Debrecen4U
June 24, 2025
Hortobágy Equestrian Days cannot be held in the anniversary year
Sixty years before, on 19 and 20 June 1965, the public could see for the first time the large-scale event of the later famous Hortobágy Equestrian Days. Ironically, it is not possible to hold this year’s Hortobágy Equestrian Days on the 60th anniversary of the event. In 2025, the round anniversary was overshadowed by the foot-and-mouth disease epidemic. As a result, the huge horse festival and all events that would have endangered the animals, which represent a valuable genetic heritage, were cancelled this year.
The dreamer of the equestrian programme was György Sándor Hetey, who two years later became known as a stud manager in Hortobágy. The large-scale Hortobágy equestrian show, which has become legendary over the decades, and its many other attractions are associated with his name, which has become an event of not only county and national fame but certainly European fame as well.
György Sándor Hetey also founded the hussar banderium, which today prospers as the Hajdú-Bihar County Hussar Tradition Preservation Association, back in 1988, on the occasion of a huge international hussar meeting in Budapest at the time. György Sándor Hetey was a captain in the Hungarian Royal Army in his earlier life, and was then promoted to a rehabilitated artillery major after the change of regime.
The current hussar tradition keepers paid tribute to the work of their founder by laying a wreath at the Hetey memorial plaque on the wall of the Nyerges presszó (bar) in Hortobágy on June 20, 2025.
As expected, two colts, junior colt Péter Kosina and colt László Szabó, were also present at the memorial, as were András Ádám Jakab, mayor of Hortobágy, and László Sándor Boros, stud manager of Hortobágyi Nonprofit Kft.
On behalf of the hussar band, custodian of the hussar tradition Gábor Szabó gave a commemorative speech, recalling the history and significance of the great equestrian events, and then wreaths of remembrance were placed at the plaque on the wall of the building, where custodians of the hussar tradition Csaba Adorján and János Csontos stood guard of honour, Endre Szoboszlai, press officer of the hussar band, informed our editorial team.
Source:dehir.hu | Photo credit: Pixabay
