It didn’t take long for Anush Agarwalla to realize that his horse, Sir Caramello, was nervous, excited or happy. After all, language is not a barrier, if the relationship is built on harmony and trust.
Anush, 24, is the first Indian equestrian to qualify for the individual dressage event at the Olympics, starting on July 26.
When he was about to compete in Paris, Anush was not worried about his results. He just wanted to “fly” with Sir Caramello when he entered the arena.
Similarly, the bond between two people who take care of their horse is more important than taking care of themselves.
“Without a horse, we are nothing. Of course, you have to be a good rider. You have to have a good trainer. But without the right horse, you are nothing,” Agarwalla told PTI from Germany.
Agarwalla moved to Paderborn in Germany at the age of 17 and his weekend hobby of riding horses with no real competitive aspirations became his passion. With hard work and proper guidance, he made it to the podium at the Hangzhou Asian Games twice – individual bronze and team gold last year.
The Kolkata-born rider says he has a good bond with his horse, but it took him a long time to develop that trust. Agarwalla has been riding with Sir Caramello for five years.
At first, the horse will not trust Agarwalla, but keep feeding, holding, riding, cleaning, taking him to create that trust. He had to work hard to win over Sir Caramello.
“Building a relationship with a horse is like building a relationship with a person. It takes time. Relationships are not built over a few hours or a few days. I spend a lot of time with people.
“I will say that he always wants me to give him 100% attention. That’s the most important thing to him. He always wants me to scratch him on the back. He’s a horse that loves human contact.” Said Sir Caramello always wanted to go out, even if it was raining or snowing: “He would pull me and take me to every corner. He wanted to see everything. He just loved it, and I just let him do that.” And this guarantee must be if the rider competes in Dressage which is different from Eventing and Show Jumping.
In Dressage, the horse and rider perform a series of predetermined movements. The agility, flexibility and obedience of horses are tested in this event.
Dressage is physically demanding and mentally challenging for horses.
“The horse is the main member of the team, I would say. What really attracted me to dressage is that even though power is involved, it still has to look elegant and that is done in sync with the horse.” “When you ride in the arena, the whole stadium is full and the horse is done with you. It’s really like you’re flying, there’s nothing better in the world.” When humans join together, friends can express their anxiety and excitement through words and body language. But what if your friend is an animal? “I just have to look at him and I know how he feels. I know exactly what he needs. And that’s the definition of trust and relationship. I don’t think that trust, relationship really needs language.” Agwaralla recounted an incident when he could feel how impatient his horse suddenly became and how he managed to calm down.
“When we competed in the World Championship 2022, during the warm-up, he felt very good. We were in sync and everything was perfect. Then we entered the arena for 10 minutes where we were really quiet. And at that moment, I started to feel like I was starting to get nervous.
“I’m only 22 years old, although I, somehow in the first two or three minutes could not help him. Then I just patted him, talked to him. I could feel him, like breathing. Then we returned to the movement, so, for me , great times. Agarwalla knows consistent hard work is key and he also knows that defeats should be embraced like victories.
“I think losing teaches you more than winning. It shows you what you have to do.
“Losing also shapes you as a person. It teaches you that you have two options: you keep crying and stop or you say, okay, you take it on the chin, I’ve lost, but I’ll make sure that the next event will be a victory.”
“It really teaches you to bring out the power from within yourself, motivation from within yourself that you probably don’t know is even there. And I think that, at the moment, when you improve the most.” Asked about his competitors and his own expectations for the Paris Olympics where men and women compete together, Agarwalla prefers not to make promises.
“Of course, I know who all I am competing against. But what I want to do or what I have done and will continue to do now before the Olympics is focused on me. I cannot influence the performance of others, nor do I want to. Agarwalla is also mature enough to leave the fact that his candidacy for the Olympics was challenged by veteran racer Shruti Vora.
“There is no bitterness,” he said.
