Recently, the news of a young man from Shandong, China planning to return to China on horseback from Spain made many netizens happy, "Good guy! How long will it take?" "The experience along the way is also rich and colorful!" Pull the wind!" Ziniu News reporter contacted this guy, his name is Xu Zhixian, from Shandong, 32 years old this year.
He told reporters that he started a one-man and one-horse trip back to China starting in February, and encountered many interesting things on the way.
Ziniu News reporter Song Shifeng
improvised
This year began to "horizontal horse Europe and Asia", has traveled more than 2,500 kilometers
On the morning of August 23 local time, Xu Zhixian was planning to ride his stallion named "Sui Sui" to the Atlantic Ocean to take pictures, but was surrounded by a large group of curious Dutch kindergarten children.
Because it is quite rare in Europe to travel on horseback, people usually do not enter the city even if they ride a horse, so he and "Sui Sui" attracted the onlookers of adults and children. When the reporter contacted him, he was busy maintaining order. : "I have to watch 'Sui Sui' and not let it bite."
The reporter learned that on February 20 this year, Xu Zhixian set off from Larin, Spain, and has traveled more than 2,500 kilometers. "Every day is an accident, and every day there are new situations."
Xu Zhixian is from Heze, Shandong Province. He was born in 1990 and went to study in Europe after graduating from high school in 2009.
He first went to university in Genoa, Italy, and then to Norway for postgraduate studies.
After graduating in 2017, he worked as a tutor in Italy for several years.
He likes to travel very much, and has traveled almost all over Europe in the past few years. "I am quite familiar with European history, humanities and art."
During the trip, he suddenly came up with a novel and bold idea: ride back home!
Before this time, Xu Zhixian and Ma had basically never had contact. He said that the idea of "horizontal Eurasian" "suddenly came" without any planning.
After he told his family about his plan to go back to China on horseback, they still refused to believe it, "I told them for two weeks, and they said that you have no end to this matter? Can you just tell this joke once?" Xu Zhixian said, It was only later that the family found out that he really did this. Seeing his journey on horseback, the family also expressed that it was surprising and novel.
Xu Zhixian told reporters with a smile that the media reported that his goal of "horizontal Eurasia" was to reconnect with nature and the whole world, make friends, and learn about cultures from all over the world, "Actually, they sublimated me, everyone asked me When there is a reason, I always say that there is no reason. This kind of thing is to do what you want. Do you still need a reason? They may want to take care of the readers' feelings, so they added a paragraph. "
buy a horse and learn to ride
Learn to ride horses from scratch and become good brothers with horse sellers
Xu Zhixian said that he is a person with strong action, and once he made a decision, he began to prepare.
"When I decided to go back to my country on horseback, I checked the advertisements for horses on the Internet and found that a businessman named Javier Blanco in Larin, Spain, was selling horses, so I asked him to meet. Blanco At first, I thought I didn't really want to buy a horse, I didn't care too much, I didn't expect that I would come to the door on time, and the two of us still hit it off, and we had a very good chat."
Blanco asked Xu Zhixian if he had ever ridden a horse, and Xu Zhixian answered honestly: "I have ridden once on a horse, once on a camel." So Blanco taught him to ride from scratch.
They stayed together for 3 months, spent Christmas 2021 and New Year's Day 2022 together, and unexpectedly became good brothers.
Blanco recommended an 8-year-old purebred Arabian white horse named "Furion" to Xu Zhixian as his "mount" for his return to China.
The horse, named "Furion", was unridden and was sitting in the stable with a little dirt and bugs.
Seeing Xu Zhixian coming over, "Furion" began to have fun.
Xu Zhixian took a fancy to this horse, and named it "Sui Sui" in Chinese, "because it likes to eat things with spikes."
The lifespan of a horse is about 30 years, so "Sui Sui" is equivalent to a juvenile, and is a stallion that has never gelded.
In many countries, stallions are generally gelded unless they are used as stallions.
The Spaniards have a proud tradition of daring to ride a stallion that is not gelding.
Because of this situation, "Sui Sui" has more "character".
all the way
It has attracted the attention of European media, and it has become much more convenient along the way.
The most troublesome thing is that the horse will "elope"
Blanco helped Xu Zhixian plan a horse-riding route, first taking the famous "pilgrimage road" in Spain.
This is a European cultural route, along which Catholics from all over Europe reach Santiago de Compostela to visit the remains of Saint James in the Cathedral of the Apostles.
On this road, there is a place to stay and eat every few kilometers. It is very convenient to ride horses and hike, which is equivalent to a national tourism project.
Before departure, Xu Zhixian and Blanco were not sure whether they would need to apply for a visa to travel from Spain to France, Belgium and other countries on horseback. Blanco took him to the local newspaper and told about the travel plan of "Eurasia on Horses". The local newspaper He was very interested and made a big report. After that, he took the newspaper to apply for various documents, and it was very convenient all the way.
Since then, the European media have paid great attention to Xu Zhixian, and every place they went, the media came to interview him.
Blanco accompanies Seo Ji-hyun to set out, and takes him all the way to the free town of Bierzo, on the border of the region. He bids him farewell with tears, and then Seo Ji-hyun embarks on the journey alone.
They walk about 30 kilometers a day, slower in places with better views.
Hotels in Europe generally start at 60 euros. In order to save money, Xu Zhixian bought the lightest tent, sleeping bag and air mattress, and slept in the tent at night.
After a month, plus the cost of nailing horseshoes, he spent less than 600 euros.
Every morning, he puts away the tent, washes and eats, and sets off at night. At night, he finds a place to set up a tent to rest. "If I walk alone, I will walk 5 kilometers in an hour, and I will finish it in 6 hours. Pulling it is slower and I have to walk. For 10 to 12 hours, he ate endlessly along the way."
Some media once reported that "Sui Sui" once "elope" with other horses, and the luggage he was carrying was scattered all over the ground, and even the computer was broken, and the horse was found only with the help of the police.
Xu Zhixian said that this happened more than once, but "elopes every day, and usually drives it away, it won't leave, but once it encounters other horses, it can't be pulled."
Horses often need to change their shoes. In order to solve this problem, "I often go to those equestrian clubs. They all have the contact information of the horseshoe master. The horseshoe master will drive over after a call. The horseshoe masters are all good, and they have to nail one or two every day. Ten horseshoes, it's a high-paying career."
There are very few people traveling long distances on horseback in Europe these days, so the horseshoe masters met Xu Zhixian and offered very favorable prices.
The forage for "Sui Sui" is the grass and crops on the roadside. Now it is used to eating fresh grass. Even if it arrives at the farm, it will not eat much hay.
go ahead leisurely
Got the help of many enthusiastic people and made a lot of jokes
Nowadays, many Europeans don’t know much about horses. “The most fun thing I remember is that I just passed the Pyrenees Mountains to France. When I came out of the mountains, I was soaked all over, and an old man pulled me enthusiastically. Go to his house, his house is a small building, he asked me to live upstairs, and put a big mattress in the hall, intending to let the horse sleep."
Once camped by the Loire River, the river was wide, but the water was shallow, and the river was covered with green grass. Xu Zhixian tied "Sui Sui" under a bridge to graze.
It seemed like a festival that day, a few people got drunk and tried their best to pass through all kinds of thorny plants, ran into the river and cut the reins of "Sui Sui" and led them to Xu Zhixian." It also enlightened me that it is not safe here, and I have to take it to a safe place."
Not long ago, in the forest near Paris, "Sui Sui" ran away again. Xu Zhixian was in a hurry to find a horse, and left his backpack on the side of the road. The documents and other items were inside.
After returning, he found that the backpack was missing, and after searching for a long time, he found it behind a small bush next to it.
The security situation there is not very good. Maybe someone passed by there, worried that the backpack would be stolen, so they helped to hide the bag there, but Xu Zhixian spent a lot of time looking for it.
At present, Xu Zhixian has already arrived in the Netherlands. The next step is to go to Germany and then to Austria. There are many foreign embassies in Vienna, where they can go through the visa procedures in a centralized manner, and then pass through the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and other countries to return to China from West Asia and the Middle East.
However, Xu Zhixian encounters accidents every day and knows that the plan cannot keep up with the changes. This is just an "ideal route".
It turned out that he planned to finish the trip in one year, and now he dared not make too much estimation of the time, but he was not in a hurry and planned to travel leisurely at a speed of 30 kilometers per day.