The opulence I miss

For me, riding isn't just a sport I play for medals, it is the one thing that means more to me than anything else. Riding has given me so much, it has taught me to be tougher, less scared and best of all, its taught me to love an animal that I very well know can throw me off at any given moment and injure me. The sunny stable mornings, the chaos, the horse shows, the messy braids, the funny falls, the scary falls and so much more.

This is a sombre saga of a marvellous mare named Opulence, who did so much for our school, who taught so many people how to ride, the horse that meant more to me than any horse at our stables. It all started when she was gifted to our school in 2021, a year before I joined riding. Even when I did start riding, I never considered her my favourite until more than a year after but when I did, I realised that all along she had been the horse that changed riding for me. She was the one I rode on my first school sports day. I clinched my first medal in riding while I rode on her back. My first jump was on her. I will never forget the moment when as a beginner I was casually trotting Opulence and our trainer decided that it was time for my first jump, a single pole on the ground to just be trotted over. But then Opulence being the over achiever horse that she was, went into canter and lifted her legs as a high as a small vertical jump would be. I vividly recall that moment when I was so scared. I thought I was going to fall. But no, I did lose my stirrups, I was hanging on to her neck but she stopped and became my saviour. In due course, I also fetched my laurels at the Patiala Horse Show and many others while riding her.

Then the most unexpected thing happened exactly a month after the show, she had her first foal at our school. We were caught unaware as our coach never shared with us that she was expecting and ourselves we were quite naïve to know it. He was named Raftaar, a perfect name considering his perfect trot and his casual jumping over his stable door. Then just a week later another one of our mares had another foal which was named Shehzada. Two months later, Shehzada's mother Black magic passed away. This reflects so much on Opulence's personality because instead of rejecting shehzada, she nurtured both Raftaar and Shehzada with her milk while also performing her customary riding duties. The following year, she had a daughter, Rukhsana. She got weak after that but she kept going and never refused.

You fall in love with a horse, trust them so much and after everything you go through with them, after all the memories you make with them, the moment comes that nothing can prepare you for. I still recall the 17th of march this year, the day when while walking to the stables I realised Opulence was missing and that her stable was empty. I still remember realising what had happened when I looked to the side and realised the ground at the horse burial area was freshly dug. I vividly remember each thought that crossed my mind but even though I knew inside of me that the most dreaded moment had arrived. I still told myself that they must have taken her to the hospital again. Half an hour later, when my coach arrived and told me what had happened, it was then that I accepted it that Opulence was gone. In retrospect, I recall Shakespeare albeit with an altered gender:

When I bestride him, I

soar, I am a hawk: he trots the air; the earth

sings when he touches it; the basest horn of his

hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes.

The writer is a Class IX student at Yadavindra Public School, Patiala