Marina horses may find joy at new riding school

CHENNAI: City-based animal-rights organisation People for Animals (PFA) and Director General of Police Sylendra Badu held a discussion a few days back to draw the outline of a horse-riding school for children on the Marina. If realised, the riding school will engage the 100-odd horses currently being used for joy rides on the beach. The idea was put forward by Sylendra Badu, an animal lover and skilled horse rider.

A parcel of three acres owned by the Indian Coast Guard and located behind Amma Samadhi and another parcel located near the bench/police horse stable in Egmore are being considered for building stables for the joy-ride horses that will be part of the school.During the lockdown, many horses starved to death while some others died of ill-health as horse-owners couldn’t provide adequate care to them. Until recently, some of the horses in Chepauk didn’t have any shelter and were exposed to the scorching sun. 

Shiranee Pereira, co-founder of PFA and chief functionary of Jinendra Jeevdaya Kendra, told TNIE: “Based on our request, the State government arranged for a temporary shelter below the MRTS on Sivananda Salai. Also, Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni MLA Udhayanidhi Stalin arranged for drinking water for the horses. A permanent solution, however, will be the riding school, which is self-sustainable and offer better living conditions to both the owners and the animals.”

Pereira said she requested authorities concerned to limit the number of joy-ride horses to 100. “No new owner/horse should be permitted. The animals currently used for joy rides should be micro-chipped and the corporation should give the horse owners licenses,” she suggested. 

V Ranjith, owner of eight horses, said access to fresh water for the horses was a huge problem. They had to depend on a few nearby houses or walk two kilometres to carry water. The two 3,000-litre water tanks, which Udhayanidhi Stalin set up, solved that issue. The tanks are filled every two days.