A New Landmark in the Carpathians: Hutsul Horse Center “Hutsulyk” Opens in Kosiv

Recent­ly, Hut­sul­shchy­na Nation­al Park cel­e­brat­ed the open­ing of the Hut­sul Horse Cen­tre ‘Hut­su­lyk’, mark­ing the 100th anniver­sary of the first Hut­sul horse breed­ers’ asso­ci­a­tion in Kosiv.

Sup­port­ing ini­tia­tives that com­bine nature con­ser­va­tion, cul­tur­al her­itage and local devel­op­ment is one of the impor­tant direc­tions of the Frank­furt Zoo­log­i­cal Soci­ety’s (FZS) work in Ukraine. Projects such as the Hut­sul Horse Cen­tre ‘Hut­su­lyk’ help to pre­serve the unique Hut­sul horse and its nat­ur­al habi­tats, while also stim­u­lat­ing local tourism, cre­at­ing jobs and pro­mot­ing the sus­tain­able use of pro­tect­ed areas. This is one of five com­mu­ni­ty-ori­ent­ed projects that the FZS sup­ports in the Ukrain­ian Carpathi­ans, with the aim of strength­en­ing the con­nec­tion between peo­ple and nature.

The cre­ation of the Hut­sul Horse Cen­tre was made pos­si­ble with sup­port and fund­ing from Germany’s Inter­na­tion­al Cli­mate Ini­tia­tive (IKI). Work­ing along­side the park’s team, the project devel­oped a busi­ness plan, con­struct­ed a rid­ing are­na, upgrad­ed infra­struc­ture and estab­lished areas for guid­ed tours, horse­back rid­ing and rid­ing lessons. An authen­tic café-shop sell­ing local del­i­ca­cies and sou­venirs now wel­comes vis­i­tors.

Cur­rent­ly, ten Hut­sul hors­es live at the cen­tre. They are stud­ied and trained, and take part in horse trekking tours. Vis­i­tors can enjoy horse­back rid­ing or car­riage rides, while vet­er­ans ben­e­fit from hip­pother­a­py pro­grammes aimed at reha­bil­i­ta­tion and social inclu­sion.

Watch the high­lights from the open­ing event here.