National Equestrian Champ: Ariana, Gaurav, Raju advance to next stage

MUMABI: Amateur Riders' Club hosted the next round of the National Equestrian Championship in the Dressage discipline. The riders competed in the levels Advance Medium Freestyle to music, Intermediate-1 Normal Dressage and Advance Freestyle to music.

Ariana Dhond, DFR Girdhari Singh, Raju Singh and Gaurav Pandir were the leading performers. In national dressage competitions, there are five basic levels of dressage tests: Preliminary, Introductory, Novice, Elementary, Medium and Advanced.

Dressage is a form of horse riding performed in exhibitions and competitions, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. Dressage 'Freestyle to music' is a form of dressage competition where the horse's paces are set to music to create a competitive "dance".

"Having the National Equestrian Championship(NEC) Dressage hosted at our home ground was an experience that a bunch of words cannot do justice to. It has been many years since we've had a Dressage Senior Nationals in Mumbai and the past week has been absolutely exhilarating with some of the most talented riders displaying the finest riding skills.

Most categories had a freestyle to music for the first time, fostering the creative and artistic nature of the sport," said Ariana Dondh. "I did the Advance category with my horse Freixenet 81. We have a fairly new partnership and are still trying to figure each other out so these shows really helped me to build on us together.

The freestyle was a very new experience for all the horses as well. The event was fabulously run, and efficient, and the judging was top-notch. I hope there are more shows like this hosted at our home ground in the coming future!" added Dondh.