EQUESTRIANISM

With model good looks, an impressive social-media following, and two Olympics under his belt, Alex Hua Tian is not your average event rider. theresa harold speaks with the 28-year-old Etonian as he prepares for Tokyo 2020

Alex Hua Tian

WHEN I FIRST RING Alex Hua Tian, one sweltering afternoon during England’s uncharacteristic heatwave, he apologises for running late and asks if he can call me back in an hour. He’s stuck on a horse, you see – which is exactly what one wants from China’s most famous equestrian. (Imagine the disappointment if he’d been stuck in an Uber instead.) As China’s top eventer, Hua represents his country in eventing, essentially an equestrian triathlon that comprises dressage, cross-country and show jumping.

Born in London to a Chinese father and a British mother, Hua grew up in Beijing and Guangzhou before moving to Hong Kong when he was seven. “Basically, I had a very traditionally British upbringing with horses,” he explains. “As a baby, I spent half my time at the stables because my mum is from a very horsey family.” At the age of 11, Hua moved with his family to Wiltshire, England, where he attended Chafyn Grove School and then Eton College.

Yes, Eton. It seems you can’t read a profile of the youngest-ever Olympic eventer without mentioning his alma mater. When I ask if that ever feels like a burden, or an irrelevance, Hua replies: “Eton has had an enormous influence in my life; I loved my time there. Of course, in China, education is golden. And for my father, he would have chopped off his left arm if that was the difference in him sending his sons to Eton or not.

“So I don’t feel it’s a burden, but nowadays I don’t necessarily feel that it defines me. I think it’s just very much part of that fairy-tale image that snowballed out of control really, especially around 2008. A young boy riding a white horse – first time for China – at the home Olympic games ... ”

Indeed, it’s impossible to look back at photos of Hua from the 2008 Summer Olympics and not think of Prince Charming. There’s one image, where he’s riding the dressage test at Sha Tin and his horse has the stars of the Chinese flag stencilled on its hindquarters. Hua is wearing white breeches and the traditional top hat and tails of the sport. When faced with that visual catnip, how could the media resist labelling him One in a Billion?

Hua laughs, and says (with Hugh Grant levels of self-deprecation and charm), “I’m not sure how that one came about. [But] horses keep you pretty humble. You can’t spend your day being arrogant around them, so you just get used to having your face in the dirt half the time.”

When it isn’t in the dirt, Hua’s face can be seen in campaigns for La Mer, or behind the wheel of an Aston Martin as its first-ever Friend of the Brand in China. Or hosting media events such as The Asia Horse Week in Hong Kong earlier this year, where he spoke at length about horsemanship. It’s a subject that’s close to his heart.

“For me, horsemanship is the core of our sport,” Hua explains.

“It’s the set of values that all riders need to have to be able to develop a partnership with the horse. In China, what I always find is that many new families coming into the sport have a misconception of what it’s about. They’re taking part because it’s very aspirational, and because it has this very elitist image. Of course, at the top level, all sports are elitist – that’s just the way life is.

“But for me, I wanted to try and communicate that, actually, equestrianism is accessible. Everybody is on a level playing field when it comes to a horse, whether you’re a child from a rich background or a child from a poor background. A horse really doesn’t care how rich you are, they just care about the time you spend with them.”

To that end, Hua and his friend Philip Wong, founder of ProjectKids, set up the Horsemanship Program in China, which gives children from all backgrounds their first experience of horses in a two-and-a-half-hour session. Last year,

200 children from migrant families were sent through the pilot programme in a private stable in Shanghai. The aim is to fine-tune this model and expand to commercial stables around the country, with children from wealthier backgrounds subsidising children from poorer backgrounds.

Setting up a social-responsibility programme isn’t the usual route taken by Olympians. And perhaps it’s a testament to Hua’s privileged background that he could leverage connections to make something like this happen. But his motivation is surprisingly clear-eyed.

“I think as a Chinese athlete based in the UK, in a sport that is not traditionally Chinese, I’ve always felt a degree of guilt that – though I’m flying the Chinese flag at the highest level – I’m not necessarily that connected to the Chinese equestrian industry. Certainly up until Rio, I was very focused on myself and my horses in the

UK. What Rio gave me was not just a level-up in terms of my support, but it’s given me the time, the resources and also the profile to do other things that I’m passionate about, which is the growth of equestrianism in China.”

Speaking of the Rio Olympics, Hua was the only Chinese rider there and he finished in an astonishing eighth place. To give some perspective, the top Team GB rider finished 12th. Was it a difficult decision for Hua to renounce his British citizenship and ride for China instead?

“It wasn’t a difficult decision at all for me. The best way I can rationalise it is when I’m in China, my British half of me feels very British. And at the time when I made the decision to ride for

China, I was at school at Eton (the most British of British institutions), and for me my Chinese half was my defining thing. So at 15, when I was asked to compete at my first international show, it was very natural to ride for China. Of course, I think riding for China has given me a thousand times more opportunities than I would have had riding for GB, but that’s not really why I did it.”

It must be an unusual position, being in Hua’s shoes. If he didn’t have horses, he says, he’d 100 percent be living in China. As it stands, he’s based in England and flies to China once a month for a few days of media work.

“I’m very lucky in that we’re 10 minutes from the airport, and we have direct flights to Beijing four times a week. And actually, I find the balance quite refreshing. Living with the horses is a wonderful way of life, but day in, day out it can be pretty gruelling. I have two or three days away doing very different stuff and then I come back and I see the horses afresh. I have to say, I have a very nice balance of life at the moment. Busy, but fun.”

“HORSES KEEP YOU PRETTY HUMBLE ... YOU JUST GET USED TO HAVING YOUR FACE IN THE DIRT HALF THE TIME”