Until a fortnight before leaving for Tokyo, Fouad Mirza's evenings were spent watching videos and going over the dressage sheets. It was a selection dilemma of Olympic proportions between Mickey and Diana – the stable names for their horses Signur Medicott and Djara 4. Mirza is set to create history in Tokyo - only the third Indian rider to qualify for the Games for the first time in 21 years. He picked Dajara4 first, then moved to Medicott, tossing between his two mounts until the July 16 deadline for entry changes. Eventually, he decided to remain with Medicott as his important debut games partner. In 2018, they won two Asian Games silver medals simultaneously.
So how does this partnership between man and animal, a combination of navigating fences and complex jump jumps in an Olympic event, actually work? While the horse appears to be the more important member of the pair, executing the actual routine, tactical decisions, for example, the decision on which side of the fence to jump for a more efficient landing, are taken by the rider. Riders are not looking for an automaton, but a partner with whom they share an innate link and who will respond to their signals and touch and get the job done.
“You have to let the horse be an extension of your body and really be a part of the animal while riding,” Mirza says. The 29-year-old will compete in a three-day individual event discipline - a mix of dressage, jumping and cross-country riding, starting July 29. The Sea Forest cross country course, formerly a landfill site, is set in Tokyo. At a distance of about 4420 metres, it takes about seven minutes and 45 seconds to complete. Penalties accrue when a horse removes an obstacle or refuses to jump over it, as well as when the horse and rider complete a course too slowly. If the horse or rider falls, they are eliminated.
Good riding is about economy of signals, assistance and intervention, and letting the horse think for itself. “The best thing a rider can do is not to interfere with the horse’s movements,” says Mirza. “When you do that, it definitely makes partnership a lot easier and more precise. The opposite is also very distracting for the horses. You end up taking their attention away from the task in front of them and instead it’s yours.” , which is not needed when you are galloping over the fence."
Horses usually learn best through association, so it is important that a rider keeps the string of signals consistent. For example, every time Mirza wants his horse to raise a canter from the right, for that particular movement, he must consistently use the same aids, the same seat position, the same leg position, and the same arm position. Have to get used to, so the horse is adjusted. For this.
"To the extent that when you think about putting your foot or your hand in that position, they already know what you want and they give it to you," he says. “That is when the horse really becomes an extension of your body because you are not doing anything on the horse, but the horse is doing a lot under you.”
Just as athletes can crumble under pressure, trained horses can also shake off fences and freeze with their hind legs. "They might shy away sometimes and not play ball and there's definitely no guarantee because at the end of the day, you're dealing with a beast. I have a good head for the game though, They know when it's time to go so they kneel down and get the job done," says Mirza, who is backed by the embassy group and has been training in Bergdorf, Germany, for four years. "We tried to give Mickey an Indian stable name, 'Mukund,'" he laughs, "but others had a hard time pronouncing it, so it never really took hold."
Besides being a more relaxed horse, two factors influenced Mirza's last-minute decision in favor of Mickey - his jumping accuracy and previous experience surviving in humid conditions during the Asian Games in Jakarta three years ago. To jump, Mirza explains, the horse must be allowed to do so on its own, rather than being driven by motion or fear. "He has to use his head and neck for balance and a smooth landing, otherwise it could be like falling off a ledge. Mickey for example is very agile, very accurate. He's a technician, he knows that." Where are the poles and enough to clear them. When you are so precise, and know how much to clear them, it saves energy. He doesn't have to give his 110 percent to each fence "
"Our game is, at the end of the day, almost two hearts, two brains and two pairs of eyes working as one. That's the most beautiful and terrifyingly difficult part."