A Horse called Cocktail !

The horse caught my eye as it was different! It was a young colt, with patches of roan and grey (white) all over. You don’t find such colour amongst the sport horses. You may find it harnessed to a chariot used in weddings but no, not on a show jumping course! The colt was in the practice area just adjacent to the show jumping arena in the Delhi Cantt, where a competition was on. It was one of those pleasant winter mornings in Delhi with mist still in air and golden sunshine washing over the rolling greens. Just beyond the arena, world war martyrs were resting peacefully in neat rows of graves in the commonwealth war cemetery.

More than once now, the young horse had refused to go over the practice jump much to the chagrin of the equally young rider who once again took the horse away, cantered along the boundary of the arena to prepare for another attempt. I could make out from the distance that the horse was pulling hard, trying to rush and the rider trying in vain to calm his ride as he himself bumped in the saddle trying to remain in control. I could make out that his stirrup leathers were too long and his reins were lose. He was in fact yet to master balanced, independent and coordinated aids – the prerequisites of a good rider. All this bumping led to unnecessary jerks on the bit in the mouth of the horse which must be painful and the horse was becoming irritated and frustrated with his novice rider who I had begun to suspect was not the real owner. Now the rider was again approaching the jump and the approach was not what I would have called steady and balanced. The horse threw his head left, then right and rushed towards the jump rather too fast. The rider lost nerve. It got transmitted to the horse who swerved left sharply at the last moment leaving the rider, we will call him Mr X now, hanging on to the reins, half thrown out of the saddle. At the same time the previous rider having completed his round, the commentator announced – “ Next on the course – Mr X astride Cocktail!

The rider having regained his seat (and I hoped wits) proceeded towards entry of the arena where all eyes in stands were turned now aroused by the name of the horse. A murmur of approval went up and the topis nodded approvingly in the sun at the sight of equine mix of the roan and grey entering the field. Mr X went straight to the jury box. Halted and saluted. Started a measured walk as the start bell rung. He goaded the horse to trot followed by left fore canter, halted, rein backed few steps and proceeded in right fore canter towards the first jump, a not too high vertical. As the horse crossed start line, my worse fears were coming true. The horse who was not comfortable since the practice jump had become more agitated in the arena and was now quite fed up with Mr X. I doubted if he was in a mood to tolerate the fumbling hands and rolling torso of Mr X for too long. The horse approached the jump and I could see hands of riders not yielding in time for the horse to stretch his neck. Still, Cocktail pulled against the bit, and finally stretched himself over the fence but Mr X could not keep pace and as a result came back with a thud in the saddle hurting the the colt. As the duo moved towards the next fence that was a fan jump, I knew what was going on in Cocktail’s mind. The horse didn’t show any sign of reluctance now but took off a bit early – from afar and as it landed, bucked strongly throwing unsuspecting Mr X flying cleanly out and over the horse! X rolled and was up like magic as the crowd rose and fell back to their chairs with a sigh of relief. However, all were in for a surprise as Cocktail, now free of his unfriendly sack of a load kicked the air twice with his hind legs and attacked the remaining fences with a vengeance.

The Roadblock, the Saddle, combination of parallels followed by wall were cleared effortlessly. The horse took a perfect detour and approached the highest jump, a vertical followed by bush jump, another combination of a vertical and parallel followed by a triple bar and flew over the last vertical to a thunderous applause. Cocktail had incurred no penalties, was the fastest and had done all jumps in sequence as if he could read the numbers! He was the clear winner if the rules permitted! “Everything is in the Name”! I exclaimed to my friend watching the horse with open mouth.

Old gentleman sitting next to us in elbow patched jacket and hat looked me in eye and said “ Son do you know it’s the drink that got the name from horse not vice versa”! “ I have no idea sir. Please enlighten me” requested I.

“OK – said he, the term – cocktailed, originally described a horse with a docked (or clipped – short) tail, and “cock – tailed” became a sort of pejorative for race horses without thoroughbred pedigrees that is – with mixed lineage. So, the term came to be applied to alcoholic drinks that were similarly blended rather than pure spirits”.

Umm. Beautiful Delhi winter morn, fantastic horse, exciting jumping and the beauty of etymology! What else can one wish for!!!

Vikas Thakur

Dr Vikas Thakur is a Veterinary Pathologist who has worked extensively all over India, especially in the Himalayan region. A keen observer and thinker, he is much interested in local history, societal issues , nature and anything that arouses curiosity. After spending 4 years in Kashmir, he came out with his experiences and understandings of this most interesting region in the form of a critically acclaimed book -‘Pax Kashmir’ this year. A native of Shimla, he is currently based in Chandigarh. Besides reading and writing, he likes to spend his time Riding and Golfing.

He is currently – Executive Committee Member, Equine Welfare and Medication Control, Equestrian Federation of India.