I’ve had several horses over the years and I love riding. The photo shows me in India at a intensive horse riding training camp. One of the optional skills they teach is tent pegging. It is not for everyone or for the faint hearted.

For starters these horses are trained to go hard and fast from the get-go. So I am travelling pretty fast in this shot and I am carrying a lance and holding the reigns with the other. The aim of the exercise is to pick up some wooden chocks – tent pegs – with the lance. The tent pegs are poking out of the dirt.

First you have to get the lance in the hole and then you have to lift it out of the ground. The time frame is a nano-second.

If you manage to get the tent peg the lance must NOT come upwards but cycle under and backwards behind you, otherwise you risk ripping your arm from its socket and serious injury.

I was VERY lucky because I got the peg! And I managed to rotate the lance backwards. I cannot describe the thrill. I swear the horse was as delighted as I was because it pranced a prance afterwards. I cannot describe how bonded I felt with this magnificent animal. Look at how relaxed and centered this beast is at 60kms!

It might seem frivolous but this is not a frivolous activity. It is exhilarating and exhausting all in a heartbeat.

I think this is the thrill that a lot of chefs miss. I was lucky because when I did my apprenticeship I trained under European chefs and they were hard taskmasters. They were exacting and high pressure mentors. We worked flat-strap in a busy kitchen! And I was drilled and drilled and drilled and pushed and tested.