He dreams of breeding a Sri Lankan horse. Not all that surprising considering that Palitha Samarakoon’s association with horses goes way back over 40 years. He received his first pony for his eighth birthday when his father was a Government servant in Bibile and recalls with a twinkle in his eye how he rode bare-back with the village boys.
At the age of 18, Palitha walked with a pony from Passara to Kandy, the journey taking all of 2 ½ days. “I bought this mare which was about four years old from the Passara butcher for Rs.125 and wanted to take it to Kandy. I was more concerned about the pony as she was pregnant than about my safety and comfort,” Palitha recalls. He made the journey, a distance of 105 miles with only Rs. 10 in his pocket!
On another such walk in 1964, Palitha walked from Puttalam to Kandy in three days with his ‘horse buddy’ Sirimevan Senanayake through the elephant-infested jungles of Nikaweratiya and Anamaduwa, all to get a mare from Puttalam MP Naina Marikkar.
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| Palitha with Sandy’s Queen |
Such adventures may be in the past, but Palitha’s interest in horses has not waned. “During my stay in Kalawewa, I wanted to own a horse as there was excellent riding territory. After the disappearance of Upali Wijewardena, I came to know that his valuable stock of horses might be given to a good home and went with Rohan Dissanayake, Gamini’s brother to meet Dr. Sivali Ratwatte, Upali’s father-in-law. We had a long chat and he was impressed with my ‘horse sense’. I only requested one horse but he offered me the whole stable of two valuable English thoroughbreds, ‘King of Zulu’ and ‘Cornwall Garden’ along with 10 other cross-breds.”
Palitha recalls how ecstatic he was. But when the initial excitement had died down, the huge financial commitment it would involve dawned on him.
“Rohan and I immediately went to see Gamini Dissanayake. When I told him of my financial difficulties, he came up with the idea of an equine breeding programme under the Mahaweli Forestry Division which I was in charge of at that time. The horses could be used in patrolling forests as even motorcycles could not travel to some areas. Thereby we could introduce an equine culture. The surplus for the local market would help make horses popular here as they are in India and Pakistan.”
This was how Palitha began his first horse breeding programme with 12 excellent horses and cross-breds from the Upali stables. They were all mares. “Breeding being my intention, a stallion had to be located. Mr. Dissanayake who always supported me was to go to Pakistan and I asked him to look for a stallion there. I never thought he would take my request seriously! Two days later to my great surprise I received a fax: ‘Horses ready. Prepare quarantine’,” Palitha smiles.
Palitha left for Islamabad with Chris de Saram, Chairman of the Mahaweli Livestock Division only to find both animals were mares! “These thoroughbreds were in the Rawalpindi military base and were a gift from the Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan to Mr. Dissanayake who was the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board.”
Palitha made the week-long journey with the mares by boat from Karachchi. One mare was pregnant and later, a colt ‘Amurath’ was born.
Through Sirimevan he heard of a British thorough-bred called Sydney in the Police stables. This was a horse retired from the Singapore Turf Club gifted to the Sri Lanka Police. Sixteen hands tall, it was a pure grey. Crossed to Upali’s favourite mare Amal, a colt by the name of Prince of Zulu was born.
Palitha pursued his goal, importing a pair of horses Rustem and Sarah from Australia, but Rustem was shot dead in its stables in Kundasale in 1988 by insurgents.
With the insurrection, Palitha left the Mahaweli and soon after, the horses were handed over to the Police. Thus ended a breeding plan that took off with little capital expenditure.
If the breeding programme continued, today we may have had over 100 fine horses, he says with some regret. “The entire time frame for this project was only four years!”
Palitha now does his own equinine breeding in Kandy and owns 15 very good cross-bred mares whom he hopes to breed soon off Arabian semen.
“If India and Pakistan can do localised breeding, I wondered why we in Sri Lanka cannot,” he asks. “I am now onto my fourth generation of breeding with studs changed every season.”
Having visited many ranches in the US where priceless Arabians are bred, Palitha hopes to introduce these Arabian blood lines to Sri Lanka to develop a very resistant, easy to manage horse. Together with Dr. Basil Alexander and Dr. Dammika Perera of the Veterinary Faculty of Peradeniya, the project is well on the way. |
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