Muslim University Riding Club (MURC) established as M.A.O. College riding school is a 130 year old club of the Aligarh Muslim University. The players of the club have also featured in the London magazine in 1974. MURC is the only riding club in a university in India. It also has a strong 19 member riding squad. The club is open for both the sexes. The club also publishes an annual magazine 'Equestre'.

History

The club started when

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan Sir Syed Ahmad Khan KCSI (17 October 1817 – 27 March 1898; also Sayyid Ahmad Khan) was an Indian Muslim reformer, philosopher, and educationist in nineteenth-century British India. Though initially espousing Hindu-Muslim unity, he ...

asked some landlords to send their horses to the college, so that the students could learn the art of horsemanship. The proposal was accepted and horse riding started in 1889. Nawab Mohd. Ismail Khan Sherwani laid the foundation of the riding club, and also presented four horses. A formal riding school was founded in 1893, at the suggestion of

Theodore Morison Sir Theodore Morison (9 May 1863 – 14 February 1936) was a British educationalist who served as a Member of the Council of India and Director of the University of London Institute in Paris. He is best known as an interpreter of Muslim life ...

. Rs 5 was charged from each student and Rs 3 who brought their own horses at the start of the riding school. Naseeruddin Haider was the Captain in the early 1940s. N R Madhavan Menon was also the captain. Few notable Presidents of the club are Rajeev Sharma and Iqbal Ghani Khan.

Awards and recognition

The riding team won twenty nine medals in the Great Ghaziabad Horse Show "Penta Grand 2012" and Delhi Horse Show 2012 organized by Army Polo and Riding Club.

References

External links

Official website of Aligarh Muslim University
{{Aligarh Muslim University Clubs and societies of the Aligarh Muslim University 1893 establishments in India Sports clubs and teams established in 1893