RAISING THE BAR
We want to create new equestrian heroes
We just want to serve the members of the equestrian community.
They say that you have to dig deep into your pocket in order to come up with a successful federation. Carissa Coscolluela begs to disagree.
For her, it’s all about having a strong program, something that would grow the sport, benefit all the stakeholders and make the country proud in the international arena.
Sure, Coscolluela’s Equestrian Philippines is not a full-blown national sports federation, but it still makes sure that it is committed in promoting excellence in equestrian disciplines and horsemanship by organizing and participating in activities, clinics, competitions and various programs in a bid to uplift and promote the sport.
Aside from Coscolluela, also part of Equestrian Philippines are Toni Leviste as vice president, Joker Arroyo as sports director, Marivi Camcam as finance director and Anton Barreto as communications director.
“Don’t get me wrong; we’re not here to upstage or replace the EAP (Equestrian Association of the Philippines) of Cong. Peping (Cojuangco),” Coscolluela said.
“We just want to serve the members of the equestrian community by providing them with the best training, best competition, best management and best development to help the sport. We’ve been to a lot of competition here and abroad and we’re tapping all our contacts in the sporthorse industry.” Coscolluela said they have been providing the community with intensive clinics for the past 15 years. They have tapped the world’s most respected dressage trainers like Jos Kumps and Guillaume Ducos of Belgium, Sebastian Pellon Maison of Argentina, Hideo Watanabe of Japan, Fred Jannson of Sweden, Valentin Marcotte of France, Miranda Fischer of United States and Liza White of New Zealand.
Even New York-based Collin Syquia held a clinic here before emerging with a gold medal in the 29th Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur in 2017.
“But the success of equestrian doesn’t rely on riders alone. We also have to come up with a solid program for our horses to make sure that they will be at their best in every competition,” said Coscolluela, adding that they are committed in ensuring the health of their horses through a careful and thorough maintenance program with some of the top veterinarians in the industry.
“We are guided by some of the world’s top veterinarians, equine dentists and equine chiropractors,” she said. “Since they are not allowed to practice their professions here, we have our local vets work with them closely and consult them from time to time.”
Exciting team
Still, a solid program wouldn’t work without results.
That’s why Equestrian Philippines is organizing the inaugural Equestrian Philippines Riders Tour, a prestigious event that pits six of the country’s top riders against the Malaysian equestrian squad in a head-to-head Nation’s Cup competition at different height divisions on 29 September at the Manila Polo Club.
Arroyo said they are putting premium on the future so they are deploying fresh faces who would serve as torchbearers in major international tournaments.
A former South - East Asian (SEA) Games gold medalist and veteran international campaigner, Arroyo will call the shots in a powerhouse team that has Minxie Romulades, Alex Villalon, Mohammed El Akkad, Nicole Camcam, Lara Zobel and Paola Lorenzo.
Romualdes is an 11-year-old rising star who will see action in the 65 cm category, an event where she has been dominating since learning the sport five years ago.
On the other hand, Villalon, a 17-year-old student at the International School Manila, will see action in the 75 cm event while El Akkad, an Egyptian expatriate, will compete as a guest rider in the 90 cm event in a bid to raise the bar to as high as 130 cm to 140 cm.
Also tipped to make their presence felt are Camcam, Zobel and Lorenzo.
The 14-year-old Camcam is the reigning Manila Polo Club Junior Rider of the Year and Junior Dressage Rider of the Year and will compete in the 100 cm event. She is partially based in the United States and trains in Florida, North Carolina and New York under the tutelage of Syquia.
Zobel, meanwhile, vies in the 110 cm category and Lorenzo, one of the country’s most successful riders who was named as the Manila Polo Club Jumping Rider of the Year flies the flag in the 120 cm category — highest and most difficult event.
“This is an exciting team full of fresh faces and overflowing with talent,” said Arroyo, who bagged the gold medal in the Manila SEA Games in 2005 and silver medal in the Jakarta Asian Games in 2011.
“Each of them are hard working and competitive and in constant pursuit of improvement and progress.”
Coscolluela added that the event is a golden chance for the federation to expose its pool to a high-level competition.
“This is to give our developing pool of riders a chance to experience riding as a team against another country, which is a completely different experience from riding individual in local competitions,” she said.
Bright future
To remove any advantage in this borrowed horse competition, local riders will not be riding their respective horses.
They, however, will swap for other local mounts and lend their horses to the visiting team, which will arrive on 27 September.
Coscolluela said this format will allow local riders to get used to competing out of their comfort zones, giving them a good training by the time they see action in major international tournaments, similar to what they did when Cojuangco-Jaworski and Leviste were still starting to compete. “We want to create new equestrian heroes,” she said. “That’s why I’m excited over this inaugural event and I hope it can contribute to the comeback of the exchange-borrowed horse competitions in the region, which are very much at the heart of our competitive foundations around 10 to 20 years ago.”
Coscolluela said after this maiden tourney, they would reach out to their partners abroad to host a competition with the same format.
From there, Filipino riders will get more exposure and experience they need in the big stage, resulting to a new breed of heroes and more glory for the Philippines in major international tournaments.
And Equestrian Philippines will do this for the love of the sport.