Army Horse Riders Make History in Cross Country Riding

Three horse riders of the Army Equestrian Club in Diyatalawa, out of the best five riders in the Army, participating in their first-ever Cross Country Horse Riding Competition of the Sri Lanka Equestrian Association (SLEA) in Kandy, carried away three trophies out of five in total.

Major Rohana Udaratage of the Sri Lanka Army Service Corps (SLASC), Head of the Army Equestrian Section, together with 5 top horse riders of the Army vied in the Kandy Victoria Golf and Country Resort competition on Sunday (1) and achieved 3 major slots out of 5 trophies.

Private D.B.K Abeywickrama of Sri Lanka Army Service Corps riding the horse ‘Abha’ won the first place in the event while Private H.L.S Suranga of Sri Lanka Armoured Corps, (horse Pravega) and Bombardier K.D.S Nawaratne of Sri Lanka Artillery (horse Danuja) secured fourth and fifth places respectively in the competition.

The SLEA since its founding in 2003 had conducted closer to 20 events from time to time on trial purposes, but this was the first time those horses took part in a Cross Country Horse Riding Competition, bringing credit to the Army.

Brigadier Priyantha Senaratna, Commandant, Sri Lanka Military Academy (SLMA) under the guidance of Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake, Commander of the Army took the initiative with regard to the participation of those horses in the competition for the first time in the Army history.

The competitors in Kandy had to overcome 10 jumps, covering two and a half kilometers in 15 minutes in an extremely long hurdle race. As an introductory move to this technique in horse riding, the SLEA kept their horses open for 25 slots in the Competition.

Cross country equestrian jumping is an endurance test that forms one of the three phases of the sport included in Olympic Games. It may also be a competition in its own right, known as hunter trials or simply ‘cross-country’, although these tend to take place at lower level, mainly in local competitions.