Featured Image: China Horse Crush Restraint
The afternoon of Wednesday 29th. September 2004 was spent at the Jiangsu Boama Ltd. International Equestrian Club owned by Dr. Gao Huan who has spent a lot of time in Perth, WA. The club is set in idyllic surroundings near the ‘Purple Mountain’ on the outskirts of Nanjing. It is typical of ‘new age’ riding clubs centred on established stables catering for the emerging middle class demand for such active recreational activity. The stables were ‘old world’ in comparison to the newly constructed edifices at Beijing and elsewhere. We were treated to a demonstration of ‘traditional’ method of slinging a horse in a crush with cotton ropes in order to effect routine farriery procedures. The horse in question had long-standing hoof problems possibly due to chronic laminitis.
The local Farrier at the club was able to achieve remarkable results with vintage tools resembling chisels! There is clearly a deficit in the area of suitable training and ‘new age’ farriery equipment. The evening concluded with beers in the exquisite garden at the riding club and thence to an ‘Austrade’ hosted wine appreciation dinner at the 5-star Jinling Hotel in the city. It was very good to eat ‘western’, quaff some Hunter Valley brew and repulse the ‘Chinese Way’ challenge to ‘skol’ a few beers in the vibrant hotel night club!