Pony fun for children
The Ceylon Riding Club- “The place where people and horses meet” opened its new premises - a spacious three- acre site near Kottawa, on August 26, offering a wide range of activities related to horse riding.
The chief guest for the event was Maj. Gen. Prasanna de Silva (rtd) of the Sri Lankan Army with special guests, Maj. Nalaka Buddhadasa (rtd) of the Sri Lankan Army, writer and historian, Dr. SinhaRaja Tammita Delgoda, professional
The club offers packages for kids, young and adult riders. New riders are encouraged to join the ‘learn to ride’ packages and ‘try out’ packages while the more experienced riders can join under annual and six month subscriptions.
Pony Club for kids includes one hour of pony care, riding, learning, taking part in games and competitions on weekends. The club also offers pony parties for various events. equestrian from the Colombo Horse Riding Academy Mohan de Lanerolle Jnr, and designer for the stables and landscape of the premises Gerald Rubera.
The Ceylon Riding Club is operated by Asvaya Holdings (Pvt.) Ltd and owned by Ineke Pitts with partner Swasha Malalasekara. Ineke who is of British and Dutch origin has been living in Sri Lanka for the past 20 years and the riding school is the fulfilment of a long cherished dream. A qualified equinine life- coach and leadership trainer for the MDF South Asia, Ineke visited Sri Lanka on a holiday while working in Hong Kong as a consultant on the Hong Kong Airport. “I just fell in love with the land and people here and decided to settle down,” Ineke explains.
She began the stables as the Lakeside Riding Club six years ago when a few friends got together to ride. “I started with only a passion and love of horses and realized there were lots of people who actually love them. They helped me and encouraged me to expand the club,” Ineke states. The result is the Ceylon Riding Club, a riding school open to the public.
The philosophy behind the club is to create a community of horse riders and horse lovers in Sri Lanka and to establish mutual benefits between people and horses. “It is not just about riding the horse but work- ing in partnership, building trust and understanding,” Ineke says.
The club would be a platform to have horse riding experiences, (earlier a leisure activity limited to the elite) available for the rising middle class in the country. Ineke intends to reach as many people as possible and make horse riding a common experience for the general public while maintaining the club as a commercially viable and financially sustainable business.
“The club has 12 horses; five thoroughbreds, a Sindhi horse and five ponies. Firefly, a chestnut thoroughbred from Nuwara Eliya; Valentina, the Sindhi horse, a native breed of India who has beautiful curly ears; Queen of Hearts, known as Queenie, the oldest lady in the club; Kahedrin, named after one of King Arthur’s knights, known as Keddie, a white retired racehorse who won the Mayor’s Cup in 2013; Merlin, a beautiful thoroughbred racehorse from India and Tara, a brown mare with a white star on her forehead.
The ponies are Storm, Lady, Tallulah, Golden Lady and her foal. To name the young one a naming pony competition was held at the opening. Name suggestions were put to voting and the name ‘Ginger’ was the pick.
The full day programme for horses at the stables starts at 4 in the morning including massage, grooming and bit of exercise in the arena where a trail goes around the borders of the land.
Tek Bandhari and Niroj K.C, professional horse riders and equestrian consultants from the Windhorse Riding Stables, Kathmandu, Nepal currently support the club in both operational and equestrian management in setting up lesson plans and riding activities.
“It is all about building a relationship with the animal, grooming and learning the personality of the horse rather than just riding it, getting off and leaving,” says Niroj who has written books on horse riding and stable management in Nepali.
With Ineke’s mother being Dutch and her father British, Ineke feels a connection with Sri Lanka. “Sri Lanka is still known to many back in England as Ceylon,” Ineke explains as the reason for naming the riding centre the Ceylon Riding Club.