Riding high
Public servant’s passion for horses fueled 8-year odyssey
Twenty years ago Huang Zuping had his first ride on a horse, and as he celebrates the anniversary of that first shaky equestrian experience this year, he can look back on a day that changed the course of his life.
Just how far Huang, 52, has traveled was there for all to see on Sept 9 when, looking as sparkling as a tack in his riding garb, he won an event at the national championship at Beijing Sports University. Not only that, but the man who has learned so much over the years is now passing on that knowledge to a younger breed of riders, and on Sept 9 he was able to watch two of his proteges win events in their age category.
In 1995 he was a bureaucrat riding nothing more than a desk piled with papers, but then, after 10 years working for the government, he quit to run a business for a couple of years. Finally, smitten by his love for horses, he threw that in his late 30s to devote himself to horses full time.
That dedication took on a sharper focus in 2001 when Beijing was awarded the Olympic Games, and Huang spent the next seven years working on his skills, riding to the peak of his success when he represented China at the Games in 2008.
Huang’s first ride on a horse was in the Daxing district of Beijing.
“I felt so imbalanced and awkward on the horseback and I ended up twisting my waist,” he says.
However, that rough ride failed to deter him, and he began riding in the suburbs of Beijing once every two or three months.
Riding was not only providing pleasure but also subtly changing him as a person, he says.
“I used to be so obedient, always following the instructions of superiors to the letter. But as I got in touch with horses I gradually came out of my shell and became a lot more straightforward, wanting more control of my life.”
The business Huang set up with friends when he left government in 1995 was involved in international trade, and as that grew, so did his love of horses and a desire to gain more professional skills.
So from 1998, he took up equestrian training, specializing in show jumping, at Beijing Sports University.
About three years of training under his belt he was 13th at the quadrennial National Games in 2001, the same year that Beijing won the bid for the Olympics.
The fact that China had never competed in equestrian events at an Olympics before fueled Huang’s desire to make what may have seemed like an impossible dream come true.
“I knew I only had this one opportunity to realize the dream of a lifetime,” he says, which in turn drove his decision to give up his business.
In 2003 he packed his things and flew to Germany to begin training. The place he opted to go to was Osnabrueck, Lower Saxony, which is reputed for its equestrian prowess.
When he arrived, he was put in touch with a stud that would give him daily riding opportunities, but that proved to be unsatisfactory.
“They only had young horses that were there for only a short time before being sent away, and in any event the skills I was looking to build up could not be attained there.”
Fortunately a friend of Huang put him in touch with Ludger Beerbaum, a multiple Olympic gold medal winner for Germany in show jumping, and Huang began to train with him in Muenster, 65 kilometers away.
However, things did not go smoothly there either.
“I was frustrated because I was falling from horses so often and could not see any improvement in my riding. Apart from that, the horses were not good enough and I was short of money.”
Nevertheless, Huang still nursed his desire to compete in the Games in Beijing, and it was that that kept him going.
He spent six to seven hours on horseback at a stretch and practiced squatting whenever he was not training because he needed to increase his lower body strength, he says.
His training abroad greatly increased his competitiveness, and he took part in competitions in Germany, Italy and Croatia.
Huang says he was the first Chinese rider to attend a four-star show jumping competition (at least two vertical obstacles with a height of 1.5 meters and six others at 1.45 meters, among other requirements in things like course length and indoor and outdoor speed) in the World Cup series in Croatia in 2008. He was sixth in an event in Hagen, North Rhine-Westphalia, in May 2008.
When Huang finally qualified for and then competed in the Beijing Olympics — the equestrian events were in fact held in Hong Kong — he says, he felt his dream had come true and did his country proud.
There would be no medals, but he was satisfied with the way he rode and feels it did justice to him and the years of training he had put in for it.
In more recent years Huang has devoted himself to popularizing equestrianism, for which he offers training.
In 2009 he opened his own stables, on land that covers 8,000 square meters and with 30 horses. The grounds are used strictly for training, he says.
Most days he spends six hours training 10-15 horses and teaches students show jumping for three hours.
He has also organized equestrian events to promote the sport and was one of the forces behind the annual Equestrian Beijing Masters competition in 2011 and the China equestrian tour in 2013.
Huang says he sees horses as partners rather than as merely tools with which to win events.
“Riders have to know their horses very well, and it takes one year for a rider to get used to his horse.”
Even if he were to be blindfolded, he says, he could identify each of his 30 horses by riding them and sensing the way they move.
The health of horses has always been his top priority, he says, and in the quest for good nutrition he has sent people to grasslands across China looking for the best food for his horses.
Huang says he is highly optimistic about the growth of equestrianism in China.
“We’ve seen great momentum in domestic development.”
China introduced an internationally recognized system of rating riders last year, and since then hundreds of riders have registered each month, he says.
“As yet, fewer than 100 teenagers are signed up for competitions, so growth could be explosive.”
Talking of the sport’s costs, he says equestrianism need not be the preserve of the rich.
“Ordinary people can afford it if they’re not doing it for competition.”
The upkeep of a horse is between 1,000 yuan ($156) and 2,000 yuan a month, and Huang says that is money well spent for keeping one’s health and improving one’s character.
As I got in touch with horses I gradually came out of my shell and became a lot more straightforward, wanting more control of my life.”
Huang Zuping, horse rider