'I need a four-legged friend'

Throughout China's long and storied past, no animal has affected its history as greatly as the horse.

The Middle Kingdom survived many invasions from its nomadic neighbours thanks to its cavalry forces; a sophisticated horse-based postal and delivery system once kept the sprawling country firmly under the control of iron-fisted emperors; and even in the late 1990s when a capitalist China emerged from the ruins of decades of chaos, the country was listed as having an equine population of 11 million, one-sixth of the world's total.

Ironically, the astronomical herds on the Inner Mongolia prairies and Xinjiang ranches haven't translated into even the slightest success in modern equestrian sports. Not a single mainland rider has qualified for equestrian events in the Olympics and the few elite horsemen who strive to rewrite the record books on home turf next year have to clear huge financial hurdles.

'We can't afford to miss the Olympics,' said Zhang Bin, winner of the jumping event at the 2005 National Games and the mainland's undisputed number one in the discipline. 'This is a chance in a lifetime for the sport's development in China, an opportunity to shrug off all those rusty years and gain enough momentum and exposure to fast-track the growth in equestrianism.'

With more than two years training under former Olympics jumping bronze medallist Karsten Huck (1988, Seoul) of Germany, the 34-year-old Zhang said he was capable of rising to the challenge of Olympic competition.

Plus, the qualifying rules, which grant special favours to host nations, also smoothes the way for ground-breaking Chinese participation. The qualification procedure for the 70 jumping places is rigorous, but while the rest have to climb up the rankings to make the cut in more than a dozen designated qualifying events until June 30, 2008, the host riders, having been allocated two wild-card entries, need no more than to meet a minimum eligibility standard. Two clear rounds or scores of under four penalty points, which means one obstacle down, in two separate three-star grand prix events will secure Zhang a spot in Hong Kong.