Anush Agarwalla interview: Chillin’ with Sir Caramello

With a little less than four months to go until the Paris Olympics, Anush Agarwalla (who, earlier this year, became the first Indian to win a quota in dressage), is on a break.

To be a bit more precise, his horse is. The 25-year-old and his horse — Sir Caramello Old — last competed at the Mechelen Grand Prix in December last year, where he all but assured himself a place at the Paris Games. He was allotted the quota on the basis of his performance in four FEI (Fédération Equestre Internationale) events — Wroclaw (73.485%), Kronenberg (74.4%), Frankfurt (72.9%), and finally Mechelen (74.2%).

Although technically the quota belongs to India, it is a certain guarantee that Agarwalla will be riding at the Olympics. “Officially, others from India can still try to compete until June 24 (when the ranking period for the Olympics closes) but no one else has matched the MER (Minimum Eligibility Rule) to be eligible for the same,” he says.

It helps that there’s no one breathing down his neck. That’s allowed Anush and his horse to extend their break longer than originally planned. The two were supposed to compete at the Aachen Grand Prix in the last week of March but will now resume their season only at the CDI Hagen this month end.

While Anush, who won a historic bronze for India in dressage at the Asian Games last year, was ready to go, he says he realised that his horse needed to rest a little bit longer.

“He competed a lot in November and December, which was when we actually got our quota. It was a very intensive period for him due to all the competitions. And so I decided to give him a bit more rest until April, because our goal is to be at our peak during the Paris Olympics,” he says.

Many of the world’s elite and potential rivals for Agarwalla at Paris will be riding in Aachen. In a 20-by-60 metre arena that’s bordered by a low rail, the horses and their riders will show their paces — walk, trot and canter — and be judged according to their smoothness in transition.

Sir Caramello on the other hand will be at Agarwalla’s training base at Borchen, Germany, where the pressure will be a lot less. “Although my horse is on vacation, it isn’t that he’s just going to sit in his stable all day. He is still being ridden a little bit, just like an athlete on active rest. Of course, the intensity of my training session with him is very less and the program is very different. The goal of the training is to just keep him very loose and happy,” says Agarwalla.

Instead of the dressage arena, Agarwalla says he’ll take Sir Caramello on light rides. “It will be a lot less stressful than preparing for a competition. We’ll go hacking (cross country rides) in the forest and the woods. For a horse, that’s a bit like going on a holiday. He loves raspberries so he’ll eat a lot of that too. Horses find relaxation in venturing into the woods, where they encounter new surroundings, allowing their brains to unwind from the constant focus on training in the arena,” says Agarwalla.

Horse like Ronaldo

A horse’s need to take a break depends on multiple factors — when they last competed, what they are peaking towards and, more so, the age of the horse. “Sir Caramello is physically very strong but at the same time he is 17 years old, which is fairly old for a horse. I’m not going to stretch my luck with him,” says Agarwalla.

Agarwalla compares him to any other high performance athlete who is at the end of their career. “If I had to compare Sir Caramello to anyone, it would be Cristiano Ronaldo. Both are approaching the end of their careers. But at the same time both are really experienced and motivated to give their best. Ronaldo is still among the best in his league and scoring goals. Sir Caramello is exactly like that. You can see that he still gets excited when he sees a crowd. I am very proud to say that we are currently the highest scoring Indian combination at the Grand Prix level. And of course we were the first from India to win a quota for the Olympics so in our own way we are breaking records,” says Agarwalla.

While having a relaxed horse going into any tournament makes complete sense from a competitive perspective, Agarwalla says it goes beyond it. “I want him to get into a slightly relaxed state of mind before we restart training. For me that’s the basic goal of horsemanship. When people get into the sport, it’s almost never the case that the first thought is — ‘I want to go to the Olympics or I want to win a medal’. The first reason almost anyone gets into the sport is because you love horses. I think it’s very important that this feeling is maintained, no matter what your goals are. Of course, you know, everybody wants to go to the Olympics but it’s very important for me that this bond and this love and respect for horses is not forgotten,” he says.

The bond between the horse and rider was one of the primary reasons Agarwalla chose to specialise in the dressage discipline. “All equestrian events require you to have a connection with your horse but perhaps it’s more so in dressage. You can feel that the horse is happy, full of energy and wants to help you. When things go right you are in perfect sync with the horse. And you just feel that you are dancing with the horse. It’s hard to recreate this with any other discipline,” he says.

Even before he started dressage, it was this bond that developed Agarwalla’s interest during the time he first started riding as an eight-year-old in Kolkata’s Tollygunge club. “I didn’t come from an equestrian family like nearly every one else at the Olympics. When I first started riding, it was something I really enjoyed since I loved being around animals. Riding was just an excuse to spend time with a horse,” says Agarwalla. Three years after he first started, he was making weekend trips to New Delhi in order to train. In 2017, he moved to Germany to hone his skills under the tutelage of 2004 Olympic champion, Hubertus Schmidt.

A special partnership

He acquired Sir Caramello two years later, when he was looking to try out for the Tokyo Olympics. And while there were thousands of horses available for sale, Agarwalla says he knew very soon that the honey-coloured Sir Caramello was the right one for him.

“He suits his name perfectly. He knows he’s a pretty horse. He also has that attitude where he knows people look at him. He thinks he is a ‘sir’ for sure. When I acquired him in 2019, I was not very experienced at this level of sport. I had just started competing in the Grand Prix level very recently.

“I was only 19 and had competed in just one Grand Prix competition when I first found him. While I needed a horse that had the potential to go to the Olympic Games, I also needed a horse who was not too difficult to ride for an inexperienced and young rider like me. I needed one who could be like a schoolmaster for me — a horse who could teach me how to grow as a rider. I think he’s done his job perfectly,” says Agarwalla.

Over the course of five years, Agarwalla says he’s developed an unshakable bond with his ride. “I think Sir Caramello had a major role in completely changing who I am as a person. That first year I worked with him in 2019 was filled with failure, at least for me. Our results were nowhere near where I would have liked them to be. That was a very, very difficult period of my time. I had to accept the fact that while I have an amazing horse, I myself am not at the level I wanted to be. He taught me how important it is to work hard and just focus on myself. Even though we just missed the Olympic quota for the 2020 Olympics by one place, this time we made history by qualifying,” he says.

And although Agarwalla has ridden other horses [he won the Asian bronze on a younger horse, Etros (above)] he understands that the journey to Paris will be made on Sir Caramello. “We are a team. I know that without the horse I am nothing. I might be the one who controls the horse, but he has to be willing to help me. And unless you have the strongest bond with the horse, even if you have the most amazing horse, you won’t be able to ride it well. Otherwise it would be very easy for people to just buy top horses and win medals. That’s not how it works, really. It’s a team sport and both the rider and the horse have to complete each other. It’s the combination that works out in the end,” he says.

And with that in mind, Anush doesn’t mind his horse getting some extra time off. “We are already at a decent level now and from here on, until Paris, there are only marginal improvements that can be made. I want him to be in the best shape possible in Paris. I know that if I give him a little more time now, he’ll respond well when I actually start competing. I think he’s earned it,” says Agarwalla.

More stories from this issue