CHENNAI: Even when the equestrian centre was filled with cheers of anticipation and the keen observations and comments from the judges panel, Samanna Everaa could only hear one sound, the rhythm from her horse Soulmate’s hooves. This trained mind which comes from years-long practise has helped Samanna achieve a record score of 73.225 points making it the highest in India at the World Dressage Challenge in the youth category (14 years to 16 years) held in Bengaluru recently at the ASC Centre. Samanna shares, “I just tune out everything when I am riding. I can only hear my horse and myself. Thus, distractions aren’t a big deal. When I compete, I am not thinking of beating others; I am thinking of performing better than I did last time. So I think I have gained a very healthy mindset from the competitions.” The teen equestrian talks about the sport, her training, and her future aspirations.
Discovering the passion
It was on a holiday to Kodaikanal 12 years ago that Samanna discovered the joy of horse riding. “I was just three years old and vividly remember riding a horse for the first time around the lake. As soon as I came back to Chennai, I begged my mom to sign me up for riding classes. Initially, they hesitated thinking that I was too young and also they were not into the sport. After constant requests from my side, they took me to classes and I started riding,” she shares.
Samanna ventured into professional training three years ago and started appearing in competitions one and a half years ago. At the Chennai Equitation Centre OMR, she found a coach, mentor, and friend in Isabelle Hassleder, from Austria, who has been training students for the past 20 years. Under Isabelle’s guidance, she practises dressage, which is considered the pinnacle of equestrian sports and requires the rider and the horse to memorise a set of planned moves. “Samanna is an exemplary student and has always been very involved with horses and riding. She also has a good balance and knowledge. In the beginning, the training was hard as she had to learn to handle strong, energetic, and different types of horses. Step by step, she became more confident, gained more technical skills, and could adjust to more difficult horses,” says Isabelle.
Forging a bond
All horse riders are provided with a companion and last year, Samanna found a friend in Soulmate. “Soulmate is from Germany and is 13 years old. He has a very interesting and charismatic character. It feels like he is always there for me; I share a strong bond with him. I would say he is like my best friend,” she enthusiastically shares. Emphasising that the partnership between the horse and the rider is the most important thing in equestrian sports, Isabelle likens the competition to ballroom dance. “The competition is something you can imagine like a ballroom dance with a partner. If you suddenly change the partner, even though both people might be good dancers, they might not possibly dance well together as they won’t know each other very well. Therefore, there must be a good relationship between the horse and the rider. The horse needs to be of a certain quality and the rider needs to have good technical skills,” she explains. For the competitions, Isabelle trains Samanna and Soulmate to focus on even the intricacies like listening to their body language and breathing.
Hopes for future
From practising every day from 6 am, adjusting to the horse’s nature, overcoming challenges to setting up a record, Samanna has found peace and comfort in the sport. With support from her parents and teachers, she has learned to balance both academics and sports. “Balancing everything is a tough job as the sport is time-consuming and demanding. So I try to finish my school work beforehand,” shares Samanna, who is a class 10 student at KC High Navalur, and also a trained Bharatanatyam dancer.
Even though in India, competitions like dressage are not very popular as they are in Europe, Samanna aspires to make a mark in the world through the sport. “The sport has been gaining popularity in India after Fouaad Mirza qualified for the Olympics last time, after 20 years. My future aspiration is definitely to compete at the highest level of dressage. I want to ride in the biggest dressage arena in the world. I want to represent India internationally on the podium of dressage one day. I hope I can help achieve that,” she concludes.