Horse racing in Ghodepani to be held on November 17

 

MYAGDI, Oct 21: A horse racing competition will be held at Ghodepani, a tourist spot in Myagdi, to attract domestic and foreign tourists.

The competition will be held on November 17th in collaboration with Ghodepani horse traders and toll improvement committee, mother group, tourism management committee and other local associations. Ghodepani in Annapurna rural municipality-6 is a major tourist destination of the Annapurna cycle path.

Chairman of the committee, Viren Garbujapun, informed that horse racing competition is going to be organized with the aim of promoting tourism. It is believed that the horse racing competition will also be another attraction for the tourists who come to watch the sunrise, mountains, hill topography and forest from Poon hill and Ghodepani.

Horses have been reared in Ghodepani to transport goods, travel and carry tourists. There is also a relationship between horses and horses. In ancient times, Ghodepani was on the way to get salt from Bhot, pilgrimage to Damodar Kund and to and fro from Chinese to Indian market.

There is also a legend that the name Ghodepani has been preserved because Batuwa used to feed the horses in Ghodepani, which is about 2,800 meters above sea level. Earlier, horse racing competitions were held in the month of Baisakh.

A horse racing competition is being organized on the occasion of Ghode Jatra festival in Ghandruk of Kaski, a neighbor of Ghodepani. Garbuja, chairman of the toll reform committee, said that since the two places are next to each other, it is going to be done in Ghodepani from this year on Sharad Yam.

From Ghodepani to Ghopte khark in Ward No. 5 of Annapurna Rural Municipality, a distance of seven kilometers and five hundred meters has been decided to run horses. The competition, which was scheduled to be held on the 4th of this year, was postponed to 13 days after it was seen that it would take time to manage and repair the construction materials and equipment placed on the road.

The winners of the first, second and third place in the competition will be awarded with trophies, medals and certificates and cash prizes of Rs 51,000, 31,000 and 21,000 respectively. The registration fee for the participants has been set at Rs 3,000 per person. The organizer will arrange the feed for the participating horses.