Budapest to Vienna
On the 10th June 2004, we left Budapest to ride to Donauschingwn and Offenburg, where
Eurocheval was being held.
“We” comprised the two Hungarian equine sisters Kathi and Klaris – both of the Nonius breed – Szolt Szabo, their owner, and his varied human companions.
Thanks to the entry of Hungary into the EU in 2004, all the maps we had were total rubbish. Entry into the EU has resulted in massive land reform which has meant that fields of up to 15 kilometres long and wide are bounded only by unmarked dirt roads; most of the old paths and tracks are lost.
Friendly folk would always offer help and directions; though they were not always correct, they were always happy to try to help.
We only realised how truly enormous the fields were when we saw herbicide being sprayed on them, not by tractors, but from helicopters. Our horses found these strange birds to be very annoying!
We chose to follow the Danube cycle path, which we left only when the cycle path ran alongside
the motorway or the Vienna-Budapest railway for lengthy periods.
The hilly area we rode through at one point asked a great deal of horse and rider; our longest day's
ride was through a nature reserve in this area.
At the Communist bosses' former hunting lodge , we were royally lodged and fed. Here Peter
learned why schnapps is drunk in Hungary: it is said to act as a sort of internal disinfectant for water
drunk afterwards!
For almost six weeks, from 10 June to 24 July, Szolt Szabo was on the road with the two mares and one or other of his three alternating companions, Peter von der Gugten, Tamas and Joe Szabo.
Altogether, they travelled over 1500km - and Kathi didn't even need a new set of shoes!
Night time accommodation was wherever and whatever gave the best opportunity for rest for both
horse and rider. Fortunately, we almost always found a farm or a stable where people could take us
in.
It was only rarely that we had to sleep out in the open with the horses tied to trees.
At the beginning, we had a packhorse with us. Unfortunately after only three days she had to be sent
back, and our luggage shared out between the two riding horses. Each horse 
had to initially carry an
approximate extra weight of 14kg of personal luggage, as well as 8kg of oats, and the rider himself.
Daily journey stages were from thirty to fifty km in length, depending on the geography of the land we were riding over. This equated to anything between six and ten hours in the saddle and walking on foot beside the horses. The daily journey was broken by two short pauses, chiefly for the horses to drink and, when possible, for us to buy our own daily supplies, and a one hour break around noon.
The horses used this time to graze and we used it to sleep.
Obviously, we had to make sure we found fresh water several times daily. If there were people
around to help us obtain it, they always did so very willingly.
We met the Austrian Border Patrol, who ride their horses 60km daily along the border.
Their commanding officer welcomed us personally and found us accommodation for the night
At this point, we would also like to thank all those who helped us with this ride – our wives
families and friends, our sponsors and not least innumerable friends from the equestrian community
in Hungary and Austria, who accepted us and our horses as one of their own and kept us supplied
with everything we could possibly have needed. Cordial thanks to all, for everything.
In Melk, famous for its Benedictine abbey, Peter was replaced by Tamas, who rode the section
through Austria to Passau with Szolt. No ride across Austria and Hungary would be complete
without a visit to Pullman City, the cowboy town next to Passau!
Here Tamas had to return home, and Joe Szabo, Szolt's son, replaced him. Father and son together rode the stretch from Passau to Dillingen.
We were often asked if our backsides got sore! Actually, no. Our knees were the first part of the body to complain in the first few days, and tried to tell us that no, they were not part of a set of bow-legs. Later we felt some rarely-used back muscles; after a few days these muscles got used to the extra work they were being given and there was no further problem.
The horses remained well throughout the entire journey. However, they did become more easily tired, and so as the ride continued we rode for shorter distances and gave them a break every fifth day.
The weather got colder as we travelled west, and it rained occasionally. We got soaked to the skin twice; it was such torrential rain that the horses refused to go any further until it stopped.
In Dillingen, Peter met us with his own Flash, and rode with us to Donauschingen.
The further west we rode, the more comfortable and larger were the “heu-hotels” (hay-barns used
for overnight accommodation by walkers, cyclists and horseriders).
Perspectives change during a journey of this nature. Life can be so simple, which is a 
completely
new experience for the stressed human being of today. Our luggage quickly reduced to 6kg each,
and soon we needed little more than a toothbrush each. We have water. We can get bread and
cheese. Oats for the horses? They'll be found. Set off – the adventure lies ahead of us. Where will
we sleep tonight? Where-ever we find ourselves. It was like that every day.
On a busy highway, a concrete-mixer lorry stops and we are all invited to stay overnight. The love for horses and riding links us.
Flash is still fit, and carries the oats for his two lady-friends, Kathi and Klaris. The horses graze happily alone, without being tied up or held. The river Danube disappears underground and reappears several times on the last stages of the journey and at times the path runs beside its dry bed. From Beuron we ride to Donaueschingen, our destination, where we are to be warmly received.
At our journey's main goal, the source of the Danube, it will only take three days to ride to
Offenburg, where Eurocheval is being held. Here Peter and Flash left us and rode back towards
Stuehlingen in Switzerand.
On the 25th July 2004, Joe and Szolt Szabo arrived, well and happy, in Offenburg, with Kathi and
Klaris as fit and well as ever. Kathi had a very slight swelling on her back, but this quickly resolved.
Szolt won a special prize for the longest journey to Offenburg, and said that he hoped to be back again in two years' time.
The following week, the four of them returned by trailer to Szolt's home in Hevesch, Hungary.