Riding a horse is like a meditation

Ram Charan
Tollywood���s only hero who swears by horse-back rides off screen as well, Ram Charan took his love for horses to another level by being part-owner of a city-based polo team.The actor is admittedly ���passionate about horses since childhood��� and was excited when wife Upasna gifted him the Polo team. ���I have been passionate about horses from childhood and with this team, I want to take my love for the game to the next level,��� Ram Charan told Hyderabad Times earlier in an interview.The actor also gifted his wife a pony last year for her birthday, and on her part, Upasna too is quite in love with stallions as she already owns a number of them. More recently, Charan opened the doors of his private stable for the shooting of his debut Hindi film, Zanjeer.
Randeep Hooda
I have five horses ��� Ranji (he has one eye and is therefore named after Maharaja Ranjit Singh), Johnny Walker (when he came to me he was not strong enough and when I rode on him, he would walk as if he was drunk), Simply Supreme (one of the best race horses in the country that originally belonged to Cyrus Poonawala; he is now a great show jumper and is 14 years old), Rommel (General in Hitler���s army is my desert fox and is a sweet horse and I keep him mostly for my friends��� kids if they come, as he is safer and does not misbehave too much) and Atilla (like Atilla the Hun, right now he is Atilla the puppy). I can recognise them and so can they.
Talk about your horse? My horse Equinox was a race horse that had retired and belonged to some friends of ours till I decided to take it. I have been coming to the Amateur Rider���s Club (section within the Turf Club given to amateurs to ride) from the age of six as my mum always told me to ride. A horse needs a lot of attention and is only as good as the eye of its master. For the last few years, I had been so busy that I had no time. But six months ago, I took to riding again. You need to be able to check him everyday be it his hair, his shoes etc. If you can���t take care of him, you should not keep him.
What does a horse give you emotionally? I feel very meditative when I ride.A horse does not know whether my movie is a hit or a flop or what is happening in my relationship.They are very neutral and if I am not respectful to them, they will have me on my ass in no time.
Are you angrier than your horse? You can���t get angry with a horse. They will get angry and frisky with you. They can really sense your mood, so when I���m coming here, I need to calm myself. I am not an angry guy. It���s just the roles I do that impact my personality. I usually ride under the lights when nobody is there. There is nothing outside the arena and there is just me,my horse and my dog Candy.
Why Candy? As she gets open spaces to play around and she is very good with the horses. I can give her the reins of a horse in her mouth and she will graze the horse.
How did you take to horses? I am from a sports school in Haryana. I used to be a swimmer, but had chronic bronchitis, so switched to horses. Also, watching Clint Eastwood movies influenced me.
Is there a macho element to horse riding? It is a very macho sport and it is not for the faint-hearted. In India, the martial races of our community like Sardars, Jats or Rajputs ride horses more than others. Keeping a horse is both expensive and time-consuming. A horse will do what you want him to do. It teaches you leadership with empathy. Because it is a herd animal, you have to make him feel that you are the stallion, that you are the boss.You can���t be too harsh with it as it will lose heart. He has to be supple and has to do all you want him to without you having to force him. You can���t force the horse into anything. All kids should ride horses.
Firstly, it brings them out of their air-conditioners and brings them in touch with air and sun. Also, it will build their immunity system. It is compulsory for all diplomats, NDA and those in the National Military Academy to ride as if you cannot control a horse with enough love and leadership, how can you control a constituency or a regiment. Horses are in our DNA. We used them way before cars for commuting.
You are not as powerful as the horse, so how do you control it? By carrot and stick method and being light with it. I ride with light hands, even though I know the bit is in his mouth. The horse���s body does not have hard joints and has flexible joints, so the more you make your body fluid, the better it is. In riding, your knees ankles, hips, waist, shoulders, wrists, elbows, fingers, head everything has to be independent of each other. I could be putting pressure from my heels and only my right hand fingers could be tight, whereas the rest of the body could be relaxed. So that���s the weight pattern of the horse.
Have you been hurt badly due to riding? Yes, of course. I have a rod in my right leg and was in bed for eight months. I was playing polo and being over ambitious and being show off,which you should never be on a horse, and was trying to go for a ball that was too far away from me. I leaned too much and my horse slipped and it fell over me. To tell you the truth, it knocked the wind out of me for a few seconds, but I was soon trying to find out how I could get back on to the horse. I could not walk and used to limp, but still won a silver in a competition at the NDA in Pune. I tied the stirrup with the shoelaces to my boot, so that it seemed I was on it. This was the time just before I did Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai, when I was in bed thinking my career was over and did not know what else to do till I met Milan Luthria, coincidentally, at the same place where we are talking today.
Milan (Luthria), how did you both meet? We met on the railing right here. He was riding and I was watching him. He came here as I had met him in Naseer���s house, who asked me to help him get a form. I saw him and told him about the role in Once Upon a time in Mumbaai. He hemmed and hawed and said no and I don���t know what made me keep my ego aside and I told him strongly to do the role. He asked me, ���Why should I play a cop? I don���t want to play Iftekar������ I said, ���Even Vinod Khanna played a cop in Amar Akbar Anthony. I promise you will look kickass.��� He said yes. That meeting at the railings of the race course changed his life completely.
What does the horse give you emotionally? It gives me peaceful solitude.The essence of riding is a mental connection with the animal. He is much stronger than you, so you cannot control it with physical strength. You can only control it by getting into his head. It���s amazing how they listen and learn to follow commands. It���s more grace than power. It���s the only thing I can think of where you are alone and yet you have a lot of space around you. I am not a team sports guy. I like doing my own thing. If I am on a horse, that���s what I get and need to get along only with myself, unlike other sports,where you have to get along with other team members. I enjoy that.
WHAT MAKES THE HORSE UNIQUE: 1) Only mammal that does not vomit. Mythology says it is due to the nobility of the breed.
2) Only animal that will not cry out in pain. Even a lion, if it has a thorn in its paw, will scream. A horse will do nothing, so you have to feel his pain.
3) Horses sweat by perspiring, unlike other animals that sweat through their tongue.
4) A horse will go to any length for his master. Chetak died galloping till he brought his master Maharana Pratap home. If a dog is feeling excruciating pain, he will stop moving. But a horse will keep giving and if asked will give even more till he drops dead. There is something very noble and comfortable about a horse. There are stories that sick people have moved their beds next to a stable, so that they can get the vibe from a horse.
5) It���s the only sport where men and women compete equally.
SAYINGS ABOUT HORSES:
1) Let others play other things. The king of sports is still the sport of kings.
2) RIDER���S PRAYER: Lord, all my life I have spent between good horses and beautiful women. So when I die, let my skin be tanned into a side saddle, so that I am always between good horses and beautiful women