The young participants of the ‘Bangalore Horse Show’, which was held recently in the ASC Centre near HAL, were nothing short of an enthusiastic lot who have proved themselves in the various events.

These horse riders of Agaram Riding and Polo Academy, who were  aged between 7 and 15, spoke about their journey, which involves a lot of hard work and dedication.

Angel Beulah, who studies in Bishop Cottons Girls’ School, says that her passion and love for horses made her go to the next level of riding. She describes it as a “wonderful experience”.
Being the youngest participant in the show, she also believes that without the support and help from her family and friends, she couldn’t have made it this far. Bhavish, who has been training hard for a month now, won the prize for the ‘Best Young Rider’.

He says, “My main motive was to win, no matter what hurdles may come along the way.”

Smaranvita, 15, and Anoushka, 14, explain that it wasn’t always an easy path towards victory. They reveal that they were constantly demotivated and didn’t receive proper guidance initially, all because they were girls. But their admiration for horses and hard work helped them prove everyone wrong.

Raghav and Arihant, brothers from Haryana, have been training to ride for about a year now. The younger one, Raghav says that he was initially terrified of riding the majestic creatures and has had his share of falls.

They say that it took about two weeks to understand the tricks of coordinating with the horses and the two brothers spent as much time as possible to gain a better understanding of how the animals should be taken care of.

The brothers, like many of the other participants, wish to become international riders one day and represent India in the Olympic games. Mukta, who is immensely fond of horses, explains that after riding, she fed the horses jaggery and carrots, apart from caressing them from time to time.

“It takes a lot of time to get used to the horses and initially we got a different horse every day so that it would help us become comfortable with them, before we were properly trained,” she adds.

Vardaan from Rajasthan began riding because her father inspired her. She says that he practised everyday before a horse show for about 10 to 15 days, from 4.30 am to 7 am.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Supplements> MetroLife / by Neha BS, Bengaluru / May 04th, 2015