Only woman rider in an all-male unit

CHENNAI: To the rest of her squadron, she is Prospector Dream, roll number CHS 6. But to constable P Suganya, the 12-year-old is ‘rajathi’, her little princess.

Suganya, the only active woman member of the

Mounted Police

, was assigned Prospector in 2011, and since then the horse has become her ‘chellam’ (precious one), with the two spending more than six hours a day patrolling the Marina.

Constable P Suganya, the only active woman member of the Mounted Police spends more than six hours a day patrolling the Marina

Together, says Suganya, the two-woman team of horse and constable make for a formidable team. "When I get off my horse and approach miscreants, they don’t take me seriously. When I’m on my horse, it’s a different story," says Suganya. On one occasion, when she stopped a person who was racing through the car park, he got so scared seeing the horse that he abandoned the car. "Later, we found out that he was a car thief," she says.

Mounted Police

Suganya says at the beach women and children feel most comfortable with a woman officer. "Women approach me about men who are harassing them," says Suganya.

In 2011, there were five women in the mounted police branch, which has now dwindled to two (the other constable

Jasmine

is currently off beach duty for medical reasons).

The two-woman team of horse and constable make for a formidable team.

"Prospector puts up with so much nonsense at the beach," says the 29-year-old constable, explaining that drunks slap the horse as they walk past, though she chases them down and gives them a warning. Also, she adds, in the summer months, Prospector feels tired and gets a nosebleed, for which she dabs her head with a rag soaked in cold water.

Mounted Police

At the end of a hard day’s work, Suganya makes sure she doesn’t leave for home without pampering her rajathi. First comes a bucket of water to drink, an oats mix with a generous helping of glucose to prevent dehydration, a little spa session with a coconut oil massage and bath, a little shampoo to condition her luxurious mane, then a little downtime in a special airconditioned stable, before she is tucked in for the night in her own stable, a curtain of water-soaked vetriver grass to keep Prospector’s room cool at night. And sometimes, when Suganya has extra time, she plaits the horse’s mane. "She looks like a princess," she says.

Can she imagine a day without Prospector? My parents can, laughs Suganya, because they don’t like me running around on a horse all day. "But me, no. I love horses too much."

At the beach women and children feel most comfortable with a woman officer


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