Hungarian "csikós" show and bullwhip

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Special dedication to Henk Gerrits


The vast Hungarian Plain is called the puszta, a word meaning barren or empty.

Far from empty, though, the grassy puszta is an environment cultivated by humans and their herds over two millennia. Hungary‘s national park on the puszta, Hortobágy, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of this long and benign interaction. Here the horse culture of the ancient Magyars, the precursors of today’s Hungarians, was honed and refined.


A demonstration of Hungarian horses and Hungarian horsemanship on the puszta is a remarkable experience. Whips cracking, the csikoses, or horsemen, gallop round the ring, their baggy royal blue trousers and sleeves billowing behind them.The typical wear, wranglers' outfit and its supplemental bullwhip are also unique to the Hungarian wranglers. They can make their horses play dead, or sit like a dog as the men recline on them. A single horseman controls a team of five horses while standing on the backs of the rear two.