3-day equestrian events at Sultanpur Lodhi from Oct 31

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 14

When a horse, 6ft in height, gallops in from afar, it catches everyone’s attention, followed with curiosity, the moment it approaches the target — a peg fixed on the ground.

The rider, holding a lance, carefully takes the peg and the audience goes all praise. This makes an interesting event called ‘tent pegging’. The Punjab Equestrian Association is going to conduct the Punjab State Senior Equestrian Championship (SEC) — 2019, Sultanpur Lodhi Horse Show (SLHS) and Regional Equestrian League from October 31 to November 2 at Sultanpur Lodhi. The events will be dedicated to the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.

The events that will be held are ball and bucket group I (SLHS), dressage elementary (SEC and SLHS), ball and bucket group I (SLHS), ball and bucket group II, jalebi race group I, jalebi race group II, show jumping preliminary normal, pole bending group I (SLHS), pole bending group II (SLHS), spoon and lemon race Gp-3 (SLHS), fancy dress competition group II (SLHS), tent pegging Individual round, needle and thread race group I (SLHS) and show jumping six bar open.

The teams that will be participating in the event are: Haryana Police; ITBP, Bhanu; Chandigarh Police; Western Command Equestrian Node, Chandimandir, Punjab Public School, Nabha; Chandigarh Horse Riding Society, Chandigarh; Partap Stables, Chandigarh; NCC, Ludhiana; Gurukul, Moga; Heritage Equestrian Sports Academy, Mohali; PAP Club, Chandigarh; PAP Club, Jalandhar; Punjab Police Academy, Phillaur; Punjab Armed Police, Jalandhar; and Punjab Armed Police, Chandigarh.

The last date for submission of entries are Oct 29 till 5 pm. Also, people participating in the Punjab State Senior Equestrian Championship — 2019, Sultanpur Lodhi Horse Show and Regional Equestrian League will stay in the camping area.

During the Independence Day function this year in Jalandhar, a six-horse team took part in the tent-pegging sport and 15 horses escorted Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.

One of the office-bearers of the Punjab Equestrian Association spoke about the history of the event.

He said the game originated when Army personnel used to take away the peg with swords while riding horses and the tent of enemies would get destroyed.

"It used to be an important war tactic," he said.