So if Scott Brash and Gilles Thomas are the main winners at the Shanghai round of the Longines Global Champions Tour (see HippoLink, where do Chinese riders fare in the show jumping rankings?
Europe provides much of the horsepower for the Chinese show jumping circuit © Susan Finnerty
The Chinese Equestrian Association was first affiliated with the FEI in 1983 and has 13 FEI-affiliated events scheduled to take place within the fourth-largest country in the world. As of this year, there are 527 Chinese athletes and 856 horses - the majority imported from Europe - registered with the FEI.
In the HippoLink above, we see Chinese rider Zhenqiang Li listed amongst European riders such as Jerry Smit, Ben Maher, Franke Sloothaak and Lars Nieberg as winners of 2* classes held at the LGCT Shanghai.
In Hippomundo’s rankings, we see that China ranks in 28th place amongst show jumping nations over the past year (365 days) with 427 riders and 768 horses in the database. The number of horses is particularly interesting as it is significantly more than other countries in the top-15, for example, the country that was the highest riser in Hippomundo rankings last week: Mexico (ranked seventh/682 show jumping horses).
(France (7,208), Germany (4,388) and Belgium (3,666) are the top-three by horse numbers in this particular timeframe and you can see the full list here.
Last year’s top-ranked Chinese show jumping rider? That’s Ruiji Liang whose top horse is the BWP-bred La Luna Hidalgo J&F competing at 1.45m level on the Chinese circuit.
Another European import in Liang's string is the former Michael Jung event horse fischerWildWave, whose career highlight was the German team silver medal at the 2021 European championships.
The current number one-ranked Chinese rider on the Hippomundo rankings? Zhixiang Jiang whose top horse is Jacinthe Van Dorperheide, also a Belgian-bred.
To see each country’s current leading show jumping riders, click here
