A Vietnamese man has spent billions of VND importing horses from European countries to raise on his farm in Hanoi.

A large horse farm in the capital city

Ngo Le Thang, 46, from Cau Giay District, has had a special love for horses since he was a little boy. His mother was an performer in the circus. "When I was small I used to follow my mother during her performances. That's when I fell in love with horses," he said.

His love for the animals continued to develop until he had a chance to realise a dream of his around one year ago.

Thang used thousands of square metres of his family’s land in Mai Dich to build a horse farm.

Thang shows off one of his horses

He has spent tens of billions of VND on buying horses from European countries for the farm. Now has owned over 20, including 16 sourced from the UK, Germany and Russia.

Over the past five years, he has travelled to several countries to select good horses and take them back to Vietnam by air. The project has taken a great amount of money and effort.

“Transportation procedures are very complicated and the fees are very expensive. It costs me hundreds of millions of VND to carry a horse from Germany to Hanoi,” he said.

Visitors to the farm

He employs workers to take care of the farm and veterinarians to care for the horses.

“Raising horses is not easy. It took me a long time to learn how to care for them properly. It costs me around VND200,000 (USD9.47) per day to feed each horse, and that does not include paying the workers," he said.

While many others choose to lease their horses for photo shoots, he organises horseback rides and equestrian training.