Recently, the news that a Chinese young man planned to return home from Spain on horseback made many netizens happy, "Good guy! How long will it take?" "The experiences along the way will be rich and colorful, right?" "One person and one horse will travel all over the world. Wind! "The reporter contacted this young man, his name is Xu Zhixian, from Shandong, he is 32 years old. He told reporters that he started a one-man, one-horse trip back to China starting in February, and encountered many interesting things on the way.
Since February of this year, he has traveled more than 2,500 kilometers on the "horse race across Europe and Asia"
On the morning of the 23rd local time, Xu Zhixian planned to ride his stallion named "Suisui" to the Atlantic Ocean to take pictures, but was stopped by a large group of people. Curious Dutch kindergarten children gathered around. Because traveling on horseback is still a very rare thing in Europe. Even if people ride horses, they generally do not enter the city. Therefore, he and "Suisui" attracted the attention of adults and children. When the reporter contacted him, he was busy maintaining order. : "I have to watch Suisui to prevent it from biting."
Dutch kindergarten children gathered around "Suisui" to watch
reporters learned that on February 20 this year, Xu Zhixian set out from Larin City, Spain, and has now traveled more than 2,500 kilometers. "Every day is an accident, and there are new situations every day."
Xu Zhixian and "Suisui"
Xu Zhixian He is a native of Heze, Shandong. He was born in 1990. After graduating from high school in 2009, he went to study in Europe. He first went to university in Genoa, Italy, and then went to Norway to study for postgraduate studies. After graduating in 2017, he worked as a tutor in Italy for several years.
He likes traveling very much. He has traveled almost all over Europe in the past few years. "I am quite familiar with European history, humanities and art."
Xu Zhixian met many people taking photos with him along the way.
During the trip, he suddenly appeared. Come up with a novel and bold idea: ride back home!
Before this time, Xu Zhixian had basically no contact with horses. He said that the idea of "riding horses in Europe and Asia" came "suddenly" without any planning.
After he told his family about his plan to return to China on horseback, they refused to believe it. "I told them for two weeks, but they asked you if you were done with this? Can you just tell this joke once?" Xu Zhixian said. , and later the family discovered that he really did it. Seeing his horseback riding journey, the family also expressed that it was surprising and novel.
Xu Zhixian rode the "Suisui" back to China, and he could see the scenery along the way.
Xu Zhixian smiled and told reporters that the media had previously reported that his goal of "horse riding in Europe and Asia" was to reconnect with nature and the entire world, make friends, and understand The culture of various places, "Actually, they sublimate it for me. When everyone asks me why, I say there is no reason. This kind of thing is Just do it if you want to, do you need a reason? They probably wanted to take care of the readers' feelings, so they added a paragraph. "
Learned to ride a horse from scratch.
He also developed a deep friendship with a horse seller.
Xu Zhixian said that he is. A person with strong action ability starts to make preparations once he makes a decision. “When I decided to ride horses back to my country, I checked the horse sales advertisements on the Internet and found that a businessman named Javier Blanco in Larín, Spain was selling horses, so I made an appointment to meet him. Lanke didn’t think I really wanted to buy a horse at first, so he didn’t pay much attention, but he didn’t expect me to come to the door on time. , the two of us hit it off, and we got along very well."
Blanco asked Xu Zhixian if he had ever ridden a horse. Xu Zhixian answered honestly: "I rode a horse once, and I rode a camel once." So Blanco started from scratch. Start teaching him how to ride a horse. They stayed together for 3 months and spent Christmas 2021 and New Year's Day 2022 together. The two unexpectedly became good brothers. Xu Zhixian learned riding skills from Blanco and learned to communicate with horses.Blanco also recommended an 8-year-old purebred Arabian white horse named "Furion" to Xu Zhixian as his "mount" when he returns to China.
The horse named "Furion" was not being ridden at the time and was sitting in the racecourse, a little dirty and full of bugs. Seeing Seo Ji-hyun coming over, "Furion" started to have fun. Xu Zhixian took a fancy to this horse and gave it a Chinese name "Suisui", "because it likes to eat things with ears."
A horse's lifespan is about 30 years, so "Suisui" is equivalent to A teenager, and an ungelded stallion. In many countries, stallions are usually gelded unless they are used as stallions. The Spaniards have a proud tradition of daring to ride an unruly stallion. Because of this situation, "Suisui" has a more "character".
Attracted the attention of European media
It was a lot more convenient along the way
Blanco helped Xu Zhixian plan the horse riding route, first taking the famous " Pilgrimage Road" in Spain. This is a cultural road in Europe. Catholics from all over Europe follow this route to Santiago de Compostela to visit the relics of Saint James in the Apostolic Cathedral.
On this road, there is a hotel and a place to eat every few kilometers. It is very convenient for horse riding and hiking. It is equivalent to a national tourism project. Before departure, Xu Zhixian and Blanco were not sure whether they needed to apply for a visa to ride horses from Spain to France, Belgium, and other countries. Blanco took him to the local newspaper office and told him about the travel plan of "horse riding in Europe and Asia". The local newspaper was very interested and made a large report. Afterwards, he took the newspaper to apply for various documents, which was very convenient along the way.
Since then, the media in various European countries have paid great attention to Xu Zhixian. Everywhere he went, there were media coming to interview him. Blanco accompanied Xu Zhixian on his journey and took him all the way to the Free Town of Bierzo on the border of the region. He bid him farewell with tears, and then Xu Zhixian embarked on the journey alone.
Blanco sends Xu Zhixian off
The most troublesome thing is that the horse will "elope"
and eat endlessly
They walk about 30 kilometers every day, and it will be slower in places with good scenery. Hotels in Europe generally start at 60 euros. In order to save money, Xu Zhixian bought the lightest tent, sleeping bag and inflatable mattress from Decathlon and slept in the tent at night. In one month, including horseshoeing and other expenses, he spent less than 600 euros.
Every morning he puts away the tent, washes and eats, then sets out. At night he finds a place to set up a tent to rest. “If I hike alone, I can walk 5 kilometers in an hour and finish the walk in 6 hours. Pulling it will take more time. Go 10 to 1 For 2 hours, it ate endlessly along the way. "
Some media once reported that "Suisui" once "eloped" with another horse, and the luggage he carried was scattered all over the floor, and even the computer was thrown. It broke and the horse was found with the help of the police. Xu Zhixian said that this happened more than once, but "elopes every day. Normally, it won't go away when you chase it away, but once it encounters other horses, it can't be pulled back."
"Suisui" meets other horses and plays with it. After "eloping"
horses often need to change their horseshoes. In order to solve the problem Regarding this question, "I often go to those equestrian clubs. They all have the contact information of the horsesho masters. Just make a call and the horseshoe masters will drive over. The horse shoe masters are all good. They nail ten or twenty horseshoes every day. It is a high-income profession. . ”
There are very few people traveling long distances on horseback in Europe, so the horseshoe masters met Xu Zhixian and offered very favorable prices. The forage for "Suisui" is grass and crops on the roadside. It is now accustomed to eating fresh grass. Even when it comes to the farm and is given hay, it doesn't eat much.
got help from many enthusiastic people.
also made a lot of jokes.
Nowadays, many Europeans don’t know much about horses. “One of the funniest things I remember was when I arrived just after crossing the Pyrenees Mountains. In France, I came out of the mountains and was soaked to the skin. An old man enthusiastically took me to live in his house. His house was a small building. He let me live upstairs and put a big mattress in the hall. I plan to let the horse sleep."
Once I camped by the Loire River. The river was very wide, but the water was very shallow. The river was full of grass, so Xu Zhixian tied "Suisui" under a bridge to eat grass. That day seemed to be a festival. Several people got drunk and tried their best to pass through various thorny plants, ran into the river, cut off the reins of "Suisui", and led them to Xu Zhixian, " He also told me that it was not safe here and that I should take it away Go to a safe place. "
Not long ago, Suisui ran away again in the forest near Paris. Xu Zhixian was in a hurry to find the horse and threw his backpack on the roadside, with documents and other items inside. After he came back, he found that his backpack was missing. After searching for it for a long time, he found it behind a nearby bush. The security situation there was not very good. Someone might have been passing by and was worried that the backpack would be stolen, so they helped hide it there, which only made Xu Zhixian spend a lot of time looking for it.
At present Xu Zhixian has gone to the Netherlands . The next step is to go to Germany, Austria , Vienna there are many foreign embassies, where you can centrally handle visa procedures, and then go through the Czech Republic , Slovakia , Hungary and other countries, return to China from West Asia, , the Middle East, and .
However, Xu Zhixian encounters accidents every day and knows that the plan cannot keep up with the changes. This is just the "ideal route". Originally, he planned to complete the trip in one year, and now he doesn't dare to estimate the time too much. However, he is not in a hurry and plans to move forward leisurely at a speed of 30 kilometers per day.
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