UP horses to get better care and food after rally episode

The Shaktiman episode in Uttarakhand, which has left the horse severely injured, may have earned a great deal of flak for the BJP MLA who allegedly hit the animal, but it has woken up the Uttar Pradesh government to the need for giving police horses a good life.

The Akhilesh government, after 68 years, is now preparing a rule manual for horses in the police force, but it is also specifying a nutritious diet for them.

The UP police, at present, has 330 horses, some of them being thoroughbred horses.

“Horses in the UP police were being given a diet of half-a-kg of gra-ms, wheat bran, crushed oats, jaggery other and coarse grains, besides fresh grass which was highly insufficient from the point of view of nut-rition. We are now substantially increasing the quantity and quality of their diet by adding more wheat bran and oats,” said a police official.

The manual for horses that is being prepared will include rules for their diet, maintenance, exercise and medical care.

“We are taking inputs from experts, horse breeders and veterinary experts so that horses can remain in good health,” the official said.

Surprisingly, no state government in previous decades has paid attention to the horse force in the state.

The police horses, which lead ceremonial parade are used in riot situations and also in controlling law and order, have been getting a raw deal and are treated worse than police dogs.

Thoroughbred horses, including “Virat”, “Ronaldo”, “Shreshtha” and “Sham-e-Avadh”, are reportedly suffering from malnourishment and need immediate care.

“There is no denying the fact that most of our horses suffer from malnutrition and lack of exercise. Their trainers and keepers do not bother to put them through an exercise regimen which weakens the animal. With the new manual, we are going to strictly ensure that each horse is adequately taken care of and gets a full nutritional meal,” the official said.

The Uttar Pradesh government is planning to send one of its best hoses, ‘Ada’, for the police horse race competition that is scheduled to take place in Hyderabad in December this year. SSP Ghaziabad Dharmendra Singh, an efficient horse rider, has been asked to prepare for the event and Ada is presently in Ghaziabad for training.