“The Most Unpredictable Sport You Can Watch”: Ashish Limaye on Training, Trust, and Competing With Seven Horses

For Indian equestrian rider Ashish Limaye, the rhythm of a training day rarely begins in the saddle. Instead, it starts quietly: with feeding routines, stable work, and time spent building familiarity with horses that cannot communicate in words, yet demand complete understanding.

Training across Europe and India has exposed Limaye to contrasting systems, but one constant remains, the bond between rider and horse. With seven horses currently under his care, the day is as much about discipline off the track as it is about performance during competition.

"To be fair in Europe and in Bangalore there are two different ways of working over here. We do a lot of things on our own as well like cleaning their boxes or feeding them," Limaye explained. "Per day you can ride one horse for 1 hour, maximum, and I have seven horses at the moment that I'm riding over here.

"The rest of the time is feeding them or taking them to the paddock or your walkers or you know all these other things."

Building trust, one horse at a time

At the heart of equestrian sport lies a partnership that takes patience to cultivate. For Limaye, some of his strongest connections have come through years of shared experience, while newer partnerships continue to evolve with time.

"Out of which Billy Vidon who won the Asian championship has been the oldest one. So I have a better rapport with him," he said, referring to one of his competition horses. "And the newest one is Easy Turn which came to us 4 months ago but she had her first win in the last event... so I think the partnership is growing and we're getting to know each other more for sure."

That process of building familiarity is rarely rushed. Instead, it relies on observation, patience, and daily interaction.

"It's just spending more time with them and trying to understand them. So that's in general our sport to understand how they can perform the best at that given day," he noted.

Why unpredictability defines equestrian sport

Few disciplines test unpredictability quite like equestrian sport, where performance depends not just on physical execution but also emotional alignment between rider and horse.

Limaye believes that this uncertainty is precisely what makes the sport compelling to watch.

"Because there is a second individual which can't really talk to you or there's no form of real easy communication," he said. "There's always a big question mark... it's probably the most unpredictable sport that you can probably ever watch and I think that makes it special."

Even experienced riders must adapt constantly, as horses react differently to pressure, noise, and competitive environments.

"Every day is like a new day with them. They have all kinds of emotions. They also handle pressure differently... but every competition teaches you something about them that you can try to correct for the next show," he added.

Bridging the gap between Indian and European competition

Training internationally has also revealed structural differences between equestrian circuits in India and Europe, particularly in the level of competition available.

"Yes. So, basically, I would say the biggest difference is the competition that you're competing against," Limaye explained. "It's like... cricket in India is something like equestrian in Europe. They're more popular... you're competing against much more difficult competitors over here."

The lack of consistent high-level competition in India, he believes, can limit long-term progression.

"Whereas in India, you stagnate at one point because you're anyways good like after a point there's no other competition," he said.

To close that gap, Limaye has chosen to compete regularly against elite riders abroad.

"It's like let's say we start playing cricket in India and then you are playing against Dhoni or Virat Kohli every day that makes a difference already... you start trying to set your standards to theirs."

Learning patience from the horses themselves

Beyond competition, Limaye credits horses themselves with shaping his philosophy as a rider. Early in his career, one particular horse transformed his understanding of the sport.

"I would say a few years ago actually I had a mare in India... initially as a kid I was quite a strong rider but then she told me that you know it's not the way," he recalled. "So you have to respect them or you have to ask them in a nicer way and that actually gets you better results."

That shift from control to cooperation marked a turning point in his approach.

"I think Amora was the horse's name and she changed my way to look at the sport or dealing with them," he added.

Resetting after setbacks and chasing progress

Like any high-performance discipline, equestrian sport comes with setbacks - moments when rider and horse fall out of rhythm or results fail to materialise.

For Limaye, the response lies in persistence rather than frustration.

"I think that if you do well in the next show then it turns around till then you keep thinking about the bad day anyways," he said. "But in the end I think you have to just keep thinking about your mistakes and how you can change it... that's a way to look forward to it every time."

It is a philosophy built not just on ambition, but on reflection - one that mirrors the unpredictable nature of the sport itself.

And perhaps that uncertainty, as Limaye suggests, is exactly what makes equestrian one of the most fascinating arenas in modern sport.