SYNOPSIS

In a secluded Hungarian valley south of famous Lake Balaton lives 46-year-old Lajos Kassai. Here his fourteen wild stallions live freely on open grass fields. In the centre of the estate we find his modest home build in traditional Hungarian style and an authentic Kazakh yurt. Already as a child Lajos listened to stories of his legendary forefathers. He became a bow manufacturer by trade and always dreamt of building a bow as good and powerful as the ones Magyar fighters used in their storms over Europe in the 9th century AD. But historical sources were spars. Only few archaeological artefacts gave some hints and Lajos had to experiment for years. Eventually Lajos succeeded in constructing a bow that combined traditional Magyar designs with cutting edge 21st century technology. Today, ten workers produce his bows in his own manufacture in his home village of Kaposmérö, distributing it through the Internet worldwide.

But the bow was only the first step; afterwards Lajos felt he needed to try it out the traditional way – on horseback. He only had one problem: Up to that moment twenty years ago, he had never been sitting on a horse in his life. He tried various teachers and even enrolled in university studies but he could not find what he was looking for. Nobody was riding any longer in the style the Magyars used over a thousand years ago. What Lajos was looking for was unity. That is the essence in his view of the world. His desire was to become one with his stallions like an ancient Greek centaur. It took him many years and some serious accidents falling of his stallions, but now the self-taught visionary is the acclaimed best riding archer on the planet. All stallions he uses are trained and educated by Lajos himself. In true horse whisperer style, we see him work with a young stallion. The way he connects to the animal is absolutely astounding.

Now students from all over the world visit the charismatic horseman on open weekends once a month. They live and work together in the valley. Everybody joins in daily chores like grass cutting and nut collecting. For city dwellers like Robert from Canada or Pettra from Germany the work on the fields is not only necessary to support Lajos in keeping his valley in shape – it is also a way of concentrating and preparing for the horseback archery demonstrations that are waiting for them to be part of. When everybody is ready we experience a colourful spectacle with the last rider of the Steppe and his students demonstrating their awe-inspiring skills.