Zoltàn-Csaba Ferenczi

“How did I end up working with leather? It was a matter of chance, but also of tradition. My grandfather used to tell me stories, while repairing shoes. I levelled nails for the shoes and got used to working with leather. My grandparents lived in the countryside, that’s where I came into contact with horses.

“After finishing the mandatory army service, I worked in the leather manufacturing factory as a tailor. After the fall of Ceaucescu, we made extra money by taking leather leftovers from the factory to some old chaps who made harnesses. We then sold the harnesses in at the market. I asked them to teach me how to make harnesses, but they wouldn’t, so I bought some second hand tools and started to make harness on my own. I was able to sell it on the market very easily.

“I think an authorised training programme in harnessing is more than welcome. I would like to open a shop of my own, with an official diploma. But who gives you such a diploma here, in Romania?

“The shops that did sell harnessing in the 1990’s are all closed. I don’t have the right to sell the harnessing. I ask some friends, who are authorised, to help me sell my harnessing. Their harnesses are of poor quality, it doesn’t last more than a year. You can get a harnessing in the market for as little as 2 million lei [less than £40], people buy it because it is cheap. My harnessing is more expensive, but much better.

“A good harness is essential on the mountain or on difficult terrain. I’ve seen a horse and cart down in a precipice. The farmer, holding his broken arm in a cast, came to me and asked for a proper harnessing. ‘A good harness is expensive, but my health is even more expensive’, he said.

“The farmers that are really poor can’t afford to buy a good harness. The wealthier ones call me on the phone and order some good harnesses. I take pictures of horses wearing my work. I come home with a great sense of fulfilment. The horse is part of the farmers’ lives. It’s in their blood.

“I can’t tell how experienced I am in harnessing. I think I am able to do really good harnessing for working horses. Training for working horses harnessing is needed. There are plenty of horses suffering from bad harnessing or from improper harnessing repairing.

“I believe there is a good market opportunity here for this type of business. The horses will still be very important in the following years (in Mure county there is probably one horse for every two houses), also, with the EU integration, we’ll get more horse related tourism.

“It would have been so much easier for me to learn how to do harnessing in a specialized training programme. But there was no such training available. There still isn’t.

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