For more than 100 years between the 17th and 18th centuries Taipus in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region was home to the largest pasture for royal horse herds in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), set up by a nomadic ethnic group. During its prime in the 17th century, Taipus raised as many as 70,000 horses for the imperial army.

Between July 27 and 29 Taipus hosted China's second national barrel racing championship, which is co-sponsored by the Chinese Equestrian Association, the sports channel of China Central Television and the Taipus Government. "We are hoping to revive the extinct horse riding culture in this region," said Yu Xiaohong, a senior official of the local government.

Hosting the national barrel racing championship is the first step for the local government in rebuilding the region as a mecca for enthusiastic amateur riders and aspiring professional riders alike. Why the imported barrel racing instead of local horse riding patterns? Reviving the equestrian culture that died over 100 years ago would take a lot of time and effort.

Originating in the Wild West of the United States, barrel racing started as a sport for ranch women who wanted a challenging event to compete in. They set 55-gallon barrels in a triangular pattern and raced around them taking two left turns and one right turn. As one of professional rodeo's most colorful and exciting events, barrel racing has become a common enterprise in the United States. Not only does it not have an age limit, but the event is open to both sexes.

The barrel racing in Taipus attracted 37 male riders and 17 female riders from across the country, most of who were amateurs. The record for an amateur barrel rider was 18.57 seconds, created by a female rider Liu Kai, while the champion professional rider at the event achieved 17.49 seconds.

Cheng Qing, Secretary General of the Chinese Equestrian Association, said that horse riding as a sport is still at the nascent stage in China, lagging far behind top world levels in terms of event scale and rider

performance.

Love affair with riding

Ye Xiaofei, Chief Designer of a Beijing-based website company, was one of the 17 female barrel riders at Taipus. She rode a horse for the first time at the age of 27 in 2000. She fell in love with the sport immediately, and stayed on horseback for six hours that time. When she finally got off the horse, she almost collapsed on the ground.

She said what she likes about riding is the control over a horse to let it leap wildly or make it pace quietly, which she believes reflects the two contradictory elements of her character.

The pleasure of free riding comes with a high price. Ye's arms and legs are full of injuries from riding. Her latest injury was a bruise on one leg, caused when she knocked over a barrel during the qualification round of the event.

But she said the bruise is nothing compared to her almost fatal riding experience two years ago, on her birthday. She was taking a walk on the beach when a horse hopped in front of her out of nowhere. Although there was no saddle on the horse she didn't hesitate to climb onto its back. At that moment the soft beach sand caused the horse to fall and Ye fell off. Although the sand was soft enough to buffer any serious crush, her left brow fell on a shell and its sharp edge cut into her skin. The cut cost her seven stitches in the hospital and the doctor said it was the sheer luck that her left eye wasn't lost.

After the accident her boyfriend, who she had been dating for two years, tried to persuade her to stop riding. Ye thought for a while but decided it was too big a part of her life to give it up and the decision eventually led to them splitting up. "I will only date guys who support my hobby," she said.

Since the winter of 2006, Ye started to take professional riding classes on ranches once a week, paying between 100 yuan and 200 yuan for one hour. She has found new pleasure in communicating with horses. "The link between a well matched rider and horse is similar to the chemistry between two lovers," she said. Although she adopted a colt several years ago, Ye began to consider adopting a racehorse during the barrel racing championship.

Ye failed to make it into the top three in the final round, for which she blamed her excessive eagerness to win. "I will come back next year," she said.