Pune's Riding Expert Trains Goas Kids

by CHRISTINA VIEGAS
Posted on 2008-09-11
Look at a horse with your heart and you will see pure poetry in motion. As the equine gallops in perfect symphony with the wind, it is almost as if it hears music inside its head.
Then, there is the rider. I recollect a famous axiom, “At its finest, the rider and horse are joined not by tack, but by trust. Each is totally reliant upon the other.” This is exactly what I perceive, when I see Mr Rohan More, owner of Japalouppe Equestrian Centre, Pune, riding in perfect harmony with the horse.
Looking at him, I am clobbered with the unpleasant feeling that I have wasted most of the years of my life in not getting on this superlative animal. Oh! To experience that invigorating feeling!
But, what interests Goa about this personality? When 17 lucky children from the state were sponsored by the Equestrian & Polo Association of Goa for a horse riding summer camp, Mr More was instrumental in training these kids to trot into the equine world.
Seemingly cold with a rigid façade, he is definitely not the conformist teacher. So, how did the kids take to him? Chat with few of them and I am surprised that they unanimously echo similar feelings. They opine, “He was not the conventional teacher, but he was great fun and we learnt a lot from him.”
I try to trick them saying, “Shouldn’t he have been more approachable and considerate?” But the young brood scream, “No, we liked him just the way he was.”
Vividly recollecting the last day of the camp, one of the kids, Giselle Braganza says, “We had to water the field but we ended up in a mud fight and he added to the fun by making us roll in the mud and brought out a hose and got us all drenched and cleaned. It was such fun.”
While another one, Suyash Kamat pipes in, “He played pranks on us and even did a magic show, but we were too nosy and clever for it.” Oh! You kids of the present mileu – you make us adults feel dim-witted and naïve!
I am determined to probe behind the horseman’s unyielding veneer. And surprisingly, I am invited to sit with him on a water tank under a silver moon. And voila! He opens up the book of his harsh life, punctuated with copious challenges. Divorced parents, his dear father’s death while he was devastated and nursing a broken heart when his love of six years called it quits, grappling with soaring finances all alone etc are just some of the tribulations that saw a young boy evolve into a mature, strong man in just 365 days of 2004. Oh, whoever said life was fair!
Getting emotional on recollecting the loss of his favourite horse, he chokes on words saying, “Starbust was my favourite. Only two people could ride on him, me and any young child. He would not take orders from anyone but me. We have had many memorable moments, riding early mornings in the fog and during moonlit nights.” I am touched as he invites me to read his romantic escapes in the fog with Battalion, which I can see he has penned with an aching heart that has fuelled his creativity.
When he invites you for an adult camp saying, “By rule the men and women have to stay in separate dormitories, even if married couples.” And then surprisingly, with a naughty element surfacing on that stern façade he quips, “Well, there are many secret haunts you can disappear into for some fun; no one is looking.”
When I look around, I can understand why this romantic and rustic locale possesses that magnetic tug. Horses moving freely - some resting in their stables, a quaint enclosure with a thatched roof for fun-filled games and discos, dormitories filled with children’s clamour, rugged cottages with an old-fashioned bed in the portico where you can simply idle away buried in books on a moonlit night etc are some of the captivating features.
Yet, Mr More calmly concludes, “Today, I don’t have to prove a point to anyone as I have done that. But, I still have a long way to go.”