Horse racing
As i kid I was always fascinated by horses. It was so much fun to ride a horse for joy. It just used to be a small walk astride horse back then. The fascination didn’t die down as i grew up. I wanted to learn horse riding, but didn’t explore much on this any time. An old acquaintance, vet at BTC, told me about the riding schools at BTC a few years ago. I wanted to try out, like a zillion other things i had, but my mom was scared. Vet had warned about breaking few bones as normal part of learning to ride the horses. The buckling broncos could topple you down from astride any time or could give you a hard kick. But this didn’t deter me, i was determined to go. Early this year, i convinced my mom that all will be fine.
BTC is a beautiful place. I had seen this a million times going past this place on race course road, the exterior walls never gave away the beautiful lush green race track or the magnificent horses plying on these tracks at over 50kmph. Getting up at 5:30am was a pain which i was willing to endure to learn horse riding. First couple of days were hard, really hard. Without proper riding boots, just on my nike, i incurred bad bruises on legs, between shin and calf muscles. I had to break for nearly a week, but i was willing to go again after wounds healed, and i got my riding boots and helmet. The weeks after that were fun as i survived the attempts by the horse to topple me down. Soon i was able to control the horse the way i wanted to go though they acted eerie and whimsical at times. After this, i saw a horse die in front of my eyes.
Bangalore turf club
When i reached the spot, the jockey was being taken on stretchers to the ambulance standing next to the track. A beautiful black horse was down on the outer sand track. There were many people around, and the horse ambulance arrived soon. Vet was trying to revive the horse, which had broken both of its hind limbs as it fell while running at great speed. I heard from people around that the horse had put one foot on the slightly elevated grass track while running fast, had lost balance and crashed badly. The outer sand track is about a feet lower than the inner grass track, and a wrong foot on this could have been a real bad crash. The vet was trying to revive the horse with a few injections and drips but she died soon. The beautiful black horse which was galloping a few moments earlier was no more. Her trainer was almost in tears. This was my last day at BTC. Image on left shows the tracks at BTC, the outermost track, next to audience is the track the horse was running on.
I felt sad about these wonderful creatures being used for our entertainment and gambling. The recent kingfisher derby featured many celebrities, crores of rupees was bet legally and illegally. The horses here are bred and trained purely for racing. They undergo lots of training with good nutritional food daily. But i wonder if it is fair to use them for our entertainment and fun? I don’t have a definite answer. Yes it seems bad, but they are no doubt loved and cared by their trainers. They have their share of fun. But i feel they are don’t want to do as directed all the time. I saw almost everyday, at least a few, horses going crazy jumping, galloping after topping the rider, and trying to topple the rider many a times only to be controlled by the rider or the trainer with reins. I personally had experienced this.
I definitely enjoyed my experience of horse riding, and would want to do it some time again, but the racing of these beauties has not appealed to me.
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