Tall in the saddle

China's Zhu Meimei has been branded as the rider to lead the country's charge at the Rio de Janeiro Games in four years time, Tang Zhe writes.

A lot of weight rests on the shoulders of 20-year-old equestrian Zhu Meimei - not for this year's Olympics in London, but the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. Alex Hua Tian has secured a spot on the waiting list for eventing at this year's Olympics, but he is the last man in the saddle for China - four years after the country's memorable equestrian debut in Beijing.

Zhu is the most promising of the next crop of riders and hopefully can claim a berth in Brazil.

"Our target is the 2016 Olympics, and she will be a key member of the Chinese Olympic team at that time," said Cheng Qing, secretary general of the Chinese Equestrian Association.

Zhu's coach, four-time Olympic gold medal winner Ludger Beerbaum, said it's not unrealistic for Zhu to harbor medal dreams in four years' time.

"She is young and really talented. From what I see in Europe, she doesn't need to be afraid of anybody her age," Beerbaum said. "It wouldn't surprise me if she not only makes the Olympics, but also achieves a good result."

The young rider was born in the United States, but chose to represent China in 2009.

"My goal is the next Olympics in Brazil, so hopefully it will work out. I think Beerbaum already has a plan for me," Zhu said at the 2012 Longines Beijing Masters held in the Bird's Nest this month.

Zhu is also preparing for next year's World Cup series.

"Next year will be my first time competing at a World Cup overseas and I am hoping to become the first Chinese rider to reach a World Cup final," she said.

Zhu discovered her love for riding at the age of eight. She said there were a lot of farms near where her family lived and she wanted to go and watch people ride.

Then she started riding classes once a week and, gradually, that increased to classes once a day.

"When you are riding, you know it's an animal, and it's not a ball like golf. It feels and reacts to what you do, so you can't be angry or really excited or nervous, because your horse feels everything," said Zhu, who began jumping at the age of 12.

"It's cool because it's like a partnership ... it's not just one person or just the horse in golf, it's just you," she said. "The difference is you never know what's going to happen."

The sport's high cost used to be a burden on Zhu's family - especially when she needed to buy horses.

However, the young rider found a way to save money by buying horses, breeding them, and then selling them.

"It's much easier to play soccer, baseball or something else, which costs much less. But I really like to ride horses, it's really nice and I like the feeling," said Zhu, who has played various sports, but is obsessed with riding.

"My mom is always supporting me, and now we have some very good sponsors, and I really appreciate what they give me," she said.

To get more chances to ride competitively, Zhu changed her nationality to compete for China in 2009, and started to train in Germany with former world No 1 show jumper Beerbaum's team.

"The sport is not very big in China, and it's a good opportunity for me and the sport to grow," Zhu said. "There are a lot of riders in America with big family backgrounds, so it's difficult (to ride there), but here it's so new.

"It's hard (to ride with Beerbaum's team) because they are really good, so I always ask, 'why am I here, I shouldn't be here'," Zhu said. "Every day is just horse riding, so sometimes you get a little stressed or tired, but that's how the professionals train.

"Every day is hard work, it's not once a week or three times a week, every day the horses have to be properly trained."

The young rider said a lot of work needed to be done in China to reach the European standard.

"There are only about 600 riders in China, but tens of thousand in Germany. Sometimes a riding competition there attracts hundreds of riders," Zhu said. "Horse-riding competitions are very professional in Europe, everything is organized and done very properly.

"It takes time for any new sport to attract an audience, but I think horse riding in China will grow very fast," she said.