Posing at the Horse Racing Arena in Bukittinggi, 1911

Photo: Jean Demmeni/Universiteit Leiden

Horse racing is a type of game that has been popular since ancient times. This game is quite expensive and only a handful of people can participate. The rich people who participated did not race by themselves, rather they paid jockeys to race their horses. The prestige of owner of a racehorse who wins will increase, his horse can sell at a high price.

The photo above shows the horses and their jockeys and horse owners posing for the horse racing competition that started in Bukittinggi around 1911. This photo was taken by Jean Demmeni, a photographer of French-Madurese descent who lives in West Sumatra, and the file is kept by Leiden University in the Netherlands.