The first thing you notice about 30-year-old Fatima Al Harthi is her smile. It lights up her face. And she smiles quite a lot when she talks about her love of horses and her passion for endurance riding. The second thing you notice about Fatima? Her drive. As one of the first female professional endurance riders to represent the UAE, she has doggedly honed her craft since the tender age of 16. Today top endurance horse owners in the region turn to this Emirati native to ride their most challenging steeds.
It’s no wonder then that Canon Middle East recently tapped Fatima as one of its 2022 Trailblazer honorees, alongside two other groundbreaking individuals, Dubai-based Swiss watchmaker Maximilian Büsser and interior designer Laila Al Yousuf. “It was really such a happy moment when I found out about it,” admits Fatima. “Also I liked that they picked me because they thought I could inspire other women,” she adds.
Initially, Fatima saw horseback riding as a hobby. She tried dressage and jumping, but it was only when someone suggested going on a 40km endurance ride that she finally found her true calling. “It taught me how to be patient. It taught me how to listen, and it taught me how to communicate without speaking, using my body language to speak to the horse,” says Fatima with a wide grin.
Endurance riding is not for the faint of heart. Fatima trains three or four times a week to maintain her skill level. It is a sport that requires each equestrian to be fully in sync with their horse as they take on rides that can stretch as long as 160km at a time. Each race is a delicate balancing act of stamina and safety against the challenges not only of the terrain and climate but – just as unforgiving – the clock. Push a horse too hard and too fast, they run out of gas before they cross the finish line. Hold back too long and it is the clock that pulls victory from a rider’s grasp.
Fatima, whose love for riding was first sparked when she watched her beloved uncle gallop when she was a child, now has two goals when it comes to her career as an endurance rider. First, to help the next generation of riders, including a handful of women, take their place as future champions of the sport. And second, to hopefully one day compete at the Olympics if the discipline ever becomes an official event.
“I would work so hard to make it,” she says. “As an Emirati woman, it would mean everything to me to represent my country.”
This article originally appeared in Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s May 2022 issue.