CHENGDU, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- As more herders on the grasslands of southwest China's Sichuan Province turn to motorcycles and cars instead of horses, Rinch Wangyel is heading in the opposite direction, opting to get back into the saddle.
The 34-year-old former wrestling champion returned to his native Hongyuan County seven years ago to build a business around horses. What began with two horses has since grown into a ranch with 44.
In peak season, up to 20 visitors a day ride with him across hills and rivers and into remote grasslands and forests, sometimes spotting hares or wolves.
"My goal is to let people see the grasslands and experience nomadic culture," he said. "Many people know little about horses and yaks, and they are curious about how herders live and what they eat."
For Rinch Wangyel, horses were part of life long before they became his livelihood.
Born into a herding family in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, he rode almost daily as a child. But it was wrestling that first took him beyond the grasslands.
At 13, he traveled by bus to a competition in Maerkang, the prefectural capital. Back then, transport links in the region were limited, and the trip took nearly a full day. Having rarely ridden in a car, he threw up on his coach halfway.
Wrestling later took him much farther. He won several provincial championships in Sichuan and a national title.
After retiring as an athlete, he moved to Beijing to study something he had known all his life: horseback riding.
"I wanted to do something connected to my own culture," he said.
He spent four years studying modern horsemanship, earning riding and coaching qualifications from Chinese and French equestrian associations. He learned to train horses, use equipment safely and communicate through body movements.
In 2019, he returned to Hongyuan.
At an average elevation of more than 3,600 meters, Hongyuan takes its name from the grasslands crossed by the Communist Party of China-led Red Army during the Long March, a roughly 12,500-kilometer military odyssey from 1934 to 1936.
From 1935 to 1936, the three main forces of the Red Army passed through this region. Bitter cold, thin air, treacherous marshes and unpredictable weather made the grasslands of northwest Sichuan one of the most grueling stretches of the Long March.
The take-off of modern traffic infrastructure is among the most visible changes in these formidable grasslands.
Before 1949, the Aba plateau had no modern roads. Highway construction began in the early 1950s, with airports, expressways and railways following.
Today, Rinch Wangyel said, the journey from Hongyuan to Maerkang or the provincial capital Chengdu takes just three or four hours. Tourists can now even visit the once-remote grasslands over a weekend.
Tractors, trucks and motorcycles spread through pastoral areas in the 1980s and 1990s, followed by cars. Some herders now drive new energy vehicles.
Horses, once essential for getting around, have gradually taken on a different role.
Hongyuan, known for its Tibetan equestrian traditions, has around 20,000 horses. Increasingly, they are used for racing, tourism and cultural experiences rather than daily transportation.
Rinch Wangyel first offered tourists short horseback rides at Moon Bay, a popular local attraction. But riding beside a road for an hour, he felt, did little to show visitors what the grasslands were really like.
He then opened his own ranch, offering rides lasting hours or even a full day, deeper into the countryside.
"Our guests tend to be well-off," he said. "But they're also looking for something more than just sightseeing."
Some guests stay for days, switching horses and routes. A Frenchman living in Shanghai in east China has returned several times, and the ranch has attracted thousands of repeat visitors from both China and abroad.
For city dwellers seeking a break from hectic urban life, the grasslands offer a different pace. But taking inexperienced riders into remote terrain required Rinch Wangyel to rethink traditional practices.
He modified traditional saddles and stirrups, made helmets and protective gear mandatory, and helped develop safety standards for local horseback-riding businesses.
His approach to training horses also changed. "We have moved away from the traditional practice of training horses with whips and use the methods I learned in Beijing, communicating with them through body language," he said.
He even washes the horses with shampoo and carefully grooms them, hoping first-time visitors will see the local Hequ breed at its best.
"I've always believed horses have personalities just like people," he said.
Hequ horses, a traditional Chinese plateau breed, are known for their courage, steady temperament and endurance in cold, high-altitude conditions.
These animals have also become part of a wider effort to build a tourism industry around the region's equestrian traditions.
In recent years, Hongyuan has upgraded more than 100 horseback-riding sites and expanded horse breeding and training. Equestrian competitions and music festivals, notably, have brought more visitors.
During a series of events in 2025, the county received 220,000 tourist visits and generated 218.5 million yuan (approximately 32.47 million U.S. dollars) in tourism revenue.
The country's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), released in March, calls for promoting county economies via local strengths, expanding distinctive rural industries, and developing new rural industries and business models such as leisure tourism, cultural experiences and rural e-commerce.
Rinch Wangyel films and edits videos of grassland rides to attract customers and trains local herders to serve as part-time riding instructors during peak season. His ranch made a profit of approximately 600,000 yuan in 2025.
Now he has another ambition.
Rinch Wangyel has begun breeding imported British horses with local Hequ horses, hoping to produce taller animals while retaining the endurance and hardiness of the plateau breed.
Eight horses have been bred this year. If all goes well, a new generation of foals will arrive next spring, increasing his herd to more than 50.
"One day, I hope horses bred and trained in Hongyuan can leave the grasslands and compete in show jumping in Beijing and Shanghai," he said. "And I hope that will help more people understand our nomadic culture." ■
