Tack Store in Budapest

Any time I go to a foreign country I try to seek out a tack store. I can’t help it, I am just SO intrigued by what other countries have to offer in that department. Croatia isn’t exactly booming horse country, so I wasn’t too surprised when a quick google search didn’t offer many promising options. Budapest on the other hand, yield 3 within about a 15 minute drive of the city center. After scoping them out a bit I chose the one that looked most promising.

The store was two stories and called “Nagy Lovas” which appears to translate to “Big Rider”. The first floor was essentially like walking to a Tractor Supply. It was predominately farm equipment, but also had grooming supplies, halters, and stable equipment. I was disappointed they didn’t have any Haas brushes, or any brushes that appears to be high quality. Not that I need more brushes… but might as well take advantage of cheaper prices right? Overall, Budapest is a very inexpensive city so although I had to convert every price tag to get a feel for the value, everything in the store seemed to be at least a little bit cheaper then what I would normally pay in the US. I was also disappointed by the halter selection- the only leather halters they had were very cheap quality.

They had an entire isle of saddle pads- this was only one of the racks

I quickly headed up the stairs to where the bulk of the equestrian supplies were, aka tack and apparel. The amount of inventory was overwhelming. WAY more then you would find in an American tack store. I instantly zoned in on the breeches. Boy were there breeches! Isle after isle in a RAINBOW of colors. The only breech brand I recognized was Pikeur. A quick conversion later and I figured that the Pikeurs were about $150 a pair. I really wanted to get a pair, but the ones I found in my size were either insanely bright colors that I honestly wouldn’t wear, or of what felt like an older material. A bit disappointed, I moved on to see what else I could spend my money on.

They had shirts, but not a huge selection like they did breeches. I again found Pikeur shirts which were about $25. I was so excited because they were super cute and a great techy material. But alas… NONE in my size again!!! They had other brands too, but nothing in my size that I was actually in love with.

I moved on and browsed the many boot options. So many to choose from, but honestly Rio doesn’t need more boots. I still had fun browsing all the options- recognizing some brands such as Acavallo. The Acavallo stuff was actually pretty similarly priced to in the US, so I wasn’t really tempted by any of that.

Pommel pads must be very popular there!

They had TONS of half pads too (lots of the Acavllo gel ones as well). I didn’t look through them too much to be honest because I legit do NOT need a half pad. I already have like 3 I don’t use.

Boots, boots, boots!
All types of half pads

I did pursue the many saddle pads for awhile. One can never have too many saddle pads after all! I wanted an Eskadron one because I like the look and feel of them but they didn’t really have a color I was interested in. I ended up deciding on one in my exact barn colors- grey & burgundy. It’s a brand I’m not familiar with (Domino) but was obviously nice quality. I also snagged a pair of Roeckls because I have been needing more for awhile.

There was LOADS of martingales, breastplates, bridles and bits. Tons of Micklem/PS of Sweden type bridles that felt like very nice leather for about $100. The maker appeared to be local to Hungary. There was also many lovely dressage bridles. Since hunters isn’t exactly a thing there I didn’t spend too much time on the bridles either. I was tempted to buy one just because, but I really am trying to save money for fall shows.

All in all, I only ended up with gloves and a saddle pad. My total cost was $60 for both, so I felt pretty good about that. I wish I could have nabbed some Pikeur stuff since the prices on them were so good, but alas the sizing gods were not with me that day. I had SO much fun there, and I looking forward to continuing my tradition of find tack shops on vacations! Check out the video below to see more views from “Big Rider”!

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