by Hoo Sze Yen

We UTM students are a really lucky bunch. We have the one facility that no other local university has, but few of us actually make use of it. In fact, some of you ungrateful lot even complain that the services offered are too expensive, when it is the cheapest in the whole country! This article is to clarify some of the misconceptions a lot of people have, as well as to provoke your interest and to make many of you realise what you have been missing all this while �

ABOUT THE CENTRE THE UTM EQUESTRIAN CENTRE is actually a private organisation that is not under the administration of the university. The horses don�t belong to the university, so that�s why they increased your course fees instead of selling one of the horses to compensate for the lack of funds.       Currently we have eight schoolhorses that can be used for lessons. We have several instructors here, almost all of whom are also UTM students. LOCATION FOR THOSE WHO HAVE YET to go beyond their college grounds or wander off more than their faculty location, it�s located off Kolej Tuanku Canselor, near the Navy (Palapes Laut) headquarters. It�s the one with a few fenced areas (known as paddocks) surrounding a cabin and a few open-air roofed structures, out of which you can see plenty of horses� heads sticking out. SERVICES THE UTM EQUESTRIAN CENTRE offers riding lessons, for which you can sign up in either of the following ways: � Extra-curricular subject (a.k.a. Ko-Q) In conjunction with the Ko-Q Centre, the UTM Equestrian Centre offers Equestrian as a subject you can take as one of the Ko-Q credits. Like other Ko-Q subjects, you�ll have to attend classes regularly every Wednesday and take quizzes and tests that constitute your grade. Unlike other Ko-Q subjects, however, you have to pay RM75 for it. The good news is, for every RM75 you pay, the university pays the centre RM75. The bad news is, you still have to fork out three quarters of a hundred. � Club member If you have already exhausted your Ko-Q credits, or you want to save your credits for other subjects, you can always opt to take separate lessons (one-to-one) instead. All you do is just pay a registration fee of RM15, and for every lesson you come for (about half an hour) you pay RM6. This fee is the cheapest you will ever find in your entire life, because the minimum other places charge is RM25 per hour. Unless, of course, you own a horse, so in a way, riding would be free �       For these lessons, you have to book the time and day at least two days beforehand. You can even choose your instructor, although the horse you use will be subject to availability and workability. There isn�t a set schedule for you so you come when YOU are free, but you are confined to time and days set by the centre. Riding lessons are available every day except Wednesdays (Ko-Q day) and Thursdays (holiday for the horses � hey, God gave us Sundays off. Horses need rest too.) in the mornings (between 8-10am) and evenings (between 4-7pm).       The difference between these two ways (other than the obvious getting a grade and quizzes and stuff) is that if you take it as a subject, you learn basic horse care but if you take separate lessons, there�s more concentration on practical. And admittedly, during Ko-Q you don�t really get to ride for very long because the ratio of horses to students is too overwhelming. One way to overcome this is to also go for separate lessons. If you�re taking it as a Ko-Q subject, you can skip the registration fee but you still have to cough up the RM6 payment.       To dispel your fears, you can�t fall off a horse. Well, you can, actually, but only in special cases. The horses here are tame and they won�t go berserk for no apparent reason. And anyway there will always be an instructor watching you who won�t let you do anything you can�t handle or allow anything to happen that will end in your body making contact with the ground unintentionally. Or at least nothing that will psychologically affect the horse.

Check out their homepage at http://utmequine.8m.com