Niche sports broaden children's horizons
Parents feel that fencing and horseback riding will open doors to new worlds. Zhang Yi reports.
Benefits
Chen said most parents hope their children will develop good personal qualities through the activity, such as courage, concentration, confidence, endurance and a sense of responsibility.
"Riding requires good cooperation between rider and horse. When a child tries to control the horse independently, the horse will not cooperate if the rider doesn't focus on it," he said.
Riders need to be brave because after a certain level, they have to undertake challenging activities, such as jumping hurdles and galloping, he added.
The sport can also improve both body shape and the student's temperament. The riding posture helps to correct bad habits such as hunching the back and makes the riders more elegant, according to Chen.
Like equestrianism, fencing was once a niche sport, but in recent years it has become increasingly popular in first-tier cities.
