DNAIndia.com - Full ArticleFebruary 7, 2014 - 22:57 IST | Place: Ahmedabad | Agency: DNA
Abhishek Samuel
The upcoming Mahakali Ashwa Mela at Ambod is slated to be a decorated affair, with participation of as many as eight policemen from the state and 70 personnel from the Indian Army. These teams will ride alongside nearly 100 civilian equestrians from the country in the endurance race at the event, which kicks off on Sunday.
The eight participating cops from the state police include joint CP of special branch & additional director of anti-corruption bureau (ACB) Shamsher Singh along with mounted division police inspector LF Vasava and mounted PSI MS Barot among others. Singh, an avid equestrian, said that they have been training regularly and rigorously over the past fortnight for the event.
“A horse needs to be physically in tune with its rider and have the stamina to be able to finish the race. This has been our primary goal throughout the recent training. During the qualification round, the horse’s heartbeat is constantly monitored to see if it is normal. In case of high heartbeat, the horse may be disqualified for health reasons,” he explained.
As a cautionary tale of the heartbeat’s importance, one need only glance at the state police’s participation in the same event last year. Only one of the participating state police horses was cleared to race, while the rest were all disqualified due to high heartbeat...
Read more here:
http://www.dnaindia.com/ahmedabad/report-ahmedabad-horse-s-heartbeat-key-to-entry-in-race-say-cops-1960102
