Horses

A recent visit to a hard to find equestrian club in Beijing’s industrial northern suburbs showed me how fast the market for horses has grown in Beijing in the past five years. The Guofa Equestrian Club (which also uses English name: ‘the Demeanour Club’) is clearly one of the city’s higher-end clubs, with 90 horses and indoor, outdoor arenas. Lesser known and advertised than the likes of Equueleus, this rambling facility houses 40 horses imported for private, local owners.

The Guofa Equestrian Club in the Liqiao township of Shunyi District, near the capital airport. Agressive marketers the Guofa had phoned me continuously for several weeks after an initial enquiry, wondering when I was going to visit. Yet curiously I was left to my own devices when several potential clients showed up bearing all the insignia of connected, nouveau riche Chinese: a black Audi with military-issued plates.

Guofa’s rates vary from RMB6,800 for 30 45-minute sessions to RMB25,800 for a year’s unlimited access. These rates however are misleading: trainers cost RMB100 to RMB300 an hour extra – the latter rate, we were promised, gets you 45 minutes with a ‘national champion rider’ though exact details were hard to get. Also, you’ll ride club horses, which are retired race horses trucked up from Hong Kong.

Two other points: conversations with several club members revealed common themes: wealthy women form a considerable portion of the membership, and seem particularly keen on acquiring their own horses even at a very early stage of their riding development. One lady, in her early 30s, rides at a fairly elementary level yet had spent RMB40,000 to acquire an Australian-born retired racehorse, now stabled at the Guofa.

While the visit was friendly and informative the Guofa salesman’s assurances that the club is a mere hour’s drive (‘five minutes from the airport’) were rubbish. The long, 110 minute ride back home to the city centre was the more exhausting part of a day on the road and reminded me of the most forbidding aspect of riding in Beijing: the traffic getting there.

While in Chongqing (a vast southwesterly conurbation of 30 million) to run the city’s marathon I visited Hetai Horse, described several times to me as the most professionally run of local equestrian establishments.

It took an hour of highways and then bumpy country roads to reach the club from the city centre: it’s located in Jinfeng township. Established by a husband and wife team Hetai (it means ) stables 50 horses in two barns in a scenic country location that’s been turned into a playground for city residents (I noted the golf course up the road).

As with most facilities I’ve visited in China the imports get the better lodging, and look in much better shape than local Yili and Mongolian breeds. Owner % has imported Dutch, Spanish and Russian horses and claims he’s negotiating with Irish exporters, who approached him.

He let me ride a 10 year old Dutch gelding when I said the local horse provided was too small and run-down. Hetai’s fee, RMB260 for 50 minutes, is comparable with rates in Beijing although I wasn’t required to take a coach (another RMB100 at Hetai) which is usually a requirement at Beijing clubs. The club offers annual membership – unlimited riding – for RMB19888.

Hetai’s hay is trucked all the way from Heilongjiang in the north – surely two days of trucking. The local horses could use better feeding and grooming. I saw a limp chestnut gelding,

A group lesson with the head coach featured half a dozen kids and adults learning on ponies in an indoor arena – it’s unwalled, but roofed.

Rough surfacing on the arenas suggest this is a project with a way to go, and much to be learned.

Interestingly, like some other clubs I’ve been to, there’s a track circling the two outdoor arenas. Though racing remains limited in China, due to a ban on track-side gambling, it seems many locals equate horse riding with galloping around a track.

AS with most clubs I’ve been to the Hetai has an elaborate club house/café/teahouse.

An email from Cambodia, one of the newest members of the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI) the international governing body of equestrian sports bring back fond memories of a visit to the country’s capital Phnom Penh where I rode at the Cambodia Country Club (CCC) outside of town.

My email was a reminder of the latest edition of the annual Norodom Sihanouk Du Cambodge Show Jumping Championships held at the Club, which also hosts the headquarters of the Cambodia Equestrian Federation.

It may not rank high on FEI rankings but like a lot of Asian states Cambodia has had a long history of equestrianism – see the riders depicted on bas-reliefs at Ankgor Wat.

The Khmer horsemen of the past are riding again Local star Sim Narith, last year’s overall winner of the Grand Prix division, got to ride through support from the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation, a NGO helping local orphans. The Country Club generously employs and trains some of the Foundation’s beneficiaries.

Its President, Philippe Garcia, is the dynamo of the reemergence of equestrianism locally and while it may remain the preserve of the expats and locals wealthy enough to pay the Country Club’s fees, which are comparable to European rates. The club uses Khmer ponies and a bunch of thoroughbreds retired from racing in Bangkok.

It’s difficult indeed to find the horses in the official website of the upcoming Hong Kong Masters. Even though the world’s top 25 elite show jumpers and their horses (including Olympic champion Eric Lamaze) will ride at the March 1-3 event the website is saturated with guff about corporate entertainment, fine catering and branding opportunities on offer at the ‘luxurious and prestigious’ event. They may appear an afterthought on the website but riders will compete for a prize fund of US$ 1 million at the competition held at the Asia World-Expo site in the southern Chinese city.

Organised by Asian Equestrian Masters, the Hong Kong Masters is Asia’s first international five-star (CSI5) show jumping event and is clearly being marketed as a social event for the wealth-obsessed city’s numerous moneybags to be seen at.

Backed by the city’s tourism board, the Masters is described thus: “A place for attendees to get up close and personal with the horses, socialites, horse enthusiasts and connoisseurs alike, Hong Kong Masters will prove a distinct social opportunity in Hong Kong, complete with fine dining, shopping and entertainment.” Organisers will fly three-star Michelin chefs to the island, Juan Mari Arzak, to cook for VIPs in the ‘Prestige Village’.

According to organisers Hong Kong is only the second city to host the Masters, an event recognized by the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI): Paris since 2009 while New York will host from 2013. Juan Dedeu, President of Hong Kong Masters, said Hong Kong is an ideal host city since it has both a strong equestrian tradition while being a gataway to Asia with a “mix of both local and international society where you can be making a multimillion deal one day at a coffee shop and the next at a world renowned restaurant.”

Host city of the equestrian events of the 2008 Olympics, Hong Kong will put on a top show promises Dr. Simon Ip, President of Hong Kong Equestrian Federation which cursiously doesn’t feature the event – at least not openly- on its website.

There’s also a vaguely termed charity aspect: ‘Furthermore, the Hong Kong Masters will show a strong commitment to the Riding for the Disabled charity. A first for the Masters, raised donations will be a key driving success factor in 2012.’

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen photos of horse fighting – typically two young stallions watched by a crowd, much of which bets on the outcome – in Chinese newspapers.

Seems however it’s not a China-only bloodsport. An NGO I’ve come accross lately, Network for Animals campaigns against the cruel practice of horse fighting, a blood sport prevalent on the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines. Here’s what they’ve got to say about horsefighting:

“Billed as a cultural tradition specific to indigenous communities, horse fighting, despite being illegal, is prominent enough to warrant local television coverage, and municipal support in the form of cash prizes and sponsorship from local businesses. While horse fighting is promoted under the guise of tradition, in reality, extensive gambling on the outcomes of the horse fights, with bets running as high as £2000, is the main reason it is prevalent.

Horse fights entail two stallions that are incited to fight each other over a mare in season. They bite, kick and strike each other with their hooves, inflicting serious injuries until one of them submits, flees or is killed. Gouges, gashes and broken limbs sustained during fights are always serious and can be fatal.

Providing veterinary care for horses, educational initiatives, enforcement and the pursuit of improved legislation are some of the areas in which Network for Animals is working to eradicate this brutal practice.

Networkforanimals.org

Proof of the ever-growing reach of equestrian sports in China was obvious to me last week when I found myself in Lijiang, the country’s most overdone tourist trap (though once a quaint town populated by the Naxi ethnic group). While escaping Lijiang I was lucky to find a stable run by a worldly local and went to check it out. Pretty much in centre of Sunhe, a town adjacent to Lijiang – and similar tourist draw – the club keeps five locally bred horses trucked from Beijing. Small but well-run the stable seemed quiet in the way of members or riders but I was assured it gets busy on weekends. Lijiang and Sunhe streets are busy with locals walking tourists around on their ponies – many of them unfortunately unshod.

Check out Anson’s blog here – there’s a phone number there too.

I was intrigued to read of the recent visit by Canadian horse ‘industry’ delegation to China, among them breeders and trainers.

Here’s what it was about:

“Our intention with this trip was to seek out information so that we could determine market potential,” stated Bernard McCormack of Cara Bloodstock, who is also the chair of the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society’s marketing committee and an Equine Canada Industry Council member. “We discovered that the Thoroughbred racing industry in China is building and that there is strong interest among China’s affluent to replicate the success that is seen in other developed markets. It would appear that China has the potential to become one of the largest new racing markets in the world.”

I wonder if he knows about the neglect of horses at China’s biggest purpose built racing stables/track, the Beijing Jockey Club. Given the government takes a firm hand against on-track gambling I wonder where the optimism about the racing scene here comes from. But the losers in the experiment that is the Beijing Jockey Club, opened in 2004 by a Hong Kong tycoon who installed 2000 horses and an Irish chief trainer. By autumn 2009 the place was mothballed, and in dispute with villagers over land rent. Alas the horses ulimately paid the price, as you’ll discover in this newspaper article.

See below the photos I took of the Beijing Jockey Club horses in late 2009. I trust the Canadians know something we don’t…

The Chinese print media – where paid-for articles are common – remains keen on polo stories. This Monday there was a story in the China Daily ‘Indulging in Plenty of Horseplay’ which details the exploits of local real estate billionaires’ recently found penchant for polo. Xia Yang, the founder-president of Sunny Time Polo Club outside Beijing tells the paper he’s planning to expand this year with “advanced custom-made services to members who have higher requirements for their leisure facilities” whatever that means. Xia, who hired a troupe of horsemen from China’s hinterlands to make up his Sunny Time team, charges members 20,000 yuan for 100 visits to the club (and clubhouse) or 2,000 yuan for four chukkers (each seven minutes long).

The article also breathlessly details the luxuries on offer at the Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club, two hour’s drive from Beijing. The country’s largest polo club, which opened at the start of the year, was built by a real estate developer to help draw attention (and media) to its villa properties. Expect more golf and polo clubs built to sell real estate across China. Interestingly there’s no details in the China Daily piece about the number of professional polo players in China. Few, I’d imagine apart from Sunny Time’s hired hands who get an affordable 600 euros a month to ride. Whatever about the nouveau riche and developers and cheerleading scribes, I’d like some details in the next gushing polo article I read about horse breeds, where the polo ponies come from or what the veterinarian facilities and skills are like on-site.