Kerala Police will teach the public to ride horses to keep young people off drugs

Want to learn horse riding from the police? In Kerala, that is about to become possible. Kerala Police will offer riding lessons to the public through its mounted police unit in Thiruvananthapuram, as part of an effort to keep young people away from drugs.

Thiruvananthapuram City Police Commissioner Arul B Krishna sent the proposal to the state Home Department, which has approved it. The scheme falls under Operation Toofan Care, the force's anti-drug initiative.

It starts small. As a pilot, the first batches will include relatives and acquaintances of police personnel. Two initial batches of 10 to 20 people each will train for 20 days. After the pilot is evaluated, admissions are planned to open to the general public.

The unit has 18 horses, bought and trained by the Indian Army. Until now, they were used only to train police personnel. Officials confirmed that public participants will pay a fee, which will be kept affordable compared with commercial equestrian clubs.