Horse master and commander Ali Al Ameri

Ali Al Ameri doesn’t believe in raising his voice. Especially when it comes to his life’s obsession: horses. You would think his mellifluous slightly raspy tone would be the ideal one to soothe sore equine ears, especially after watching Hollywood star Robert Redford work wonders with bucking broncos in hit-film The Horse Whisperer. But not Ali. “You can’t really speak to a horse,” he scoffs. “You just teach him some cues. Words don’t mean anything to them. You could say ‘Go’ and the horse might come to you because it doesn’t understand the word, just that it is a command.

Have you ever seen a horse having a conversation with another? We don’t believe in whispering, that’s the biggest lie!” So, how then does this Emirati ‘horse master’, best known for his problem-solving and starting techniques for horses, work his magic? “Body language,” is the succinct reply. Ali should know. He’s worked his magic on horses in the UK, France, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. In Australia, he even managed to tame a herd of brumbies (wild horses) that had not had any close contact with humans at all.

Out in the corralled open area at his Rahal Ranch, some 45 kilometres from
Abu Dhabi near the Al Wathba camel race track, Ali demonstrates his magic. The horses, all sleek, well fed and frisky, run loose. Ali steps in and their heads turn to him, even while they are bounding around, expending their pent-up energy in the blistering hot summer afternoon. Ali makes no obvious moves, but it’s instantly apparent that they follow his eye contact and body language. They run, turn, rear, stop and even play dead at his mostly silent commands.

He sometimes raises the long cane he holds in his right hand and they do what he wants like clockwork. They show no signs of intimidation, rather they keep nuzzling him, like children seeking approval. They even follow strangers on his command. For this particular skill Ali’s very much in demand in the entertainment industry. He was one of the main trainers on the Walt Disney production of The Young Black Stallion, does stunts along with his sons for movies, and to crown it all had his horse Taiyab walk up to the royal box to bow to His Highness Shaikh Mohammad BinRashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, at the Dubai World Cup in 2008 and 2009.

Lessons from horses

So how does he do it? Easily, according to Ali, who claims there are no problem horses, only problem people. “If I stand to the back of his shoulder it’s a signal for him to go faster, if I stand in front of his shoulder it means go slower,” reveals Ali. “If I move forward it means stop.” And the horses do his bidding without a saddle or a bridle. “You can never know everything there is to know about horses,” cautions Ali. “I am a student of horses. They teach me every day.

Today a horse arrived and he lies down if you touch him. I’ve never had a problem like that before. I have to work out how to ‘fix’ him. You can’t saddle him, he kicks you. He has to be given sedatives to calm down.” Ali says he’s ‘cured’ thousands of horses so far, some of them ‘killers’. “I have another one here that bucks people off, I am going to fix him tomorrow,” he says.

The he laughs wryly. “Hopefully. You see, there is no method. One plus one doesn’t make two in this case. I have to work around them to find what the problem is.” But it doesn’t take weeks or months. “I fix the horse on the same day they bring it here,” says Ali. “I usually take about 45 minutes to an hour.

It has to work for the owner, not just for me. If it’s not cured, they don’t pay. That’s
the deal. It’s guaranteed and since it’s fixed so quickly, if it is racing, the horse can still be in training, so the owner does not lose any money. Horses with starting-gate problems have gone straight to the starting gate after my treatment. Kickers, biters, you name it, we fix it.” For Ali preparing horses for the movies – for actors who are not familiar with them – is also all in a day’s work. “I prepare them to ‘act’ in movies too,” he says. “They will just follow and obey instructions without any hassles.

How do I do it? I’ve no idea!” Ali has spent his entire life close to animals, but he doesn’t know his real age. “I think it’s 47,” he grins. “When I was born in the desert, there were no hospitals or doctors, nobody to record births. So we just go by what we are told!” What he does know is horses. “I’ve been working with horses since 1982,” he says. “I used to ride camels as a child. We are Bedouins and I grew up in the desert with camels, that’s how I learnt to know animals. I used to ride them, fix problem camels even then. We kids would be given jobs all day, not just allowed to play.

We had to look after our camels and goats.” Ali was introduced to horses through a friend who worked at the Abu Dhabi Royal Guard stables. “I used to visit him and see the horses there. Amazing animals! That’s how I started. I didn’t need any riding lessons, just jumped on a horse straightaway!” Ali eventually worked with the Royal Guards for four years. “Then I worked at the President’s stables for 12 years,” he says. “I used to buy and train a lot of horses for the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan from 1993 till 1999.

I would buy problem horses cheap and cure them, and get them to race. Usually problem horses are the good ones, and they used to win. I’ve had ex-racehorses that I’ve fixed, and they have gone on to win again.”

International clients

Ali has not looked back since, travelling all over the world to rehabilitate horses. “This Friday I am travelling to Newmarket, England,” he says. He’s just been back a few days from a trip to Germany. “When the call comes I have to go.” While he’s away the ranch is in the capable hands of his British wife, Tracey, who’s been in the UAE for the past 23 years. Tracey, an accomplished horsewoman in her own right, came out here to manage the riding school at a hotel which has subsequently closed down.

Ali used to frequent the gym there and the love of horses brought them together. Tracey was to move on to Australia, but instead chose to marry Ali and settle down. They’ve now been married 20 years. They both rode in the Texas rodeo, which came to Abu Dhabi at the end of 1989, where Ali earned the nickname the ‘Abu Dhabi cowboy.’

Tracey and Ali have a son Sultan, 22, who grew up with horses and is already famous as a trick rider along with his half-brother Suhail from Ali’s previous marriage. Tracey has put her showjumping career behind her and now seeks to create awareness about horses’ needs. “What we are trying to get across to people is to be more aware of a horse’s needs,” she says. “Horses have a tendency to excite strange passions in people… [Owning or riding a horse] sometimes tends to go to their heads, inflate their ego, make them feel very important, and horses suffer for that.

“We are trying to get people to understand horses, rather than intimidate and bully them, use and abuse them. Most of the time they don’t even realise it. They can own horses all their lives and not realise it. They are very proud of their horses alright, but not enough.” Tracey says there’s a lot of misunderstanding of horses’ needs. “Horses are herd animals, meant to graze and wander around.

They have their emotional needs too. Putting horses in a stable 24 hours a day is not conducive [to meeting their needs] at all. We put them in stables for our convenience, with cooling systems and fans, but that is not their natural habitat. Horses need to be out, communicating with each other.”

Think like a horse

Tracey agrees with her husband that there is no such thing as a problem horse. “A horse is fed too much, has too much energy, and then people think it is crazy,” she says, explaining, “It’s not, it just has too much energy to stand still in the box. That’s how anger and frustration builds up, and it leads to bullying of horses. I see it all the time. “When you see a horse being loaded on to a trailer, see how many people it takes to get the horse in. Six to ten people standing around shouting and intimidating the horse.

It’s not required at all. Would a horse want to go into a tiny tin box? No. So you have to prepare him for it, give it plenty of time, so that he is willing to go in. You can’t do it in ten minutes. That’s why most horses balk. Slow down and think like a horse, and you can get them to do anything.” At Rahal Ranch, Ali and Tracey offer horsemanship lessons to those who want to learn how to communicate with horses through understanding rather than force, fear and intimidation. Lessons include grooming, tacking up, ground work and riding.

“I have people come in here, wanting to learn to ride horses, and I tell them you
are not riding them till you learn to communicate with them,” says Tracey firmly. “They probably know to ride their way, but they have to learn to ride my way. So, I have to teach them first. Some people come from Dubai which is quite a long way. The first lesson is probably the worst, when they don’t know what’s happening. But when they come back, it’s different. By the third lesson you can see a big smile on their faces.

The ones who fall by the wayside never make it, because of their attitude. The horses tell me who they are. If you are willing to change, you can. And you can watch the horse change with them. It’s fascinating.” A testimonial from Julie Simpkin from the UK says it all: “It was fantastic to watch how a horse and human can bond and be so totally at ease with each other as when Tracey proceeded to work with her horse. From that time on, I was hooked. I have been going to the ranch for six months now, and cannot believe how my confidence has grown with my horse partner Sharaki.

For the first time in my life I am riding bareback without a bit, using signals to move a horse instead of shoving and pulling. Tracey is amazing and has taught me such a lot.” Tracey rescues every horse she can and tries to teach people that is not necessary to pull or hit the horse. “We are supposed to be the most intelligent, and still we expect the horse to understand us,” says Tracey. “It’s about time we started to understand them.” All of Tracey’s own horses were problem horses and their ex-owners can’t believe their eyes when they see her riding their ‘problem horse’ bridle-less and bareback.

“We have 42 horses here now, and most of them are ours, that’s why we live the way we do,” pointing to the comparatively small house they live in on the ranch. “I personally ride a lot without the saddle. My passion is riding my horses with no saddle, no bridle. I love that. I’ve been doing that for two years now since I got to the point where the horses got used to it. It takes a lot of preparation. Your communication with your horse has to be good enough.”

Like father, like son

When it comes to communicating with horses, Ali and now Sultan have cornered the market. “It’s like when you buy an appliance it comes with an instruction booklet that tells you how to operate it,” explains Ali. “When I run my hands across a horse, it tells me what to do, and I do it. He tells me what needs to be done to fix his problem. It’s purely body language, and I am always two steps ahead of the horse. We human beings act and we lie, but horses don’t. That’s how we subjugate them. We are not stronger, but we are smarter.

That’s how we win. But if you read him right you win, if not he does.” Sultan has already imbibed Ali’s to watch him play with them. All of them are old friends he grew up with and even before he approaches their stalls enquiring heads thrust out and begin nuzzling him.

If there is anything at all to rival Sultan’s love for horses, it is music. He’s the lead guitarist in an alternative rock band called Daisy Grim. They are about to cut a disc, but Sultan says Rahal Ranch is where his heart is. understanding of horses, and it’s fascinating ‘It’s my everything’ Ali smiles when he hears that. “It’s my life, it’s my everything,” he says softly, his hand sweeping out, encompassing the ranch.

“Without horses I wouldn’t survive. But its more than that. They mean more to me
than my children, because children can tell me what they want, what bothers them. Horses can’t do that, their communication, even with me, is limited. Look at my horses, they all look well, not skinny, not itchy, I spend a lot of money on them, possibly more than I spend on my children! In fact I spend more money than I make, because it’s my whole life, I live here with them, not in my villa in the city, which I could if I wanted to.

Most of my horses are retired, they don’t do anything. We just feed them and look
after them until they die.” He looks around a moment and says with feeling, “I am very happy doing this. Tomorrow even if I was offered a minister’s post I wouldn’t take it up.”