Phin Ho horse hooves

Among the crowd going up the mountain to Phin Ho night market, Ms. Bui Thi Thanh Hai (a tourist from Hanoi) was very excited. Along with the colors of ethnic costumes and the unique specialties, what surprised and interested Ms. Hai the most were the horses. “I still thought that only in Da Lat or Bac Ha (Lao Cai) could I experience horses. But when I saw them appear at Phin Ho market, I was extremely surprised. It brings a very special experience that is not available in the lowland markets!” - Ms. Hai shared.

Tourists experience horse riding at Phin Ho market.

Not only impressing visitors from afar, the horses at the fair also brought many surprises to the local people. Having been to many fairs in the province and district, but taking photos with horses at Phin Ho fair for the first time made Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh, a resident of Phin Ho commune, very excited. She confided: “My son really likes the experience of horse riding, and I took many beautiful photos with the horses. When I shared those photos on Facebook, many friends asked and promised to come here. I feel really proud!”

The first horses to appear at Phin Ho fair belonged to Chao Suong Venh's family in De Tinh 2 village. According to Venh, his family has raised horses for many years, but only maintains 2-3 horses. Recently, when he saw video clips shared on social networks about horse riding and taking photos with horses, he immediately thought of learning and doing business in this type of service. After that, Venh started training and taming horses to be tame with people. As soon as Phin Ho fair opened, Venh saw this as a great opportunity to experiment.

“I cleaned the horse and decorated the reins beautifully. The first time I brought the horse to the market, it attracted a lot of attention. At first, some children were scared, but then most of them were excited. Everyone wanted to take pictures with the horse, many even tried riding it. I charged each customer 20,000 VND, and the first day I earned a few hundred thousand VND!” - Mr. Venh said.

After the first successful trial, Mr. Venh went back to train the horses to better serve tourists. Some horse-raising households in the area saw this and followed suit. Therefore, at each subsequent market, the image of "service" horses appeared more often. To attract tourists to this type of business, some households also brought ethnic costumes and accessories for rent. However, because they were not operating professionally, the horses were newly tamed and not yet familiar with people, so when there were too many visitors, the horses showed signs of agitation. To ensure the safety of tourists, according to a commune leader, this service is currently limited and strictly managed. Each service business household must arrange for someone to supervise, support tourists and promptly handle any arising situations.

Officials of the Farmers' Association of Nam Po district visited the horse farming model of Mr. Ho Chu Thao's family, De Tinh 2 village, Phin Ho commune.

New development direction

According to many elderly people in Phin Ho, horse breeding is not a new profession. In the past, the roads in this Phin Ho area were all rough and steep, on the mountain slopes. To serve the needs of transporting goods and agricultural products of the people, while not having the conditions to buy motorbikes and other motor vehicles, horses were the first choice. Over time, life developed, motorbikes became more and more numerous and became an essential means of transport. The number of horses gradually decreased, only a few families kept 1-2 horses.

As a person with a “good hand” in animal husbandry, when he saw the rolling hills covered with green and fertile grass, Mr. Ho Chu Thao, De Tinh 2 village, immediately thought of raising horses. Starting by going to each household in the village and commune to ask to buy local horses, Mr. Thao encountered many “slanders” from his neighbors and relatives. “People kept whispering to each other that I was so reckless. I dared to borrow money from the bank to raise horses, but when it didn’t work, how would I pay it back? Then I only raised a few horses for testing. I reassured him, saying that I had researched carefully, horses are very easy to take care of, and here the grasslands are vast and you can graze freely!” - Mr. Thao confided.

After only one year, the horses have grown and developed, giving Mr. Thao more confidence in his success. When he first bought them, the foals weighed about 20kg, and after only about 2 months, they weighed 50-60kg each. They eat all day long, and their main food is grass. Although they have hooves like buffalo and cows, horses rarely get foot-and-mouth disease or other diseases. After 2 years, Mr. Thao's herd has grown to more than 30 horses. The old farmers near Mr. Thao's farm were also curious, then interested in following suit. "Mr. Thao was too reckless, but when the horses grew up and someone came to the farm to buy them, I knew he was doing the right thing. I watched TV and saw that white horses cooked in glue could sell for even more money, so I also bought 4 to raise. They are now very big!" - Mr. Ho Senh Rem, in De Tinh 2 village shared.

Mr. Giang A Ky, Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Phin Ho commune, is very pleased with the horse breeding model of Mr. Thao's family. After visiting and carefully studying, in 2022, the Farmers' Association of the commune mobilized the construction of a horse breeding model in 2 villages: De Tinh 2 and De Pua, with a scale of 14 participating households. The total number of initial breeding horses was 140. Each household was trained by the District Farmers' Association on horse breeding, care, and disease prevention and treatment techniques. Up to now, the herd of horses has increased to 160. According to calculations, with the selling price ranging from 30 - 50 million VND/horse, this year the average income of each household participating in the model will reach about 300 million VND. "Currently, the demand for horse breeding in the commune has begun to increase. After screening, more than 130 households have registered. According to the plan to implement the national target program, the government will continue to allocate capital to support each household with one breeding animal to develop horse breeding!" - Mr. Ky said.

Not only raising commercial horses, many households in Phin Ho are now interested in learning and researching tourism models associated with horse-related services in other localities, such as: horse racing, horse riding, horse carriage riding. Associated with community tourism products, it is expected that this will be a new direction, promising many attractions, attracting tourists to Phin Ho.

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