Hyderabad city police's mounted unit, one of the oldest equestrian squad in the country which dates back to the Nizam era, is training in equestrian sports and assembling a polo team.
The horse-mounted police are generally used for crowd control, patrolling and ceremonial duties.
"Training of horses and personnel for equestrian sports is underway. We are also forming a polo team. In the next 45 days, we are ready to start for the sporting events," ACP (Law and Order) Anjani Kumar, who is supervising the training program, said.
Siraj Attari, a special steward of Indian Polo Association, and experts from organisations such as National Police Academy and Hyderabad Race Club are helping with the training, he said.
The personnel are being trained in sports such as tent pegging and show jumping.
"We have identified 12 horses. Polo is a game of high-level endurance and extreme flexibility. It requires a lot of manoeuvring of horses at high-speed," he said.
"Initially the horses will participate in local sporting events. Once we have team, we will have tournaments also. An exhibition match of polo will be conducted in the city shortly," Kumar said.
The mounted police unit will be participating in the All India Police Equestrian Meet too.
The unit has a sanctioned strength of 40, but at present it has 32 horses.
"We have recently procured 12 Indian thoroughbred horses. They are used by metropolitan police across the world as they are strong, taller and easy to train," Kumar said.
