KLANG: Pupils and teachers of SJK(C) Pandamaran A ushered in the Year of the Horse with thundering gusto as they welcomed five horses as special guests to their school.
Besides having the horses as a symbolic gesture to usher in a year associated with strength, energy and perseverance, it was also to create memories to last the next 12 years before the Year of the Horse gallops in again.
School board of trustees’ chairman Datuk Seri Teh Meng Huat said the pupils were excited to see the horses.
“We allowed Year Four, Five and Six pupils to go for horse rides under the watchful eyes of the handlers.
“We did not allow the younger pupils to do the same as we did not want to risk anything untoward happening.”
Teh added that a total of 480 pupils attended the event on Friday, which also included a calligraphy competition and a Chinese New Year-themed singing and dancing performance.
“There was also a dragon dance performance to make the event merrier,” said Teh, adding that the five horses and their handlers spent three hours at the school.
He said the school always believed in creating long-lasting memories for the pupils as they ushered in the Lunar New Year every year.
Last year, the pupils painstakingly created a snake formation outlining the digits 2025 to usher in the Year of the Snake.
Teh said the school had also always made the effort to bring in live animals to usher in the Chinese New Year yearly before Covid-19 hit the nation in 2020.
“Before 2020, we had done the same to welcome the years of the goat, ox and rooster.”
Teh said to usher in the Year of the Monkey, pupils were taken to Kuala Selangor to see and sketch monkeys there.
The Chinese zodiac assigns one of 12 animals to each Lunar New Year. The animals are the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.
