China

With its booming economy, more and more Chinese are turning to a new hobby: horse riding.

This year’s survey on Chinese Luxury Consumer by the Hurun Research Institute reveals that horse riding is the fastest rising sport among China’s wealthy.

They’re willing to spend thousands of US dollars for imported horse and horse clubs are now the place to hang out.

It’s Sunday morning at Equuleus, one of the most exclusive horse clubs in Beijing.

35-year-old investment banker Eric Zou is saddling up his horse for a ride – a 50 thousand US dollars imported German horse.

He says he tries to ride three times a week if he can get out of the office.

“After intense periods of working time I like to go somewhere and relax. And one day after finishing a project my manager brought me to a club which is first club I went to and I started to ride. And immediately I fell in love with horses. Ever since I ride once per week and then twice and now it’s three or four times a week.”

Former fashion journalist Michelle Wang opened this horse club 12 years ago with 10 horses.

Today she has 170 horses and 1,000 members.

“I think it’s because people are getting richer and people travel now. People realise that riding horses and competing is a really good sport, because traditionally Chinese people think that livestock or animals is not a good treasure or fortune.”

37-year-old Yang Fucun is gearing up for a competition in Beijing.

He’s one of China’s best known horsemen and looks trendy in his tight-fitting trousers.

His horse will jump obstacles as high as 1 meter.

“My two horses are imported from Belgium, both are nine year olds, both are warm bloods. Today we have fur classes, 80 centimetres, 120 and 130 centimetres. Today we have a lot of Chinese riders some of them at a very high level and some amateurs. Most people ride their own horses, which are all from Europe, from Belgium and Holland and maybe Germany.”

Chinese are turning to imported horses as local horses are considered too small.

Having imported horses also conforms to a Chinese keenness for prestige that expensive imports give.

Michelle travels regularly to Europe to buy horses to satisfy Chinese demand.

She says the market really took off in the run up to the Olympic Games in Beijing five years ago.

“We started to go to Europe ten years ago to look for horses, mainly from Belgium and Holland. We travel a lot to France, UK and we plan to go to Ireland next year. The average price, it ranges between like 40,000 and 50,000 euros to 100,000 euros. Including transport and quarantine it’s already very high.”

Eric Zou says there’s an increasing trend in Beijing of people becoming a horse owner.

“We are still at the early trend of a horse industry but now we have a lot of good clubs, trainers and better marketing. Normal people are getting more exposure to and becoming increasingly interested in horses. And theeconomy of China is improving at the same time. That is a very important factor for people to own horses. There is a huge trend that average people is buying horses. And I think it’s going to increase in the future.”

Beijing now has over 50 horse clubs with an estimated of 800 owners of imported horses.

And Michelle Wang plans to grow her club further.

“We plan to do more international competition and events. A lot of new potential stables or riding clubs now. They ask for our management and try to have a good brand. That may be the future.”