(From top) A delighted kid on horseback; The evening class at the Delhi Riding Club; Jai Shergill with daughter Noor

His faded denims are neatly tucked into knee-length riding boots and he’s wearing an oversized hard cap that almost comes down over his eyes. This is Ryan Maisnam trying hard to climb onto a small pony. But the only problem is that the tiny two-and-a-half-year-old toddler is too small to get on by himself. So, his coach helps him up and his mother Vimla watches from the sidelines. “I know he’s too young to take up riding but this rides will help him develop an interest in the sport,” says Vimla. “It’ll help him get a grip of the horse and learn to love the animal,”she adds.

Aaron Gaudie is slightly older and more confident in horseback. The five-year-old gets quickly on his favourite mount. “I like it when it runs fast. And I like the brown horse,” says the boy.

Ryan and Aaron are part of a new generation that’s more familiar with horsepower but which is taking to horseback at a youthful age. Young riders like them are flocking to riding schools at a quick trot. Take a look at the Delhi Riding Club, one of the oldest riding clubs in the Capital, which has 50 children under 14 on its rolls. Or, look at the newer Saket Sports Club where children form about half the regular membership who get on horseback regularly. “Horse riding is becoming more popular every day. We have children from the age of five. It’s the sport of tomorrow,” says Amar Kumar, partner at the riding club.

Who would have thought that in an age of Ferraris and Porsches, people would be getting back in the saddle. But that’s exactly what’s happening at half-a-dozen riding schools in Delhi. That includes middle-aged executives and housewives who feel they are building a new skill by cantering around a field. And there are children who’ve been dragged away from TV and personal computers.

Take a look at Beeya Vohra who runs a riding centre called Beeya’s Riding Facility in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj colony. She already has 150 members out of which about 90 per cent are under 14. But Vohra also stops by to teach at Pathways World School and the smart DLF Golf Club where the fees are almost Rs 2,500 a month. But there’s a rush of people eager to join. Says Vohra: “We keep getting calls from people who want to make a start.”

Vohra has 37 horses at her Vasant Kunj centre and she had reckoned that this would be sufficient. But even that’s not enough to meet the surging demand, she says.

In another part of town Major General Surendar Kumar (retd.) has helped to start the Amity Riding Academy on the 15-acre ground of the Amity International School. The academy has more than 100 members and its facilities include nine horses, seven handlers and a doctor always on standby.

Amity has a mix of enthusiasts on horseback. It has special schemes for companies where executives want to learn riding. And, its youngest members start from four. In winter, on any given afternoon, there are about 50 children hanging about waiting to be given joyrides. Says Kumar: “Riding is optional but we encourage children to take it up. Over a period of time, everybody would have taken a ride. We try to spot potential riders.”

And how different is riding from other sports? Lalage Prabhu, director, Pathways World School, that introduced riding 18 months ago, says, it’s unlike any other sport. Pathways started with four horses and now has six. It plans to buy another two next year for the 50 students who’ve taken up the sport. Says Prabhu: “This sport is beneficial for kids. It helps them to be better social beings as they learn to respect and care for animals. Besides, riding boosts a child’s confidence and corrects their posture.”

According to Vohra, the real benefit is that it helps both physically and emotionally. “It helps you conquer your fear” she says.

No wonder, despite a minor fall during a class, young rider Ishaan Gill is back in the saddle at the DLF Golf Club in less than a month. “My first ride was amazing. The way the animal moves, it was majestic,” says the 10-year-old who has been riding for more than seven months. “He is just so fond of the animal that he won’t even miss a single class,” says his mother Nina Gill who accompanies him for every session.

Hari Bhuvan, 13, loves to show off to his friends that he can canter about confidently on horseback. And four years of riding has taught Arun Vashist, 10, a student of Air Force Bal Bharati, how to do a trot and have a good grip on the horse.

“Riding helps develop a child’s personality,” says veteran polo player Jai Shergill. Shergill should know. He learnt riding at the age of five and says it has helped him not just in the game but in his overall personality development. So, it is no wonder that he’s now encouraging his 11-year-old daughter Noor to ride.

Vohra says that some children who come to her suffer from hyperactivity and there are others from broken homes. And, they all find riding a mind-altering experience. “Most children find some kind of bonding with the animal. And the element of fear when you sit on the horse, helps you to concentrate,” says Vohra.

It works for adults too. Take the case of Monica Khurana. The 33-year-old former executive was going into a depression until she joined riding class. “One day I got up and told myself this is it. I went to my neighbourhood club and enrolled in a riding class,” she says.

And why not other sports? “Horse riding helps me to get a grip of my life. Somehow the exercise of controlling the horse and knowing how to balance teaches me something that I can apply in my own life. It also gives me a sense of power to be controlling a powerful animal,” she says. And that is the reason why in an age of horsepower many townies are getting onto horseback.

Photographs by Jagan Negi