My first experience with horses was when I was three- I lived in Epsom, next to the horse race courses. I was mesmerised by the horses galloping and wished that it could be me in the saddle. For years, a wish was all it remained, at least until four years ago. I’d heard about the Premadasa Riding School from a family friend and I immediately signed up for the riding school in Nugegoda. I was eleven, and when I saw the horses, I was absolutely terrified.
But mounting up, sitting on that saddle, holding those reins in my hand, was everything my three-year-old self had ever dreamed it to be. Its exhilarating, to have this huge, powerful animal beneath you and which weighs easily ten times as much as you. It’s even more exhilarating to create a channel of silent communication between your body and the horse.
Without words, with flicks of your hands and squeezing of your legs, you can get a horse to turn a corner, or bounce into a trot. Building a relationship with these animals is incredibly different from building a relationship with a human.
I love horse riding, I always have and I always will. It has taught me a lot of things. It has taught me resilience, compassion, observance, and thoughtfulness. It also taught me to be humble, because no matter how good or bad you think you are, there’s always something to learn.
You also learn to work hard. You will never be able to imagine the number of wheelbarrows of horse dung that I’ve shoveled in those stables. As well the number of times I’ve woken up with an aching body because I’ve groomed horses endlessly. I’m also entirely too familiar with horse saliva than I’d like to admit.
However, I’m also familiar with wind flowing through my hair as I canter around the grounds, and the smooth trots and walks with the sun shining on my face which has a huge smile on it.
I’m familiar with sweat on the back of my neck with a good ache in my bones after a long day spent with these beautiful creatures.
Experiences
It’s given me experiences that I treasure to this day. The trail rides, the beach rides, the stable days, the horse camps, and even just the riding lessons are all amazing experiences I wouldn’t trade for the world. You build a family with other riders when you have to hold their horses, tack their gear, or give them leg ups.
You build relationships with both the horses and the people, who are all united by a common goal: to ride. It challenges you in every aspect, but it’s also insanely therapeutic. You can sit there for hours and hours talking about anything with these animals, and procrastinate until your parents scream at you to leave. They might be wondering why you’re not giving them food, but they’ll still listen. There’s Dusty, who seems to be able to sense your mood instantly, or maybe you could let go of all your stress by flying with Coco, or riding bareback with Suman.
Perhaps all you really want to do is cuddle with Sapphire. I might not ever become one of the jockeys that I saw when I was Riding three at the Epsom race course, but I’ve found myself on the back of a horse. It’s an amazing place to be, and more than good enough.
Whether its cantering on the beach, trotting through horse trails, walking in the paddock, or just standing in the stables and cuddling them, it’s something that I’m glad I had the courage to do four years ago. Which is why I wholeheartedly encourage anyone and everyone to simply try it.
It’s not for everyone, but maybe, just maybe, four years later you could look back and smile at yourself, thankful that you decided to mount a horse and let go of all your fears, just like I’m doing right now.
Ruvindi Ariyananda
Grade 10 C
British School ,
Colombo