As riders’ number swell, the racing school plans to purchase more horses

Jamshedpur, Dec. 1: The eight horses at Riding School would have new companions.

The riding school management has decided to procure five horses because of the growing interest of riders in the city. The new horses could be seen in action during the National Equestrian Championship scheduled here next month.

According to sources in the riding school, efforts are on to procure the horses from Tollygunje Club in Calcutta. Sources added that Bhim Singh, the in-charge of the riding school, had recently visited Calcutta to procure the horses but failed to strike a deal.

“We are keen to buy more horses. The activities in the school have grown in leaps and bounds and it has become a necessity to add some more horses to our stable,” said G.M. Sharan, secretary, Riding School. He added that depending on the availability of the horses, they would be pressed into service during the equestrian meet. A team from the riding school is one of the participants at the equestrian meet.

Sources said there was a shortage of horses for the jump event. “At present, we have horses for tent pegging and few for the jumps. We need more horses for the jump event as the trainees are keen to train in the jump event,” they added.

According to sources, the riding school has contacted various agencies for the horses. “We were keen to procure them from Calcutta. But if they are not available there, we would get them from Saharanpur, the breeding centre for the horses,” they said, adding that efforts were also on to procure the horses from the President’s Body Guard unit in Delhi.

Asked about the process of procurement, sources said horses were either sold or given as a gift.

“Most of the time horses are gifted by different race courses and army units. The race clubs and the army units gift the horses when they don’t need by them. Since keeping the horses is cumbersome, they hand them over to interested parties,” sources added.

However, the sources added that the horses which the riding club was going to procure would be fit to undertake the grind, including that of the equestrian meet. “We would procure the horses after thorough inquiry about their breed and whether they were having any disease or not,” they added.

The riding school is also in touch with various army units across the country but is concentrating more on Tollygunje Club.

“It would be easy to transport the horses from Calcutta than Saharanpur in Uttaranchal. We have to look into several logistics before procurement,” sources said.

They said that Bhim Singh would visit Calcutta to finalise the procurement of horses.

“We are keen to procure the horses before the equestrian meet as the horses would be used for the jump event. Since the membership of the riding school has also grown in number, procuring more horses is a must for us,” they added.