Horse Endurance Championship in Lonavala was a huge success

The Marwari Horse Endurance Championship 2018, held in Lonavala, recently, had all the excitement that was promised and more. Over fifty horses took to the field in three categories -20km, 40km and 60 kms courses. This annual event is organised by the Indigenous Horse Owners Association and attracted riders not only from Maharashtra, but other states too.
The event started at the first stroke of daybreak giving the horses and riders enough cool weather to set a good pace and show what they are capable of. The energy was unrelenting and the challenge immense, given the uneven nature of the terrain and the difficulty of the cross- country course.


Twenty kilometres on a horse, especially while going cross-country, is a long distance. Still the top riders achieved timings of less than an hour in the 20 kms course event. And not just the seniors, the under-16 riders showed great endurance and skill and displayed what proper training can do. The 40 and 60 kms participants did repeat laps of the well-marked cross-country course with half-hour cooling periods in between each lap for both the horses and riders to recover energy.

Col RK Swain, Secretary General, Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) who was the Chief Guest, said, "IHOA (Maharashtra) Endurance Championship is definitely one for the equestrian calendar in India and will surely grow to attract many more participants in the coming years. The Federation is happy with the professionalism shown by the Association in the conduct of the event."