Female focus

INCREASING female freedoms across the Middle East, including in more conservative Saudi Arabia, where “attitudes towards women have changed so much,” according to Ahmed Sharbatly, means women provide the most promising target market for dressage.

It could be down to what Diana Al Shaer terms “the Arab mentality” that still directs many men towards the more conventionally adrenaline-inducing sports of showjumping and racing, but certainly several of the more prominent Middle Eastern dressage riders so far have been female. They include Diana and Wejdan Al Malki (pictured, with Mango Jacaro at CHI Al Shaqab), as well as Jordan’s Shayne Allise Steyteyieh, who grew up in the USA and is now based at Campline in Portugal, preparing to make her international grand prix debut with an eye on the Paris Olympics. Then there is Iran’s Litta Soheila Sohi, who forged a career at top level for a number of years while based in the UK, before retiring in 2019.

But it’s important not to underestimate the challenges that remain for Middle Eastern women keen to make a career out of sport, especially in Muslim countries.

Wejdan believes that gender disparity has been a significant obstacle to her dressage career, particularly since the death of her father in 2020.

“My dad was always the one who believed in me and supported me, even though he faced a lot of criticism in Qatar, particularly when I was younger, for letting his daughter ride and sending me to Europe to ride,” she says.

“It still goes against cultural norms, and it’s challenging for my family and the community to understand why I, as an unmarried Qatari woman, would leave my home, my family and my job to pursue a self-funded dressage career.

“The Gulf region is still incredibly male dominated, and having a male voice behind me in Qatar was almost critical to my success. I miss my father hugely.”