Story and photos by Maxby Chan
Horse racing is a tradition in Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara province of Indonesia. However, the riders are no ordinary jockeys. They are children aged 5 to 13 years of age. They race on bare horse backs without saddles. The Indonesian word for this tradition is “Main Jaram”. Photosafari organised a photosafari trip to Sumbawa, Indonesia to witness this event.
We visited the home of one of the child jockeys. His name is Ayup bin Nursaid. He stays in a kampong house near the racing track. He has been a jockey for five years. He trains every afternoon after school hours.
Training is tough, child jockeys started their training as young as five years old and by thirteen they are considered too old for racing. Ayup is already twelve year’s old and he has another year of competitive racing. He has won a lot of championships quipped his father.
We were then led to the race course together with Ayup and a few horses on trucks.