Horses, Healing and the Wisdom of Experience

A conversation with Subhadra Cherukuri of Miracle EquineCenter, Bengaluru

Introduction. Subhadra Cherukuri’s journey has taken her from corporate management consulting to a life centred on horses, animals and human well-being. The founder of Miracle Equine Center in Bengaluru, she works with children and adults through therapeutic riding and equine-assisted activities. In this conversation, we discuss her early association with horses, the making of the centre, and the practical knowledge she has gained as a horsewoman. I also bring in questions from my study of the Aśvaśāstra tradition—the Sanskrit literature concerned with horses, their characteristics, care and training.

Growing up with horses and wildlife in Hyderabad

How did your association with horse riding begin?

My father was a rider. Although he could not join the army because of his eyesight, my grandfather was in the army, as were several of my uncles and aunts. There was considerable exposure to horses in the family, and my father introduced us to riding when I was about ten.

I grew up in Hyderabad, where there were riding facilities such as the Army Riding School and the AP Riding Club. Hyderabad still retained much of its old Nawabi character, and horse culture was visible in the city. I continued riding through school and college.

You have also spoken about your interest in wildlife and nature. Where did that come from?

That interest came largely from my mother, Asha Charukuri. She worked with Doordarshan throughout her career and was actively involved in making wildlife documentaries during the 1980s and 1990s. She often took us along when she went on shoots, so we had opportunities to experience wildlife and the natural world at close quarters.

An injury, a break from riding and a change of direction

Did you continue riding after moving to Bengaluru?

After moving to Bengaluru, I had to take a break because of a knee injury that eventually required surgery. I was 21 at the time. The injury may have been connected to something I had done while riding a few days earlier, but I also fell while climbing a wall. I was apprehensive about surgery and stayed away from riding for almost ten years, although I did ride occasionally whenever I had the opportunity.

How did you move from corporate consulting back to horses?

I spent many years in the corporate sector as a management consultant, including working with EY. By the time I was around 35 or 36, I was experiencing burnout and had begun to feel certain that I did not want to spend my entire working life in the corporate world. I wanted to return to animals and nature.

I had been training dogs for years, mostly my own dogs and those belonging to friends. My daughter’s school in Bengaluru asked me to help train two dogs as therapy dogs. Through that experience, I came across therapeutic riding and equine-assisted therapy. I had heard of therapy dogs, but I knew very little about the work that could be done with horses.

Around the same time, a riding school where my daughter had begun lessons had children with special needs who had been referred by doctors. The school was equipped for ordinary riding lessons but did not know how to work with these children through horses. I offered to help, and the experience made me realise that this was the work I wanted to pursue.

Building Miracle Equine Center

How did the idea become a centre of your own?

I began working towards becoming a therapeutic riding instructor. After about two years, I left my corporate job and established Miracle Equine Center alongside Wagville, a dog boarding and training centre. Both ventures began towards the end of 2018. I started them on my own, investing my life savings.

Where did you receive your training?

At the time, there was very little formal training of this kind available in India. I pursued certifications through PATH International and EAHAE—the European Association for Horse Assisted Education. The pandemic meant that much of the learning had to be done remotely. The certifications generally take at least a year. When I travelled in Europe, I also visited therapeutic riding centres and equine-assisted learning centres, where I gained some hands-on experience.

I continued learning by volunteering with schools for children with special needs and by listening to the parents of the children I worked with. Practical experience and an understanding of each individual are essential in this field.

Working with children through therapeutic riding

What kinds of needs can therapeutic riding address?

We work with individuals with a range of needs, including autism, ADHD, cerebral palsy and Down syndrome. The challenges are different for every person, even among people with the same diagnosis, so each programme has to be designed individually.

Therapeutic riding is not simply about teaching someone to ride. Some children may never ride independently. They may sit on a horse while it is led at a walk and take part in activities designed around particular goals. These might include placing cones on poles, putting balls into baskets or doing exercises that help develop balance. Activities can also be adapted for individuals who experience sensory overload or have sensory-processing challenges.

The movement of the horse can provide sensory and physical input even when the person is simply seated on the horse as it walks. Where balance, cognition or speech are areas of difficulty, we devise activities that may help address those challenges directly or indirectly.

What riding can offer adults

Does riding have benefits for adults who do not need therapeutic support?

Riding is not an activity performed by the horse alone. The rider’s whole body is involved in managing the horse and guiding it from one point to another. In movements such as the rising trot, trotting and cantering, the rider engages many muscle groups. From a physical perspective, riding can provide cardiovascular exercise and help develop core strength and general strength.

Subhadra also spoke about the experience of being close to an animal and the effect this may have on mood. She associated this with vagal nerve stimulation and changes in chemicals such as serotonin and cortisol. These comments reflect her perspective from practice, rather than a conclusion established by this interview.

Choosing a horse: temperament, health and gait

When you select horses for the centre, what qualities matter most?

Our requirements are different from those of a racing stable or a school focused on competitive sport. We need horses with a calm, workable temperament and stable behaviour. The children and adults who come to the centre have different needs. Some may talk continuously; others may become distressed or have a meltdown during a session. The horse must be able to remain steady in such situations.

Health is equally important. We try to understand the horse’s medical history, including previous injuries, recurring illnesses and any known susceptibility to particular conditions. We speak to the owners and, wherever possible, to the veterinarians who have treated the horse.

We also watch the horse walk to assess its gait. If the gait is not suitable, the horse may not be appropriate for our work. When a person is seated on a horse, the horse’s movement is transmitted through the rider’s body. Subhadra explained that this is particularly relevant to therapeutic work with people who have cerebral palsy or spinal and other physical challenges. The movement of the horse can help support physical work with the rider.

The Aśvaśāstra, coat colour and whorls

Traditional Aśvaśāstra texts give considerable attention to coat colour and whorls. Do these features influence your choice of a horse?

Subhadra observed that animals have often been selectively bred for particular characteristics. In some breeds, coat colour may therefore be relevant to the purpose for which the animal was bred. She mentioned the white horse commonly referred to as a 'Nukra' and noted that white horses may have been bred for ceremonial purposes. She also suggested that a completely white animal could raise questions about albinism and associated health issues, such as hearing or vision problems. These observations should not be taken to mean that every white horse is albino.

From a practical point of view, a white horse may require more grooming because dirt is more visible. Subhadra also offered the view that, in the Indian climate, lighter-coloured horses may be less prone to heat stroke than darker ones. She did not, however, regard coat colour as a reliable guide to behaviour. For her, the horse’s individual temperament matters far more.

What about whorls, sometimes discussed through the idea of “whorlology”?

Subhadra described the study of whorls as an old area of interest that has at times been dismissed as superstition. She referred to more recent research that, in her view, may suggest a connection between the formation of whorls and the nervous system. At the same time, she stressed that there is not enough research to establish that whorls can determine an animal’s temperament. She regarded it as an open question, somewhere between established science and pseudoscience.

This is an especially interesting point of contact with the Aśvaśāstra tradition. The texts record detailed observations about the external features of horses. The challenge today is to examine such descriptions carefully and ask which observations have practical value, which remain untested, and which may belong to the realm of inherited belief.

White hooves: a traditional warning reconsidered

Some traditional manuals treat white hooves as undesirable. Do you share that concern?

Subhadra did not consider white hooves inherently problematic. Some breeds naturally have white hooves without any apparent difficulty. She suggested that an injury may be easier to notice against a white hoof, which could make it easier to monitor. In her experience, hoof colour alone is not a sufficient reason to reject a horse.

This exchange raised an important question for my own research: when a traditional manual repeatedly warns against a particular feature, does that warning reflect accumulated practical experience, a regional preference, or a belief that became established through repetition? Contemporary practitioners can help us frame such questions, even when they cannot settle them on their own.

Foals and early conditioning

How do you begin working with a young horse?

The approach is different when a foal is born at the centre. In that case, conditioning can begin from the very beginning. Because the horses at Miracle Equine Center work around children and many different people, it is important for them to become comfortable with human touch and human presence. Children can be noisy, and the horse needs to be accustomed to a range of sounds and situations.

Subhadra explained that foals born at the centre are exposed to people from the time they are born. She began to emphasise the importance of the first four hours after birth, but the supplied recording transcript ends at that point. I have therefore not attempted to complete or interpret the rest of her explanation.

Bringing texts and living practice into conversation

This conversation brought together two kinds of knowledge that I am interested in exploring: the practical experience of a horsewoman working today, and the traditional Indian literature on horses, particularly the Aśvaśāstra texts. The comparison is not always straightforward. A practice described in an old text and a similar practice followed today may represent continuity, but it may also be a case of two generations of practitioners arriving independently at a similar conclusion.

For me, the value of such conversations lies in the questions they open up. Which observations in the texts remain useful? Which need to be tested against contemporary knowledge? Where do modern practitioners agree with traditional descriptions, and where do they challenge them? The aim is neither to accept every statement in an old text uncritically nor to dismiss it as a relic of the past. It is to read carefully, ask questions and learn from the encounter.

The interview can be found here:

A note on health claims: During the conversation, Subhadra described therapeutic riding in terms of vagal nerve stimulation and its possible effects on mood and other bodily processes. These are her explanations as a practitioner; the specific physiological and therapeutic claims would need to be considered against clinical research and should not be read as medical advice.