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Grade 10: Sharing about Sport Training

May 15, 2020

In the first week of May, Yuzhen from 10(1) shared her experience in the field of horse riding with the grade 10 students.

She began by introducing her history with the sport.Yuzhenhad started riding in her mother’s hopes to relieve her double-hip disjunction that had developed as a toddler. Climbing her way up to the saddle for the first time at the age of 4,Yuzhenspent the first few years of her “riding career” in Vancouver, Canada, where she spent most of her childhood. Though the time she spent riding in Canada was short, it was sweet; a big chunk of her golden memories on horseback stemmed from those lovely instructors and horses in that small barn in Vancouver.

She flew back to Shanghai at the age of 7 and settled in a new barn located in Pudong temporarily, though her quest for the right barn was far from over. After years of constantly changing stables because of personal and environmental issues, in 2017, she finally settled in the luxurious stables of the Shanghai Equestrian Sports Management Center in Jinshan, where she rides today.

Even as her geographical locations, instructors, and riding companions changed constantly,Yuzhennotes how the “essence of horsemanship” shown to her by her first instructor and instilled again and again by every instructor that followed has never left her. The uniqueness of Equestrianism as a sport derives from the distinctive type of cooperation it requires: one between a human and an animal. She knows by heart that “happy horse makes a happy rider”, and the more relaxed the horse is around the rider, the more enhanced the riding experience will be. This not only includes sending positive signals to the horse while riding, but bonding through grooming, feeding, and walking as well.

Yuzhencontinues by addressing some of the doubts about this hobby that she has received from people near her, as well as the doubts she has held over herself. Unlike sports that can be practiced in school,Yuzhenhas to wait until the weekends to ride. Going to Jinshan, riding, and then coming back usually takes at least 3 and a half hours. If she decides to ride twice per week—which she has recently been doing more frequently—she will have to sacrifice at least 7 hours of her weekend, hours that she could have spent studying and working. And yet,Yuzhendoes not consider this to be an unfair sacrifice. Not only is horse riding beneficial to her health, the soothing company of the horse and other horse-lovers combined with the thrill of each occasional competition is whatYuzhenviews as a valuable way to let her mind stray freely from academics.

Horse riding has helpedYuzhengain confidence and self-esteem from achieving the goals that she set for herself, as well as guided her towards similar-minded individuals, who she has learned to communicate and share experience with. Those rightfully sacrificed hours continue to act as a source of happiness and a dash of color inYuzhen’s life.

(Written by Yuzhen Qian Pictures by Yuzhen Qian Supervised by Xie Junyu)