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LIVING: RIDING SCHOOLS
Horse Sense
Bangalore rides a new high as training centres offer the
sport to the general public
By Stephen David
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CHILD'S PLAY: Bidappa initiates eight-year-old
Arcis in the art of riding
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Bangalore has somehow
managed to be a stressed out Silicon Valley and pensioners' paradise,
pub haven and coffee-house corner-all at the same time. So it's no surprise
that the city's latest fad manages to combine a lot of country with a
little bit of city. Horse-riding, once a job requirement for military
men and a pastime of landed gentry, is the latest hobby in Bangalore.
The reason riding has not been restricted to period movies in this part
of the country is that it has become both accessible and affordable. Not
only are there five riding schools in the city but a growing number of
personal trainers, 20 at last count, has meant that more people with a
little time and money to spare can learn the completely unimportant but
thoroughly exhilarating skill of riding a horse.
The riding schools cover a vast segment of people
and offer a range of facilities. You could enroll at a school that charges
as less as Rs 75 an hour for a lesson, while a few trimmings could shoot
the fees up to Rs 200 an hour. The man on the street could show up at
the Bangalore Palace Grounds for a lesson and the well-heeled could opt
to be trained by foreign instructors at schools like the Embassy Riding
School, 30 km outside the city.
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ON THE TROT: Show-jumping is only for those with a keen
sense of horsemanship
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Jitu Virwani, owner of the Embassy says, "Equestrian
sport in India has been the monopoly of the army. We wanted to provide
world-class training and reach out to everyone, children and adults."
At Embassy's sprawling Rajanakunte campus, eight-year-old Shakina Arcis
sits astride a thoroughbred, Slash. "He is very big, very black and
very beautiful," says Arcis of the animal she is trying to master
with help from Judith Bidappa. A schoolteacher by profession, Bidappa
volunteers to train children at the school. It gives her a chance to be
in the open and a choice of 35 horses. Bidappa loves to teach children
but they are not the only ones wanting to be initiated in this somewhat
arcane art.
Sunitha Singh, a 38-year-old housewife, always
wanted to learn riding but kept putting it off because of family commitments.
"I now find time to attend riding lessons once a week," she
says. It was perhaps the effect riding had on her six-year-old son Shakti
that spurred her on. Shakti suffers from cerebral palsy but learnt riding
as part of the special programme for disabled at the Princess Academy
of Equitation (PAE) on the Bangalore Palace Grounds. Pushpa Bopaiah agrees
about the curative power of horse-riding. A housewife, Bopaiah has had
training in therapeutic horse-riding from the US and now gives lessons
at the PAE.
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EXPERTS AT WORK: Professional trainers are
key to the success of scholls like the PAE
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Each riding school has about 40 riders, which
means that at this stage profits are a distant dream for most owners.
It costs between Rs 30 lakh and Rs 70 lakh (depending on the facilities
offered) to set up a school. Says Virwani: "Even after five years
I am yet to break even, but it should be good next year. The important
thing is that we are here to promote horse-riding as a hobby."
Bangalore-based American businessman Charles
Kingery enrolled his children in Virwani's school because of qualified
instructors. "I find the training here very good," he says.
British national Katherine Rustomji, married to an Indian corporate executive,
has also enrolled her two children in the same school. She finds the facilities-in
terms of rider safety and training-on a par with those available in England.
One of the trainers and founders of the Embassy is Silvia Storai, an Italian
and among the few women jockeys in India.
While the exclusive riding schools may be out
of reach for the average Bangalorean, the PAE is a good place to witness
the rising popularity of riding. Maharajakumari Meenakshi Devi, daughter
of the late maharaja of Mysore, grew up riding on the sprawling acres
of the Bangalore Palace Grounds which was her father's summer place. Now,
she has opened the grounds to more than just royalty. "We want to
make this elegant sport available to the average Indian child," she
says. For those unable to make it during the day, the PAE offers the "ride
at night" facility.
The first to offer public riding lessons, however,
was the Bangalore Amateur Riding Institute (BARI), run by the Bangalore
Turf Club (BTC). Says Nirmal Ramprasad of the BTC: "We are now looking
for a bigger place to train youngsters. The aim is to inculcate a spirit
of adventure and horsemanship." The institute currently has 200 riders,
with most Indian jockeys having trained at BARI.
Horse-riding is popular with different levels
of riders. Alisha Jayaraj, 14, was offered a week of horse-riding as a
birthday present when she turned 10. She now competes in local competitions
and even won a gold medal at an inter-riding school contest held at the
Embassy this year. There are others who take a shine to what is called
dressage, the art of horsemanship comprising not racing or even jumping
but a test of grooming and presentation of the animal and its understanding
of the rider's orders. Many ride just to keep fit.
Riding, however, is not without its dangers-of
temperamental horses and broken bones for riders. And given that children
are involved, an instructor's job becomes critical. So you have the likes
of Colonel (retd) Ghulam Mohammed Khan-1984 Arjuna Award winner and a
member of the gold medal-winning Indian team at the 1982 Asian Games-training
at the 30-acre Equestrian Centre for Excellence (ECE) on the Bangalore
Palace Grounds. The ECE provides facilities for the three main competitive
equestrian disciplines-dressage, show-jumping arenas and cross-country.
ECE Chairman T.P. Issar, a former Karnataka chief secretary, believes
the sport inculcates discipline and leadership. So parents are keen to
have children take up riding. Says a telecom department official Albert
Rajan whose two teenaged sons, Ravi and Kiran, are learning riding at
BARI: "I wanted to dispel the myth that horse-riding is only for
the well-heeled. We belong to the middle class and, after all, it is a
good exercise."
Horse-riding is catching on as an activity for
those who can afford leisure in Bangalore. More than other cities that
have turf clubs and amateur riders' clubs associated with them, private
enterprise is the force that is driving the hobby to a wider audience
here. While the coffers of private riding schools are not overflowing,
popularity, the first step to profit, has not been hard to achieve.
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