SLEA donates two horses to St. Thomas’ Guruthalawa

The Sri Lanka Equestrian Association (SLEA), under its ongoing development activity, has donated two horses to St. Thomas’ College in Guruthalawa, with intentions of spreading the popularity of equestrian sports among schools.

The SLEA, the local governing body for equestrian sports in Sri Lanka, has been in existence since 2003 but this is the first occasion that it has taken a step further, to introduce the sport among schoolchildren.

The SLEA considers this as a unique step in developing a sport that has no recognition in the school circuit. Through this donation, students of St. Thomas’ will be able to train their equestrian skills by taking part in the numerous competitions organised by the SLEA throughout the year.

“The SLEA invites any other school that requires assistance in developing an equestrian centre to contact us. This will also facilitate the equestrian scouts programme that many schools currently are part of. The SLEA hopes that this will encourage other schools as well to get involved in the disciplines of horse riding which include show-jumping, dressage, cross- country and endurance, so that these sports may gain popularity in the country,” Suranjith Premadasa, the president of SLEA stated.

This development activity was part of the many activities undertaken by the SLEA to uplift equestrian sport and welfare in the country. In May 2020 the SLEA was faced with the pressing concern of assisting in providing support to maintain 150 to 200 horses and ponies in Nuwara Eliya and Kandy, whose owners were finding it hard to maintain, due to the lockdown imposed by COVID-19.

The SLEA was able to request the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), the world body for horse sport and welfare to assist in facilitating the support of these horses and ponies. SLEA is the governing body for equestrian activities in Sri Lanka, which has been in existence since 2003.