Most civilians could not afford to own horses in the period following
India's independence, and equestrian sports were primarily practiced by
Indian Army officers. The Army re-established several major horse shows across the country that had been halted during
World War II. In 1950s, the Army began seeking opportunities to send riders to compete at international events. However, all international competitions were conducted by the
Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI) which required participating riders to be sent by national federations. As India did not have such a federation, the Army established the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) in 1967. General
P.P. Kumaramangalam, Major General R.K.R. Balasubramanian, and several senior army officers are credited with setting up the EFI. The Federation held its first meeting on 14 March 1967 and officially proclaimed "the birth of the national Equestrian Federation of India" and defined its objectives. One of the EFI's urgent tasks was to "promote equine breeding and care and management of equines" as the
Partition of India had resulted in the loss of
West Punjab, the best horse breeding territory in
British India, to
Pakistan. The EFI played an important role in establishing the
Asian Equestrian Federation in 1978. The EFI convinced both Indian government officials and FEI to introduce equestrian events at the
1982 Asian Games which were to be hosted in India. Keen to develop equestrian sports in the country, FEI Secretary General Fritz O. Widmer agreed to the request and asked the EFI to host
show jumping,
eventing, and
dressage competitions at the 1982 Asian Games. The EFI agreed to hold the show jumping and eventing competitions but stated that it did not have enough experience to host the dressage competition. Instead, the EFI proposed a new event called
tent pegging and drafted rules for the competition which was approved by FEI. Equestrian sports (show jumping, eventing and tent pegging) were included for the first time at the 1982 Asian Games. ==References==