Raizada Shaurya Bali, a 20 year old student who is pursuing BA Hons, Political Science from Ram Lal Anand college, Delhi University has proved to be prodigal in horse riding. He took this sport up in the year 2008 when he was merely 12 years old. Since then he has won a total of 85 medals and a few trophies. He has participated in state, national as well international championships and managed to win almost all of them.
1. You started horse riding when you were 12 years old, what motivated you to take this up?
My dad was a rider, I used to see him riding but I was not really fond of it. Once, we were invited to Tollygunge, a riding club in Kolkata to watch a night show. Kids, both younger and elder to me were riding there. It was fascinating to watch. After the show got over I went to a guy and appreciated him expecting him to just say thank you and leave. Instead, he started bragging saying that this was an extremely difficult track and only these people could do it, no one else. This infuriated me and I asked my dad to teach me how to ride.
2. So, did you ever meet this ‘guy’ again? And if you did, what was it like?
After around 2-3 months of rigorous training, I took part in my first competition and he was there. He got silver, I bagged the gold.
3. If you could convert riding into a career, would you?
Career is supposed to earn you money. In India the only two sports that can help earn your bread are cricket and tennis. Having said this, it’s been my dream to join army since the time I was born.
4. So tell us about your first National event. How was that experience ?
It was in April, 2009. The nationals were collaborated with Delhi horse show. I was so excited that I didn’t know what I was feeling. My dad walked to me and said, “Son, you were born for this. Don’t be nervous.” And, the moment I entered the arena, I suddenly felt calm, it was meditative. I did not have to think to act, I was clear on what I had to do. I won the Best Rider’s trophy.
5. What about the international event?
The international event was conducted by SEI, that’s the organization that conducts Olympics and other such games. It was around 2-3 years back and was held in Punjab. A foreign jury judged our performances. It was by far the toughest course I’ve faced.
“A rider depends a lot on his horse. It’s teamwork.” The rich riders can buy better trained horses which are genetically better.
6. Did you have any favorite horse?
Three actually. The one I absolutely adored was Veeru. He was a short horse whose training wasn’t that good however, he was gutsy. There was a wall jump that other horses refused to do because they got scared of the height. He crashed into the wall instead of turning away. The other was Lateef, my dad’s horse. He was the second tallest horse in India. The third was Arjun. He had shoulder issues but he was honest, brave and as intelligent as a human.
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7. Did you face any injuries while riding? Did you overcome them?
My first national completion, in show jumping I had two rounds. For the first round I was riding Veeru and was in the lead, however he got an injury and I couldn’t ride him to the second. 15 minutes before the second round began, I was given a horse named Thunderpool. I had never ridden him before so I took him to the warm up area to practice. During warm up he jumped so high that I fell down and broke my collar bone. I was 12 and was in immense pain, I started crying. My dad came in, sprayed volini and told me that I was born for this day.
The second round was a technical round, it was about speed control. Thunderpool was a hard in the mouth horse and it wasn’t easy to slow him also the fact that I had a broken collarbone made it worse. We did the entire round in a canter. I still won the bronze medal.
8. It’s normal to feel scared to do a certain thing after you face certain injuries. Did you get scared?
No way! Riding is as natural to me as walking. The horses, ground, wind, everything inspires me to keep going on. It makes me feel alive. “Anything we start, we have failures. We always fall down.” We need to embrace our failures and learn from them.
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9. What qualities do you think a sports person should possess?
We should learn to embrace our failures. Forget the feeling but remember the lesson it teaches. We should see both sides, wining and elimination and should stay detached to them because if you become attached to success, it goes to your head and eventually pulls you down whereas if you become attached to failing, you will never be happy. The last thing is hard work and knowing how to work smartly. These are the three prime qualities that a sports person should possess.
1o. Any experience in riding that you would like to share with us?
There was this jump, either in Delhi Horse Show or Nationals, I do not remember exactly, there was a tie. Ties are decided by jump-offs. To do a jump, you need to be at least three strides away. I was riding Veeru and we’d done the first two jump-offs perfectly, at third, we went in too close and were only half a stride away from the jump. He jumped, I turned him up in the air and we cleared it. I could hear the crowd gasping for air as we’d managed to do something extremely insane and difficult. After the jump, the audience gave us a standing ovation.
11. Any glory moments that you would like to share?
After every competition, success parties are held which have food and dance. There I met General VK Singh, Chief of Army Staff.
I was awarded Sher-E-Kashmir by Omar Abdullah, CM of Jammu and Kashmir and Rakshamantri Commendation Card by AK Antony, Defense Minister.
12. Any message you would like to give to the readers?
“You have to change the world by your example. You have to inspire the people, to act on their dreams and act with strength. Dreams lacking efforts are mere day dreams. They have to be backed by efforts and will power.”
