The pace never wanes - and Bartabas described Battuta as the most ambitious show he has produced since Zingaro was established in 1984.
"Now I'm working a lot on the energy and physical impact," he said. "It is not an intellectual show - it gets your heart first, and then your head. I have no text, there's no reason for me to use language."
"I don't make the performance to show the horses - I want to show the reaction and relationship between man and horse. The way you are with the horse is the way you are with others," he added.
"The horse gives you back what you give - like a Stradivarius," he said, referring to the rare violins made by the Italian Stradivari family in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
"If you teach him the language of love and sensuality and sensibility, you will get it back."
Spectacular acrobatics
The logistics of Battuta are head-spinning - the 38 horses, which include two standbys in case any are injured during training or performing, eat about 17kg of food each a day, or a daily total of around 640kg.
They follow a strict diet of straw and mixed cereals served at intervals, including a supper of hay after the show. They snack on a total of 25kg of carrots a day and bed down on wood shavings that over the course of their two months in Hong Kong will amount to 23,200kg.
They are exercised for at least an hour each day to make sure they stay in peak fitness for the furious pace of the show, are put to bed at 10pm each night and woken with breakfast at 7am.
Each horse performs for a total of about 15 minutes, appearing several times during the show - running free, performing acrobatics and pulling carts.
The show runs in Hong Kong until March 23. Bartabas said he plans to take Battuta to Moscow, Tokyo, Sao Paulo and Brussels.
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