UAE: Meet the woman whose horseback salute to Sheikh Mohamed captured hearts
The 32-year-old Emirati Fatima Al Ameri — who was bullied for riding differently and had to retire from the sport in her first few lessons — recently won the hearts of the world by standing on her horse to wave to the UAE president Sheikh Mohamed. This was during the UAE’s March of the Union – an energetic show of nationalism on the 53rd National Day – in Al Wathba, Abu Dhabi.
Remembering her experience, Fatima told me: "I had a horse story after Covid year. I needed a new thing to do and then I got into riding horses". She started it as a hobby, but her commitment only increased when she got stuck. "Every time I had a bad ride, I was motivated to do better.
Even through the bullying at first, Fatima’s strength did not fade. "I nearly quit my job, but I was too driven to quit. So I trained, put in a lot of time and effort". She paid for it when she was able to attend the Union March and salute Sheikh Mohamed, whom she says is her "master and father". This shook her enough to name her "Emirates Equestrian".
Keeping her riding life and working life on the same page, Fatima added: Horse riding is just a hobby for me, but I’m trying to find a balance between work, socialising and riding.
She had been dreaming about doing the salute. ‘My coach saw I had a passion and said let’s participate in the 53rd Union March, when I was training for show skills,’ she said.
Sheikh Zayed bin Hamad Al Nahyan and Humaid Al Neyadi were also grateful to Fatima, which aided her in her preparation to sing before the President. "At the end of the show I had so much pride and joy in giving an outstanding performance."
In addition to horse riding, Fatima has taken a big leap forward in camel racing and broke barriers for other women. I started camel riding last year and that’s all I found out," she told me. She joined a camel riding school in Dubai, even though she wasn’t comfortable with the crowds, and was one of the first students at their new branch in Abu Dhabi.
"I have always wanted to ride camels, it started last year. I saw marathons on TV and thought to give it a go after a social media post," Fatima said. Considering that camel racing was a special ability, she stressed the need for training. "You have to have heart, guts, and stick it out." So I would highly recommend to get your hands dirty with it in phases and get mentored by good coaches.
Fatima’s effort has already got her to four races, one of which is a global competition at Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Festival in Taif, where she became the first Emirati woman to run. "All of this, by God’s grace, comes. ‘For me to do it is an incentive itself,’ she said. ‘It’s important that the mount succeeds and that’s 80 per cent of what happens,’ she said of camel racing, with the jockey being the other 20 per cent.
Even if she starts off skeptical, Fatima marshals her platform to push Emirati women to take up camel riding. "I always encouraged girls to go camel riding in social media and I’m happy when they do it for me," she said. Fatima’s future is looking promising as women may be allowed to compete in camel racing more so since Sheikh Sultan bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Camel Racing Federation recently proclaimed a race for women jockeys to be launched. "I want to see more Emirati women riding camels," she concluded – speaking to her drive to break stereotypes in both horse and pony disciplines.
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