Un voyage de deux semaines dans cette province de Xinjiang à l'invitation des autorités régionales et de la fédération chinoise. Avec au programme une course d'endurance dans les steppes herbeuses de la région de Bayinbuluke, à 2.500 mètres d'altitude, environnées de montagnes. La Route de la Soie passe au Nord, en bordure de la Mongolie. Une course d'endurance en plusieurs jours pourrait même être organisée le long de cette Route de la Soie; on peut rêver mais pourquoi pas, les américains ont bien organisée en 2001 la XP a travers tous les Etats Unis.

Article complet dans la prochaine édition de "Cheval Arabe News".

China is developing at an incredible rate. There exists now a new class of wealthy, very wealthy entrepreneurs. They are interested in various things to occupy their life and spent their money. Equestrian sports are one of their occupations. China has a huge amount of horses, mainly in the Northern provinces, along the Mongolian and Kazakhstan borders, where nomadic people use the horse in their daily life. These horse are hardy ones, used to extreme climates, able to survive in harsh conditions, in the winter, digging into the snow to find some grey grass. Their horses are small, but with a correct conformation most of the time. The back are strong and able to carry a heavy riders on long distances. Traveling across the grasslands and the mountains has been their life since the era of Genghis Khan. Now, they are probably not the same anymore. They are taller, they have been mated with foreign blood, from Russia (Don and Orlofv). These horses are gentle, courageous and willing to work. Of course they are not treated the way we use to treat ours and they have a harder life. But they look good, the ridden ones (mostly the geldings are ridden) look a bit skinny for my taste (even if we were in a favorable period with plenty of grass). The breeding stock looked good (see photos of the herd of horses brought to the racetrack for the Mongol rodeo). 

About the endurance race. They try hard. Mr Wu(manager of the Chinese Equestrians website) is working hard to organize all (or most of) competitions across China, trying to get everywhere the same model. Riders need probably a better education for riding long distance and coping with the art of pacing. I saw that also in other parts of the globe. They are willing to learn. Like us thirty years ago, they also learn from their mistakes. The horse from Xingjian (and also probably from Inner Mongolia) can do well with appropriate conditioning and pacing. Probably this kind of horse is limited in speed and will not be able to reach the speed of our Arabians, but 16..18 km/h doesn't seem to be a problem for well-trained subjects. That would be very interesting to condition and train them our way and see the results on tests. Introducing Arabian blood could be a plus of course, but China will have to wait for one generation to see how it goes. Will the part-bred survive in the same conditions? Will they not loose their rusticity? Will the owner accept to change a bit the training and maintenance regimen? Obviously, importing horses from abroad could be a quicker solution. But in the same time, the 'know-how' must be imported as well.

The race was very well organized. Almost like the European model, except the veterinary inspection. More metabolic parameters should be assessed and the gait's checking should be more strictly enforced.

Race time: 140 horses took the start. They went fast, too fast on the first stage. The three stages were drawn according to the model "Go to one point and head back". That's OK with cautious and experienced riders, but here many were letting the horse pick the speed(too high) -or even pushed them-  at the return and were stuck at the vetgate (many not able to recover on time to 64BPM) for a very long time. And of course on the 2nd stage, many had to push to leave the venue, up to the return point where the horse understood that we was heading back. Same scenario as during the first loop. Only 38 completed. As far as I'm concerned: I took a conservative start, being the last all the way during the first stage. This allowed me the pass several dozens horse at the vetgate. During the second stage, at half way, my horse gaits were not the best. I dismounted and noticed the reason : "Actually, I arrived at the venue just one hour before the start. I was presented with one horse but he had some swelling along one suspensory and I asked to see another one. This one looked ok, but by lack of time, I could not check the hind feet. My mistake, always the rider's mistake!". His hind feet were very very asymmetric, probably 1.5cm difference between left and right part, forcing the horse to put his feet to the inside when walking or trotting. Of course, after 50km of this, he was sore. So I gently walked him back to camp and pulled.

The next days, we could attend the Mongol rodeo and the various activities and have a walk across the town. Very nice people, curious of our European look, everyone willing to be photographed with us. Very nice children, many saying the only English words they retained from school "Hello, how are you". Funny.

Also every noon and evening, eating and drinking and socializing. Amazing. Tasting the Mongolian food and the Chinese one. Accepting toasts from everyone during the whole dinner (numerous courses all served together on the Chinese round table). Of course, as special guests, we were the target of all toasts:-) A kind of Chinese vodka, 40degrees, during four days in a row, that's another kind of endurance...

I want to thank our guests for this incredible welcome and all the good time.

感谢，并很快再见到你。

中国是一个令人难以置信的速度发展。现在存在一个新的富裕，非常富有的企业家阶层。他们感兴趣的各种事情占据他们的生活，花自己的钱。马术运动是他们的职业之一。中国有一个巨大的马的金额，主要集中在北部省份，以及蒙古和哈萨克斯坦边界，游牧人在日常生活中使用的马。这些马是耐寒的，极端气候条件下使用，能够在恶劣条件下生存，在冬天，到雪地里挖找到一些灰色的草。他们的马小，但一个正确的构象的大部分时间。背面都很强，并能进行远距离的一个沉重的车手。在草原和山区旅游成吉思汗时代以来他们的生活。现在，他们可能是不一样的了。他们高，他们已经从俄罗斯（Don和Orlofv），与国外的血液交配。这些马都是温柔的，勇敢和愿意工作。当然，他们不是对待我们使用的方式来对待我们的，他们有困难的生活。但他们好看，（大多是深重的阉）缠身的看对我的口味有点瘦（即使我们在与大量的基层的有利时期）。种畜看起来很不错（见照片蒙古圈地赛马场带来的马匹从众）。
关于耐力赛。他们努力。吴先生（中国骑手网站经理）正努力在中国举办的所有（或大部分）的比赛中，试图让到处都是相同的模式。车手可能需要更好的教育，为骑长途和应对起搏的艺术。我看到，在全球其他地方也。他们是愿意学习。像我们30年前，他们还从错误中吸取教训。从高行健的马（也可能是从内蒙古）可以做适当的调节和起搏。也许这种马的速度是有限的，将无法达到我们的阿拉伯人的速度，但16 .. 18公里/小时，似乎并没有被一个受过良好培训的科目的问题。这将是非常有趣的条件和培养他们的路上，看到测试结果。介绍阿拉伯血液可以当然加分，但中国将不得不等待一代人，看看它是如何。在同等条件下部分繁殖的生存吗？他们会不会失去他们的质朴？业主接受培训和维修方案改变了一下吗？显然，从国外进口的马匹可以更快的解决方案。但在同一时间，“诀窍”，必须进口。
比赛组织得非常好。几乎像欧洲模式，除了兽医检查。应分摊更多的代谢参数和步态的检查应该更严格地执行。
比赛时间：140马开始。他们得很快，过于快速的第一阶段。根据模型“一点，后脑勺”绘制的三个阶段。这是确定与谨慎和经验丰富的车手，但这里很多人让马回暖的速度过高，或者甚至推他们，在返回和人的一个vetgate（很多不能够恢复到64BPM）卡住很长一段时间。和第二阶段的过程中，许多人推到离开会场，马的理解，我们是回到返回点。在第一循环相同的情况下。只有38完成。至于我担心：我采取了保守的开始，在第一阶段最后所有的方式。这让我通过几个vetgate几十马。在第二阶段，在半路上，我的马的步态是不是最好的。我下了马，并注意到了原因：“其实，我到达会场开始前短短一个小时内，我一马，但他沿着一条悬有些肿胀，我问到另一个一眼望去确定，但。缺乏时间，我无法检查后脚，我的错误，总是骑手的错误！“。他的后脚是非常不对称的，可能1.5厘米左，右部分之间的差异，迫使马散步或小跑时，把他的脚内侧。当然，这50公里后，他疼痛。所以我轻轻地走到他回营和拉。
接下来的日子里，我们可以参加蒙古圈地和各种活动和跨镇步行。非常好的人，我们在欧洲的样子感到好奇，每个人都愿意与我们拍照。非常漂亮的孩子，很多说他们从学校保留的唯一的英文单词“你好，怎么你”。有趣的。
每天中午和晚上，进食和饮水和社交活动。令人惊叹。品尝蒙古食品和中国。在整个晚宴的祝酒词（许多课程都担任中国圆桌会议）从每个人都接受。当然，作为特殊的客人，我们的所有祝酒词:-)中国的伏特加，40degrees目标在连续四天，这是另一种的耐力... ...
我要感谢我们的客人，这个令人难以置信的欢迎和所有的好时机。