Girls on a new ride
Nadia Haridas astride landtos
Their love for horses and equestrian sport has brought contentment in their lives. These young girls aspire to do better on the field as they stride across their horse. At the recent 27th Delhi Horse Show, girls put up a great show! Some, like Nadia Haridass stood tall by winning the prize in the open competitions. But sadly, the number of girls participating in the equestrian sport is very less.
Class 11 student Meher Randhawa, who has been riding since she was in Class 4, says that her family members, who are actively involved in playing polo, inspired her to take up the sport. Being a student at Air Force School also helped her. However, she stresses that not many girls took up the sport when she started out. “But it’s changing now. The number of events related to horse riding has encouraged many girls. Every few days, I see new faces on the ground. In the last two years, there’s a sudden increase in the number of girls participating in the sport,” points out Meher.
Sthavi Asthana, a 16-year-old from Lucknow, is pursuing the sport very seriously. She wants to rise to the level of Olympics. In the Open Cadet Jumping at the Delhi Horse Show, Sthavi secured the third position. She says that girls from the civilian society have not been exposed to the sport properly. “It interest me because my parents are in the forces. But otherwise, girls hardly take it up.”
However, Nadia, who won many prizes at event and was also the only girl participant in many of the open competitions, says that there are many reasons due to which girls don’t opt for equestrian sport.
“There is a very small number of participation from girls at the higher level at which I play. It could be partly because of the prevailing mindset — a girl opting for horse riding is very unconventional,” she says as she mentions many of her friends who dropped out at an early stage because of lack of sponsorship or family reasons and at times even studies.
Major Rohit Dagar, secretary of Army Polo and Riding Club, who took up the sport in the early ’90s says that the show has become really big today. “Even if we look at the participation of girls. At the junior level, the number of participation has seen a great surge. Young girls have started competing in all the categories of the game,” he says.
Rightly said, as many girls in the age group of eight to 10 years want to make it big in the sport. Ananya Raje Scindia, the 10-year-old daughter of MP Jyotiraditya Scindia, who has been playing the sport for more than two years now, says that she is keen to pursue it further.
Agrees nine-year-old Avika Singh, who started her coaching six months ago. Currently, Avika participated in Dressage but soon she wants to take up jumping too.
The coaches believe that if more girls come out, they can take the sport to another level. “Equestrian sport needs a lot of coordination between the person and the horse. Girls are more caring and loving by nature. They can control the horse in a better way. Hence, taking the level of the game much higher,” says coach Inderjeet Singh (Raju) from Army Polo and Riding Club.
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