Before racing began in mid 2001, along with no proper heating or transport, there were no toilets at the farm. For 3 solid months, the snow fell. Everyday I got dressed into thick layers of clothing, topped off with a ski suit, as I set off on my pushbike into the wild blizzards to the horse farm. The road was airy and white and I often heard a calling sound of ‘COOOOO-EEEEEEEEEE’ coming from one of the fields. On a bad day, it took me 20 minutes to bike to work, which should have been 10 minutes maximum. I think the locals loved the fact that I was also now ‘one of them’ and doing a bit of work, I didn’t mind for some ungodly reason, I suppose it kept me reasonably fit. We both worked all day long living on Chocolate coated sponge biscuts and oranges, while tutoring the staff and looking after the well-being of 300+ horses that had recently arrived from the mid-summer heat of Australia. The weather was harsh, with stinging winds filled with snow and sand blustering all day, it wasn't a moment for the weak-hearted. Nowadays, due to the trees planted around the outskirts of Beijing, the dust and wind is not so bad and every year the dust storms are becoming less and less. I am glad to mention that 2007 was the first year that Beijing didn't have a dust storm. The first winter we experienced which was in 1999 was recorded as the coldest winter in Beijing for 20 years, averaging -15 to -26 degrees everyday for more than 2 months. Most of the locals had developed red rashes on their faces with some turning into sores from the sand storms, they looked ghastly.
Amazingly they hardly felt the cold, or it appeared that way, but I couldn't get warm. I had a small coal burning fire in the office with round shaped pieces of coal, it was only good if you sat on top of it, which I did every lunch hour, melting my snow boots in the process. The coal had its own terrible smell that seemed to fill the air, ending up all over our clothes, it was impossible to wash the smell out. As weather conditions worsened, hand walking the horses was all the staff could do, while others were given the task of breaking the ice so the horses could have a drink, while I kept my watchful eye on everyone because I knew certain ones were fond of hiding and not doing anything at all. My partner found a good system which worked really well, and when it was payday, which happened once a month, we lined all the staff up and one by one handed them their salary, deducting the ones who hadn’t been good and giving extra to the hard workers. This proved to be a successful method and either way, ended up with them laughing. This once a month episode seemed to attract the local workers who made it their business to come and watch while we sorted out the good from the bad, I was glad to see that they had a good sense of humour. I know one thing, we both gained a lot of respect from the local people, and I gained a cough, but as I was told by my chinese friend, 'YUE', he said, "the people never thought we would stick it out", but we did. To them we will always be in their memories.

Pictured here is Tom giving some advice to Tim the Toolman on a horse from Australia called Sunday Night, by Palace Music out of Pink Taffeta. He was a good horse in his time but in 2002 he got away from his strapper, slipped on the concrete road and fractured his pelvis.

Horses are tough!

No rugs on these horses all winter, through the blistering wind and snow they really are quite remarkable animals to adapt to and survive in these sort of conditions. All the horses were brought into their boxes every night, I found that it was colder indoors than outside. With ice everywhere, it was a constant danger zone for horses who would lose their footing, sliding over and breaking a shoulder or a leg.

Trackwork

Photo taken February 2003, with only one 200 metre sand track that was useable, there wasn't much room for 36+ horses in one go. It was madness with all the Kamakazi chinese riders going in all directions, riders falling off left right and centre, quite entertaining, but the pressure was on to get them fit for the March races.

Hard Yakka

Its hard yakka for the trainers, who have to stand in icey-cold weather conditions all day long with no shelter from the snow and wind, then to 45 degree heat to watch their horses working. Here pictured from left is Chuck (CAN), Tom (IRE) and John (AUS), still in high spirits despite the coldness. Having a good sense of humor really helps in situations like these!

This is a photo of Michael (F.Chen) on board an Australian bred horse called Castle Chimes, taken 3rd November 2002, I think about 4 days before we raced. Under conditions like these, training methods were certainly altered and so the sandrolls really came in handy. Tom was overseas on family business, so I decided to trot the racing horses in the sandroll for the next few days as they were fit enough and if I can remember, we ended up winning 3 races. I was absolutely over the moon. If you look closely you can see the rider is wearing sneakers!!

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Part 2 of Outback Beijing.
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Village Life.