Equestrian PH Brings The Best In Horsemanship And Equine Care In The Philippines
Equestrian PH is a passion project reared out of a deep love for the sport andâmost importantlyâfor the country
Carissa Coscolluela has a lifelong love for horses. She owns three of them: Fab, Waiducci, and Watsonâall dressage horses, and all lovingly and meticulously cared for by Carissa, herself a dressage rider. âAs youâre involved in the sport, you see it grow, you see its highs and lows, you see the tides that the sport goes through,â she says. âYou get to know the sport very well.â
This knowledge, passion, and love for the sport has prompted Carissa to found Equestrian PH, an equestrian services company, along with Toni Leviste, Joker Arroyo, Marivi Camcam, and Anton Barrettoâall established personalities in their own right and all sharing a love and dedication to horsemanship. âEveryone is sort of in-charge of one thing,â Carissa tells Metro.Style. âThey bring their own expertise to the table.â
Itâs not unknown, after all, that the Philippines isnât really part of the mainstream when it comes to the sport. âThe center of equestrian universe is really in Western Europe,â says Carissa. âBelgium, Germany, the Netherlands. Horses are in their culture as a people. Everyoneâs got a horse or a pony in their backyard. Thatâs not the case here.â Since the Philippines is on the other side of the globe, the riders here may not always have the resources they need readily available.
âYouâre not going to have 5,000 people every year who are taking veterinary studies for horses here. Youâre not going to have 30 blacksmiths who know how to shoe a horse,â Carissa says. âBut those are what you need for the sport.â Individually and on their own, Carissa and company have been helping facilitate the needs and resources of local riders through the contacts that the team of Equestrian PH have made in their years as riders and equestrians.
Carissa explains, âLetâs say Toni knows a good farrier from Belgium. Weâll get people together here who need to have their horses looked at and bring that vet so that the cost is not too heavy on just one person. If I know a dressage trainer from abroad, then weâll put together a group here and have a clinic by that person.â
Just like in any other sport, there are a lot of factors that need to be taken into consideration to ensure that someone becomes successful in it. The most important of all is to champion the sport and help it develop well in the country in order to establish a good support system to equip athletes with the necessary training that will make them competitive internationally.
âThere are certain components that need to be there. You realize that you need training, you need good horses, and you need to take care of those horses. Theyâre not motorcycles, theyâre not cars that you just start and itâs gonna be fine tomorrow morning. These are living, breathing, thinking beings and you have to take care of them so that they perform to the best of their ability and they do the job that they need to do,â Carissa shares.
Last year, they finally decided to formalize all their efforts and founded Equestrian PH. The organization has made it its mission to promote excellence in equestrian disciplines and horsemanship, organizing and participating in activities, clinics, and competitions both locally and abroad. The organization also prioritizes equine care, and is supervised by some of the top veterinarians in the sporthorse industry. Carissa, while talking about what sheâs proudest of about the organization, lists her colleaguesâ achievementsâall of which she knows like the back of her hand.
âThe riders who take part in our activities are the most successfully riders today,â she says, proudly. âWe have many SEA Games medalists. We have many riders who win at Grand Prix competitions. Toni, in 2007, won the Grand Prix of Samorin. She has two individual SEA Games medals. Manila, 2005. Jakarta, 2011.â She goes on to list the achievements of Joker and Nicole (Camcam, daughter of Marivi. She is 14 years old, has been riding since she was 9, and is currently one of the most successful young riders in the Philippines today).
Equestrian PH is a passion project reared out of deep love for the sport andâmost importantlyâfor the country. Carissa emphasizes the importance of competing for the Philippines, a notion she hopes to instill in all the riders, whether young or old. And thatâs another thing Carissa wants to highlight: âYou donât have to start riding when youâre young.â She cites Anton Barretto, interior stylist, host of Metro Home on Metro Channel, and Director of Communications of Equestrian PH, as a prime example. âAnton got interested in the sport some time in 2014. Heâs a professional, heâs an interior designer, he has a TV show on Metro Channel, and he found interest in the sport,â Carissa says.
âWe cultivated Antonâs interest. Just because youâre busy, doesnât mean that you canât do it,â she adds. âAnton found himself in Denmark for four weeks at a time just to train. Weâd like to develop athletes that way, young riders and older, amateur riders alike.â
For those who are interested in riding, but are perhaps a little too hesitant to try, Carissa has some calming, convincing words. âThere is a way to get involved in the sport to get started,â she says. âThere is no way an instructor is going to put you on a horse you canât manage. An instructor is going to look at your age, your physical capability, your height, your size. Normally youâll get put on a very, very quiet horse whoâs not going to do anything scary. Safety is number one. We want to make sure that riders will feel safe when they start riding because when theyâre not safe, theyâre not going to want to come back for the next lesson.â
Carissaâs hope is that more people enter the sport, whether professionally or leisurely. âYou need to develop interest in the sport, otherwise the sport will die,â she says. As president of Equestrian PH, seeing people grow and succeed in the sport is still one of the most priceless moments. âAnd especially when itâs for the country, when theyâre riding for our flag,â Carissa adds. âThereâs no greater honor for a rider than to compete for his or her country and even more to win. When we see that the things we have done have contributed to the success of a riderâhorse combination, then Iâm very happy and Iâm very proud.â
At the end of September, Equestrian PH will be staging the inauguralEquestrian Philippines Riders Tour, a showjumping competition which will feature a Nationsâ Cup (team competition) between Philippine and Malaysian teams. It will be held in Manila Polo Club on September 29, 2019.
âWhat we want to do, besides honing the riding abilities of our own riders is to instill a sense of team and a sense of country in our up-and-coming riders,â says Carissa. âAn exercise like this will do both: they'll learn to ride competitively and as a team. Itâs not only your score that matters for yourself, youâre looking for a contribution to a team score. Youâre riding for a team, other people are relying on you. Youâre responsible for your teamâs score and at the same time youâre also riding with pride and honor for your country and winning for your country. I think thatâs very important for our young riders today.â
For a lifelong lover of horses like Carissa, there is perhaps nothing better than two glorious, beautiful things: first, riding for the Philippine flag, and second, tryingâand succeedingâat catching a feeling with a horse. âHorses are very complicated,â she says. âBut when you finally feel in complete harmony with the horse, when their doing the movements that youâre asking for, then thatâs an amazing feeling. For a jumping rider, it might be finding the perfect stride to a jump,â she says, the words sounding almost like poetry.