In October, from the palette of the
nature, the autumn paints the ‘great Hungarian’ plain from lush green into
gold, brown, yellow and amber. Lucky was I to be invited to the cottage
of ’Jaszkarajeno’ by Sandor Galambos to visit the National Coach Riding
competition in Hungary .
The Galambos family is one of the oldest horse breeding family, and he and his
son are winners of many European coach riding competitions.
Linguistics shows that the origin
of the word ‘coach’ and its equivalents in many European languages is the
Hungarian word ‘kocsi’-he says. It is
derived from the wagon of ‘Kocs’. The village of ‘Kocs’ in Hungary is
considered to be the home of coach builders who build the first light and fast
carriages. The colorful world of
carriage as part of everyday life has disappeared in inverse ratio to the rapid
advance of motorization. But an increasing number of horses are kept for sport
and recreation. Equestrian sports have made remarkable progress during the last
few decades and their popularity has increased in our motorized world. One of
the newest of the equestrian sports, carriage-driving, has recently been
accorded official recognition by the International Equestrian Federation.
Carriage-and-pair championships and four-in-hand World Championships has been
held in every two years. Carriage-driving competitions last three days, on the
first day there is presentation and dressage, on the second day the marathon,
and on the third day the obstacle driving. It is very complex challenge, which
requires much knowledge, attention and training.
Because it is a relatively new
sport, which is a short time in horse breeding, means that we cannot even speak
about individual breed especially suitable for driving competitions. The
horses, other accessories such as harness, vehicle and its fitting are of vital
importance. We usually use the Arab, the Lipizzaner, the Nonius and the
Hungarian half-breeds, but with some refinement in breeding, Mr. Galambos
explains. In selecting them, care must be taken regarding harmony, since
vehicles should not only meet the demands of practicability, but also those of
aesthetics. According to their usage, present day competition vehicles are
divided into two groups: road carriages and cross-country carriages. As
carriage-driving is a formal event, dark clothing is considered to appropriate
to wear. It is very much the driver’s favour if his dress matches the colour of
the covers and the grooms’ outfit. If the assistant driver wears national
costume, the driver himself should be dressed in dark gray or black. The
costume of the grooms and of the assistant drivers can be proper coachman’s
livery or the original national costume of a particular geographic region. The
assistant driver of a carriage-and-pair may be attired in a sporting style
similar that of the driver. Ceremonial dress is always close fitting, the boots
have seam on the side, the shafts are stiff and the counters low. The characteristic
broad-brimmed hat is adorned with ostrich feathers. A fringed silk tie and
brown leather gloves complete the outfit. The first day, the presentation is
actually a kind of ‘beauty contest’ in which a three-member jury judges the
competing teams. A very essential aspect is that horses of a team should be
uniform in colour and size. The harness should be put on correctly and the team
has to be fully equipped. The driver and the grooms should be dressed according
to the rules. All the parts of the carriage, and accessories like shabracks,
blankets, upholstery, dress, should coordinate in colour and style. Further
points are awarded to the trimness of the team, i.e horses, harness, carriage,
dress, boots and shoes should all be in the best condition.
During cross-country driving or
marathon - which is the second day of the competition - the distance to be
covered is between 20 and 30 km on very different kind of road: lose sand,
gravel, loess or plain, hilly and rocky ground and sometimes even mountains.
The third day of the competition is
the obstacle driving. The course of obstacle driving is either on turf or in a
stadium. The obstacles to be negotiated in the sequence are: gates, U or
Z-formed passages and there are sometimes water-ditches and platforms. The
rather spectacular nature of obstacle driving gives it a high entertainment
rating, and it usually attracts several thousand spectators. It is important to
be prepared for this, as no driver is without nerves - says Mr. Galambos and
instead of inviting us into a race coach, with a smile he whisked us into a
ceremonial coach to enjoy the stunning autumn sunset of the ‘Puszta’. We just
can not resist sharing the beauty and joy of driving coaches.
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