CHITRAL: The horses of all nine players of Chitral polo team, taking part in the polo gala of the Horse and Cattle Show in Lahore, contracted a “mysterious disease” ahead of their first match, with two of them dying within hours of the disease attack.

Team captain Shahzada Sikandarul Mulk told Dawn over telephone here on Tuesday that the horses suddenly suffered from disease, likened to diarrhea, many hours before the first match with Gilgit-Baltistan team. Two of them perished immediately.

He regretted the loss of horses at a “critical time” and said his team had to play with six players instead of nine, but it still managed to win the match.

“Postmortem has been performed on horses but we’ve yet to receive its report to find out the disease,” he said.

Mr Mulk said the sick horses were being treated at a veterinary hospital.

He expressed grief over the death of his most cherished horse, nicknamed Silver, which had won him the Shandur Cup for five times consecutively after nerve-wracking matches with Gilgit-Baltistan.

“Before the matches began, the horses were acclimatised in Lahore for many days, so the change of altitude doesn’t appear to be an issue for them,” he said.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2025