017. Photo by Zsolt Czeglédi/MTI