A decade has passed since Aliya Das Gupta stepped into an equestrian course after love at first sight for horses...

Still in her teens, she has already scripted numerous triumphs. With a proven track record under her belt at various levels of competition, the Bangalorean is looking to become more consistent in the National circuit apart from aiming for her maiden medal in the international arena when the new season gets underway in a couple of months’ time.

With the aim of competing along with top equestrianists in the world, Aliya flew to Australia last week for a two-month work-cum-training stint in the Argyle Equestrian Center — her second visit to the country for a training stint. “Last year I got a chance for a work-cum-training programme in Australia. Those two months of hard work proved to be good for me when I came back to India. The training methods and the horses there were better from what we have here. It helped me a lot to improve my skills,” Aliya said.

“I wanted to compete with the top riders in the world. This made me have one more stint abroad, though the training abroad is much more painful physically and needs much money. I was also fortunate enough to train at Wimbchase Equestrian School in the USA in 2006,” the 19-year-old added.

About the work-cum-training stint abroad, she said: “Actually, work-cum-training is very difficult. You need to work in the stables, feeding the horses and do the work they ask you to do. In return, they give you training. But I found it worthwhile as it developed my riding skills, so I decided to go this year also. I will be at the Arygle Training Centre in Perth,” said Aliya, the owner of Hannibal, a gelding, brought in 2004 as a seven-year-old.

‘Consistency needed’

Aliya, whose best in international meets was her fourth place finish at the Iranian Equestrian Championship in 2006, is aiming at a maiden medal at the world level. “For me, the priority this year is to win a title abroad. If you can come up with some notable performance in international equestrian meets, that’s when you will get noticed.

It will surely boost one’s confidence and help me achieve better success at the highest level. I need to be more consistent at the National level too,” she said.

The second year BA Journalism student of Mount Carmel College has proved her prodigy at the National circuit by winning top championships. She won a hat-trick of Young Rider titles in the CSI ‘Y’ championships between 2005 and 2007. She also won silver medals in the National Equestrian and Federation Equestrian International (FEI) meets, held in Bangalore in 2006. The six-foot-one-inch lass bagged the best young rider awards in 2005 and 2006.

However, Aliya puts her victory in the South Indian Equestrian Championship in 2004 as the most memorable one. “It was memorable as my father (the late Sanjoy Das Gupta) was there to watch my performance. It was the first major medal for me,” she said.

It all started for Aliya when she was nine years old during her visit to Bangalore’s Princess Academy with her father, himself an equestrianist. It didn’t take too long for her to join the Academy. “It was a love at first sight.

There was no second thought when I first saw horses at the Princess Academy. I was just nine at that time. My father was my first trainer,” said Aliya, who now trains at the Embassy International Riding School.

“But it took six more years (in 2004) for me to buy a horse, Hannibal. And a year-and-a-half more to train the horse. I bought it from Mysore Race Club and trained it myself,” she added.

Aliya said she has faced career-threatening falls from her horse a couple of times, including multiple bone fractures in her arm and elbow. However, that never pegged her back. Aliya would like to take things step by step before fulfilling her dream of an Asian Games and Olympic Games medal.