Hanoians spend millions to learn European-style horseback riding

As a lover of the European lifestyle, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa Hop (Hanoi) found horseback riding many years ago. In 2011, she and her husband opened an equestrian club to both relax and serve European guests in Vietnam. However, after a period of operation, the customers who come to the club are mainly Vietnamese, Japanese and Korean.

Horseback riding is considered an interesting sport because it helps to think and train the mind very well. Horses are also intelligent species when they can sense the care of their owners, so when attached for a long time, horses can become close friends of people.

Hoa Hop’s Hanoi Horse Riding Club is located in Hoai Duc, Hanoi and currently attracts a lot of young people to experience every weekend. Here, Ms. Hop provides two types of services, one is to rent horses for riding and the other is to become a meeting place for members who own their own horses.

For those who are new to horseback riding, they often go to Ms. Hoai’s facility to rent horses and learn to ride at a cost of about 600,000 VND/40-minute session. Here, players will be guided by the club staff on how to feed the horses, brush their hair, learn about the horse’s personality, and then go to the professional and methodical riding techniques according to European style standards. If you just want to play and interact with horses, the price will be 250,000 VND/20 minutes. A methodical horse riding course here costs 6 million VND.

According to Ms. Hop: “European riding style always emphasizes the preparation process, the rider must interact with his horses. When getting on the horse, he must learn to balance, when running, he must be in sync with the horse, Hand shape, body shape, and eyes should all be given the same attention as true European aristocrats.

Hop’s establishment currently has about 30 horses of different breeds. The members who first come to the school often get acquainted with the Kabadin horses with their solid character, easy to balance. After learning and getting used to it, they will switch to purebred racehorses.

Some members, after mastering the skill, will switch to the stage of owning their own horses. The price to have a horse of your own is very rich and diverse for players to choose from.

Ms. Hop shared: “To be able to own horses from Europe by air to Vietnam can cost about 18,000 euros (more than 430 million VND) not including the costs incurred in quarantine. Horses must be fed imported food and ensure that there is no parasitic disease on the grass”.

If players do not have enough conditions to buy imported horses, they can choose domestic horse breeds, with horses about 4 years old can be ridden, the price ranges from 3-5 million VND.

After each session, the members will send the horses back to the club so that they can be cared for in the herd together. The nature of horses is that if they are separated from the herd, they will constantly feel stressed. In Vietnam, it will be difficult to take care of horses when summer comes, so the breeding space needs a cool fan and water for regular bathing. The cost of taking care of the horses is 5 million VND/month and there is no additional cost of the yard.

Like many European aristocratic sports, horseback riding is also a form of sport. Players must always wear long clothes and high boots. Depending on each person’s willingness to spend, they will buy costumes of different prices, from a few million to tens of millions of dong depending on the brand.

Many parents in Hanoi are also willing to spend a lot of money for their children to learn to ride horses. They also prepare the children’s costumes quite carefully.