My Equestrian pursuits

Have you ever ridden a horse?

Well I have always wanted to but unfortunately have not had the chance. I have been around horses at the Poonawalla stud farm in Pune, studied them at close quarters, fed them hey, taken photographs on a box camera but never ridden one.

However, I have ridden a pony – once and only once and I do not intend riding one ever again

So let me start at the beginning.

We were masters in The Bishops School, Pune – Alan Seymour, Michael Gomes and me. Life was full of adventure. We were young and eager to go and do stuff. One holiday took us to a hill station in Maharashtra – Panchgani .

Panchgani is a hill station southeast of Mumbai in India’s Maharashtra state. It is known for the Table Land, a huge volcanic plateau. Lookouts like Sydney Point and Parsi Point offer views of the large lake and Kamalgad Fort, used as a prison by the British in the early 19th century.

After a day there, we travelled up to Mahableshwar by a rickety old state transport bus.

 Mahabaleshwar is a small town and a municipal council in Satara district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is a hill station located in the Sahyadri mountain range.

 We visited the Strawberry Farms and enjoyed honey sweet strawberries. We also shopped at the Mapro Food Gardens and then later in the evening decided to try boating at the Venna Lake.

A road on two sides surrounds the lake and there is a large open area where shopkeepers have set up temporary stalls selling snacks and soft drinks. There are also swings, a merry go round, a mini Ferris wheel and of course ponies for people to go around the lake on. The whole area is well lit and a festive atmosphere prevails.

Well this was the early 80’s, we had to take a call between the pony ride, and the boat ride as money was not very plentiful. The boat ride was relegated to second place because the ponies were where all the action was (read crowds of tourists)

After some amount of bargaining , I managed to get hold of a grey pony and was helped on. The two young boys looking after the animals were cunning and drove a hard bargain. Rupees two for a 15 minute walk round the lake or something to that effect.

I also saw a few children – quite young- being walked around the lake on ponies.

I had barely gone a few meters when I decided that enough was enough and I wanted to gallop rather than being led around “like a kid”

The young boys who were in charge of the animal  asked me if I was confident of going off alone,  to which I scoffed at them  and nodded confidently .

Before I could say Jack, my pony took off at full speed.

Now I had seen jockeys push their knees against the sides of the horse and hold the reins   while bobbing up and down on the saddle – those thoughts and images flashed through my mind. I attempted the same maneuver with little success.  

The only problem was that I was not a jockey and that was a 4-foot high pony – there were also people walking along, roadside vendors and a lake close by.

My heart skipped quite a few beats and I held on for dear life, slipping and sliding on the little saddle as the wretched animal charged madly towards the edge of the lake. Then just when I thought that all was over & I was about to meet a watery grave, it stopped dead in its tracks.

 The young lads who had helped me on to the pony had meanwhile scrambled to my side and they grabbed hold of the reins grinning from ear to ear.

A few giggles and guffaws were heard from passersby, as I paid up and slunk away. I had ridden the race of my life for barely 5 minutes and nearly died or so I felt.

 Apparently, the boys used the same ploy on unsuspecting foolish tourists like me, who attempted to show off.

As soon as the person decided to go off alone, they would twist the tail of the horse causing it to bolt uncontrollably. Thus instead of fifteen minutes, it was just five and a win situation for them.

My friends laughed themselves silly as we headed home and I made them promise never to repeat the story to anyone.

SO much for my equestrian pursuits and me!