Spanish Olympic Team rider Morgan Barbçon Mestre ventured to the Far East for a unique occasion. The 20-year old Spanish rider was invited to visit the magnificent Heilan Equestrian Centre in the city of Xinqúao approximately 130km west of Shanghai and participated in a public demonstration ride on 25 September 2012.
Barbançon's first contact with China was established three years ago when she sold one of her horses, the Holsteiner gelding Cortez (by Caretino x Lantaan), to Chinese Olympic Grand Prix rider Lina Liu. Now also known as Pine Valley No 1, the horse Cortez became instrumental for Liu to win the Chinese Dressage Champion's title in 2009 and team silver at the 2010 Asian Games.
With over 26 acres of land, Heilan Equestrian Centre is equipped with all the state-of-the art facilities to train 300 horses. It has one huge, spectacular indoor arena for shows and two gigantic covered arenas, the largest one being 160 x 70 m. The centre includes a veterinary clinic, a splendid 5* hotel for visitors as well as top class stables outfitted with air conditioning.
The Heilan Equestrian Centre is known for its Spanish Riding School-style shows with Andalusians, Lusitanos, Friesians, Dutch warmbloods and Hanoverians performing there. It also features the typical Chinese horses which come directly from XinJiang.
The Heilan group started this project in 2009 and first focused on the presentation of a dressage performance with 80 horses mixing PRE's and Friesians. Now the center is starting more to focus on competition sport in show jumping and dressage at a national level.
Morgan Barbançon Mestre met up with eight Spanish riders, most of them coming from the Real Escuela de Equitacion in Jerez de la Frontera. For the past three years this team of trainers is residing at Heilan Equestrian Centre to help the staff with the training of the horses and riders.
Morgan paid her first visit to the Heilan Equestrian centre two weeks ago. She met the staff, trained some horses with them, and talked about her competitive show experiences with the Spanish and Chinese trainers and riders. "It was an unbelievable experience and I hope to return there again," she said.
Related Links
Lina Liu Wins Gold Medal at 2009 Chinese Games in Jinan