A csikós trains from a very young age, often learning to ride before they can fully read. Their traditional costume is striking: wide dark trousers, an embroidered blue shirt with enormous billowing sleeves, and a wide-brimmed black felt hat. Everything is practical - the wide sleeves catch the wind to cool them in summer, and the hat keeps off the blazing Puszta sun.
The most famous csikós skill is the 'post ride' - standing with one foot on the back of two galloping horses, while controlling three more horses galloping in front, all at full speed across the flat plain. This takes years and years of practice and incredible balance and trust between the rider and the horses.
Csikós also use long whips that can crack like a gunshot to guide their horses from a distance. The sound alone - without touching the animals - is enough to steer a herd. Cracking a whip with perfect aim is itself an art form that takes great skill.
Today, csikós perform their skills at shows in the Hortobágy national park so visitors can see the traditions that have been passed down through generations. But many csikós families still work on the Puszta every day, caring for the same breeds of horse and cattle their great-grandparents knew.