An old and dilapidated paddock inside the Bodyguard Lines in Alipore has been rebuilt after decades of neglect, and Kolkata Police have decided to install lighting to enable evening horse training for the first time in the force’s history.

For decades, the Kolkata Mounted Police horses underwent daily workouts at a sprawling paddock near the Royal Calcutta Turf Club, and later at a facility built near Esplanade adjoining Manohar Das Tarag.

The training sessions were held during daylight hours, when horses would run, trot, gallop and graze while stopping to drink water from tanks inside the paddock.

Everything changed last month when the paddock near Manohar Das Tarag was dismantled to facilitate the construction of the terminal station on the Joka-Esplanade Metro line. The horses were shifted to a temporary site near Shaheed Minar.

“The original paddock was around 7,000 square metres, but the temporary one is only 2,200 square metres. We realised an additional paddock was needed, so we refurbished the old one inside Bodyguard Lines,” said a senior officer of the Kolkata Mounted Police.

The space constraints at Shaheed Minar prompted the innovative solution of evening training sessions. “Since the site near Shaheed Minar has shortcomings and can’t be termed a proper paddock, we decided to train our horses in the evenings under lights at Bodyguard Lines. This will be the first time in Kolkata Mounted Police history that horses will be trained in the evenings,” said the officer.

Six iron poles are being erected around the renovated 1,200 square metre paddock. Each pole will have two lights to illuminate the training area. The evening sessions will run for over two hours, beginning at 6.30pm, and include stretches, pole work and hill work to build muscle and increase strength.

The unit, then called Calcutta Mounted Police, was established in 1840 whose main role was to courier messages and inform the harbour master of incoming ships. It currently maintains 67 horses housed in two stables --- one at the Kolkata Police setup on SN Banerjee Road and another at Bodyguard Lines.

“A proper paddock must be lined with trees where horses can stand in the shade, and the ground should be level without mud or slush during monsoons, so horses can work out daily without breaks,” explained a senior rider.

“Since the setup near Shaheed Minar isn’t completely ready, we’ve shifted some horses from SN Banerjee to Alipore to train them at the new paddock. Under lights, horses can train in the evenings if they missed their morning sessions,” the officer added.

The army, which is the custodian of the Maidan, has granted permission to use the temporary paddock near Shaheed Minar for five years. After this period, the facility will need to be relocated back to its original site between Maidan Market and Manohar Das Tarag.