Yuzae not horsing around at academy
LIFE as a jockey for Yuzae Ramzan has been rather challenging as the 15-year-old is still getting used to waking up before the sun rises.
Originally from Port Elizabeth, Yuzae is the only Indian apprentice to have joined the South African Jockey Academy this year and is determined to be one of the best jockeys in the country.
The teenager’s love for horses began at 8 when his father, Rashid, a buyer at a retail shopping chain, took him to the races.
“The speed and adrenalin of the sport fascinated me as well as the way the jockey relied on the horse but still managed to control it,” said Yuzae.
He said while in high school in PE, he googled the academy, based in Shongweni, liked what he saw and applied.
Yuzae, of course, made the cut.
“It was hard for my mom (Razwana, a housewife) to let me go but she knew how much I wanted this,” said Yuzae, who has a 21-year-old sister Leyya.
While your average teen may still be sleeping at 4am, the apprentice is already dressed and getting ready to take out the horses.
“Each one of us is appointed a horse to care for. We clean the stables and brush the horses before the one-hour training begins. We ride to the paddocks and by 8am the jockeys go to the gym.
“After gym we return to our dormitories and get ready for breakfast. School, at the academy, starts at 10.30am and ends at 2pm.
“We then have to clean the horses boxes and ride again for a few hours before returning them to the stables.”
The Grade 10 pupil said his dream was to be among the riders at KZN’s most prestigious event, the Durban July.
“I hope that after five years that dream will come true.”
He said being a jockey had taught him a valuable lesson: to get up after a fall.
“No matter how hard your butt hits the floor, always get up and ride that horse to the finish line,” he said as he thought about the numerous times he had fallen.
The academy’s marketing manager, Leonard Strong, said that to be a jockey required resolve.
Training can be gruelling and jockeys are required to follow special diets.
“The students have a professional dietitian and they eat three times a day.
“This is a very challenging sport, so apprentices need to eat right and stay healthy,” he said.
They refrain from eating fast foods, sweet treats and even sauces.
The most important meal of the day, breakfast, said Strong, varied. It included cereals, oat porridge and eggs that are either boiled, fried or scrambled with sausages.
It is accompanied by seasonal fruit.
The academy enrols pupils from Grades 10 to 12 and currently has 29 apprentices.
Two have matriculated and are doing equine studies on the management and welfare of horses.
The jockeys are able to return home twice a year, for Easter and Christmas.