Taxi drivers swap cabs for horses in tent pegging show

A group of Birmingham taxi-drivers swapped their cabs for horseback and lances as they displayed the art of tent pegging at the English Heritage Festival of History last weekend (16-17 July).

The sport involves picking up a tiny white wooden peg from the ground with a seven-foot metal-tipped lance at the gallop.

Prince Malik’s Lancers was founded by Gulbahar Khan, originally from Kashmir but now a city cab driver living in Erdington, two years and a half years ago.

He started keeping horses here about 30 years ago before a team consisting of three other cabbies — his brother Gulzar Khan, Arshad Moheemd and Massart Abbas — was formed.

Alan Larsen, events consultant with English Heritage and a former lancer with the British Army display team, said: “These guys really are top tent peggers.

“They perform in the traditional manner over long distances at an un-sanitised flat-out gallop.

“Riding a variety of breeds, they line up and go like stink over a couple of hundred yards before picking the tiny wooden peg.

“When they perform it gives the Great British public a reminder of the imperial origins of this sport, and an exhilarating show.

“And, at the end of the day, these are the guys you would normally see driving your cab.”

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