A show of equestrian skills and thrills
The Hindu
Over four days, some of the country’s finest horses and equestrian talents showcased a thrilling combination of speed and agility to go with that uncanny understanding of each other in the 15 events across the dressage, show jumping and other eventing categories
It is an equestrian world dictum that the more effortless and pleasing to the eye a rider and the horse come across during a show, the higher the skill sets and better the rapport shared by the duo.
In this aspect, the abundance of performances that were easy on the eye at the 23rd Auroville Horse Tournament (AHT) 2023 served as an indicator that the annual event had not just grown in scale — 140 horses and 150 riders from across the country participated in the edition — but had been able to raise the technical standards of the equestrian sport overall.
“The more easy it all looks to the viewer, the better a horse-rider combination is working its wizardry”, said Jacqueline Kapur, equestrian-founder of the Red Earth Riding School, which has been host of the AHT over the years.
“But, it takes a lot of trust-building and putting in the hard yards for the rider and horse to come up with a flawless, effortless-looking routine”, she said.
Raising the bar of equestrian performance, while providing a platform for a new level of competition in the country, has been a chief aim of the tournament which also functions as a Junior National Equestrian Championship Qualifier.
The competing teams hailed from Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Udhagamandalam and Thoothukudi. The RERS, which is a unit under Auroville Foundation, also had a sizeable contingent of entrants.
Over four days, some of the country’s finest horses and equestrian talents showcased a thrilling combination of speed and agility to go with that uncanny understanding of each other in the 15 events across the dressage (a set of pre-determined routines), show jumping (an obstacle course) and other eventing categories. In a first, the event also featured a fancy dress riding segment.
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