JUNIOR JUMP: Day I of the Junior National Equestrian Championship at the Tollygunge Club on Monday. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

Little Rohit Mehta is flying high — on his horse Phoenix and off him too. The 12-year-old from Indore was part of one of the teams that struck gold on the first day of the Junior National Equestrian Championship, jointly organised by the Fort William Riding and Polo Club and the Tollygunge Club, partnered by The Telegraph.

Two days after Calcutta finished galloping with the ponies — as part of Calcutta Polo Season 2010 — the city saddled up for the Junior championship at Tolly.

The last time the national event was held in Calcutta was in 2005.

The high-voltage action, with events like dressage and jumping for contestants between eight and 21 years, will culminate at the Pat Williamson grounds on the race course on January 2.

Dressage — it has nothing to do with dressing right — is a French term referring to a set of tasks that the rider makes the horse perform to showcase its athletic ability and willingness. Often referred to as “horse ballet”, dressage does live up to the billing.

Jumping, on the other hand, is exactly what the word denotes — the rider makes the horse jump over horizontal bars placed at various heights.

“This is possibly the first time in the country that the armed forces and a civilian organisation have joined hands to host an equestrian event,” said Anil Mukerji, the CEO of Tollygunge Club.

Judge Shailendra Singh was happy with the jump in the number of participants. “The Tolly horse show is my favourite in the country. I am very excited to see so many civilian kids taking up riding and participating in show jumping. But we need more sponsors. It’s an Olympic sport after all,” said the colonel of the 61st Cavalry, the only horse-mounted regiment in the world.

As the little champs manoeuvred their big horses, Silva Storai of Italy kept a keen eye on the arena. The director of the Embassy International Riding School in Bangalore is here with 12 kids (and 12 horses).

“I love the ambience at Tolly club, the people, the warmth….it’s great,” said the lady who has been a jockey for 15 years.

It’s easy to understand why Tollygunge Club, with 100 acres of rolling greens, is just the right setting for this “festival of riding”. And with its own stables, the club is well-equipped to host the event. Around 200 horses have come into town, of which a hundred are being stabled at the club while the rest are being put up by the army near the Pat Williamson grounds.

The Junior National Equestrian Championship has attracted not just riders and budding jumpers but horse enthusiasts as well. Standing out in the crowd of eager onlookers was the maharaja of Mayurbhanj, Praveen Chandra Bhanj Deo, his beautiful wife, the princess of Jaisalmer, by his side.

The championship has brought to town royalty of a different kind too, like J.S. Ahluwalia, whom friends and critics alike call the “Sachin Tendulkar of equestrian sport”.

S.S. Ahlawat, the secretary-general of the Equestrian Federation of India, has big hopes from Calcutta.

“This should become the hub of equestrian sport in eastern India. Calcutta has such a rich tradition of riding,” said the colonel of the Army Services Corps.

According to the judges, in the past few decades, north and south India have galloped ahead in promoting riding and related sports. “Calcutta needs to be pulled up,” added Ahlawat.

Case in point: 14-year-old Yahvi Mariwala, who lives in Mumbai but flies to Bangalore every weekend to attend Storai’s riding school. Yahvi is in Calcutta for the championship with her seven-year-old horse, Lioness.

Things are looking up for Calcutta this winter, with 35 participants from Tolly alone. And there’s a double bill from the Fort William Riding and Polo Club — 12-year-old twins Akshay and Akash Ramdev, students of Birla High School.