Lured by the thrill

When Huang Ying first saw a horse in late 2024, he was in his first semester at Hejun College in Huichang county, Jiangxi province. Before that, the 19-year-old's world revolved around basketball.

Then, the horses arrived at the college's newly built equestrian center. "When I saw them for the first time, I was amazed by how gentle and calm those large animals were," he recalled.

The first time he was given an opportunity to try horseback riding, he recorded the moment on his phone. "The horse's back was so high, and I was terrified. I was afraid of falling off. I was telling the people below to hold it steady," he said.

The thrill lured Huang into spending the following weeks mucking out stables, mixing feed, and hauling hay — work the college requires all equestrian students to do before they are allowed to mount a horse. It was during those hours of shoveling and sweeping that he began to consider a new path.

As Huang engaged in the stable chores, he formed a bond with the horses and chose to become an instructor after the faculty pointed him to equine career possibilities that also included training as a professional rider, farrier or stable manager. "I'm patient. I wanted to teach others, the way I was taught," he said.

In addition to his affinity with horses, he saw a career advantage in choosing equestrian sports.

"Basketball, soccer and badminton are too popular. There are too many people competing for those jobs. For someone like me, at a vocational college, going up against graduates from top-tier sports universities, I probably wouldn't stand a chance," he said.

Yu Hui, Huang's instructor at Hejun College, said the teaching objective is to train a new generation of industry professionals equipped with technical and management skills and formal credentials.

"Before, the equestrian coaching industry in China was dominated by people who were rough around the edges," Yu said candidly. "They might have known how to ride, but they lacked education."

A graduate of Wuhan Business University's horse racing and management program, Yu spent a decade working as an instructor in commercial equestrian clubs before joining the college in 2022, when the equestrian program was established.

He rose from apprentice to head instructor, specializing in youth education, show jumping, competition horse training, and instructor development.

The shift from club instructor to university instructor, he said, required a fundamental rethink of his role.

At the clubs, his students were children ages three to 16, brought by parents with specific goals of improving posture, or acquiring a riding credential to boost applications to Western universities, where equestrian skills are sometimes viewed favorably.

His teaching philosophy at the college follows a sequence: from understanding the horse and mastering the technique, before learning to work with people on a professional level. The top priority is treating horses with respect, he added.

"Equestrian sports are about equality between human and horse and any form of abuse is unacceptable," he noted.

This philosophy has already made an impact on students like Huang. "You have to be gentle with a horse. You can't shout at it or lose your temper. Horses can sense your emotions. If you approach them with anger, they'll lose trust in you. They might bite or kick," he said.

Huang learned to read the animal through subtle physical cues, such as the tilt of an ear, a shift in its stance and the rhythm of its breathing.

He recalled one horse in particular that was prone to becoming spooked and bolting. "I was scared. I thought, if I get seriously hurt from this, what happens to my career?"

Instead of backing away, he sought advice from his instructors, and over time, the horse began to trust him."There's a sense of conquest, a sense of accomplishment, when you earn that trust," he said.