Teenage equestrian rider Shubh set for a bigger gallop

Key points

• CHENNAI: At the peak of the pandemic, a young Shubh Chowdhari was taken to the Chennai Riding School in Velachery…
• The teenager rider, who studies in Bengaluru, trains under various coaches including former Olympian Imtiaz Anees.
• His main horse ‘Foggy bottom,’ is a Irish Warmblood brought from Denmark.
• What was initially a fun-weekend recreational activity, Chowdhari realised that he can choose this as a career path.

CHENNAI: At the peak of the pandemic, a young Shubh Chowdhari was taken to the Chennai Riding School in Velachery with his father. “The idea was to try different sports and we were thinking about multiple sports like archery,” the teenage equestrian rider told The New Indian Express.

But his father, who looks after multiple businesses, initially wanted to get into horse riding, but could not. “He decided to take me for a trial class and I really fell in love with the sport and I really love animals in general,” he added.

What was initially a fun-weekend recreational activity, Chowdhari realised that he can choose this as a career path. Ever since that decision, there was no looking back. The 16-year-old teenager is frontrunner to be part of the equestrian team for the upcoming Youth Olympics in Dakar later this year. Previously 12 months, he has put on impressive shows throughout three Olympic categories — Dressage, show jumping and 3-day eventing. “The youth Olympics is just another competition. Yes, it’s a good title but then I have my eyes set on bigger events going forward like the Asian Games or the Olympics or the world championships so yeah I’m more excited for that but again youth olympics is something that will help me step up to that,” he went on.

His main horse ‘Foggy bottom,’ is a Irish Warmblood brought from Denmark. “He was about I think 12 when we got him to India he was already competing at the higher levels in Denmark with a rider who outgrew him and needed better horses and needed a different kind of horse so it was honestly a really good time for me to buy him so he came in India,” he recounted. “He’s just a horse that keeps to himself. He’s a very affectionate horse like he doesn’t really you know come up to you but he knows his job and he’s a superstar,” he explained. Other horses of his are Freezing Rain and Darcy.

What happened

The teenager rider, who studies in Bengaluru, trains under various coaches including former Olympian Imtiaz Anees. This person is based in Nargol, Gujarat. Initially learning the basics under retired navy commander Amit Meni, he travelled across the world to secure trained under renowned names like show-jumper Anna Lindberg of Portugal and US-based event-rider Sarah Kozemplik. But it is Anees that Chowdhari feels that he has gained a lot under. “Imtiaz is more like a mentor and a person who’s giving me guidance in this sport and in this industry. He’s been with me throughout my entire riding journey and it’s because of him that I’m competing at the higher levels and I’m really clear on what my path ahead is supposed to be like and yeah he’s like a proper mentor and a guide for me,” he explained.

It was Anees, who in his book “Riding Free: My Olympic Journey” has written about how equestrian horse riding is all concerning stepping out of the comfort zone, that pushed Chowdhari to pursue the sport and make sacrifices. “Something that really changed my mind as a rider was when I first went to Imtiaz’s place because that’s when I learned that the sport is so much more than just getting on the horse and going around. But you gotta be able to take care of your animal, you need to understand your animal more.

“The sport is considered as an ‘individual sport’ but I would say it’s more of a partnership between the horse and the rider because the horse is additionally considered as an athlete. I would say just that training under him helped me understand the dynamics of the sport better and dynamics between the rider and the horse,” he elucidated.

With the sport eating up most of the time, the teenager admitted that he ‘gets lucky’ with his school exams. “To be honest I’m not balancing it well. But before the exams I lock in study for two months straight and then write my exam and after that I forget about it,” he stated. He hopes to achieve a balance between academics and riding going forward. “I know that this isn’t like a permanent fix but it’s just something that’s working for me now but in the future yeah I would like to have more of a balance with academics and riding because it’s just less stressful in that way.” he explained.