THRISSUR: A tweet by Anand Mahindra, chairman of the Mahindra Group, made the ‘girl on the horse’ a viral sensation across social media platforms. The girl is 15-year-old Krishna from Mala in Thrissur who rode the horse to her 10th examination centre.
“I never thought that the video will go viral till people came asking for the horse-riding girl. It is not the first time that I rode a horse to school and the residents here know it well. It has been a dream for me to ride the horse and attend my exam, my family and trainers supported me well,” says an excited Krishna.
Krishna’s father Ajayan Kalindi looks at it as a proud moment.
“We have heard about Jhansi Rani, who fought against British, riding a horse. Folklore of Unniyarcha is also not strange to us. Then why not my daughter fight the odds and ride a horse to her school?" asks Ajayan, who earns a living as a priest at the nearby Vishnu temple.
Her mother Indu is all happy about her daughter but at the same time worried when she rides a horse. “Animals behave erratically so I do get concerned whenever she rides the horse,” she adds.
Jokes and tweets apart, Krishna wants to take this forward to a professional level and participate in horse races.
“Father gifted me the male horse Rana Krish when I was in the seventh standard. The female horse was bought after two years. Now they are like a family for me,” she says, while giving the horse some snacks before mounting it.
It is Krishna who feeds the horses, plays with them, grooms them and takes complete care of the animals.
“Unlike other students, Krishna was keen enough to continue her practice despite bucking. A horse always tries to kick out the rider by bucking. Krishna once fell down and the horse kicked her, but she was determined to take it forward. It was an uphill task to take control of the horse and ride through the road as there can be many things including vehicles and crowds that may disturb it. But she did it with ease,” says Dany and Abhijith, who train her.
Her trainers are confident that Krishna would be a wonderful horse rider, a rare skill among girls, that too at her age.