Farah Al Khojai is leading by example

Dubai: Sacrifice has never been alien to the UAE's star equestrienne Farah Al Khojai. However, it has not been a meaningless one as well. Spearheading a revolution in the name of making equestrianism a more valued sport in the country, Al Khojai has decided to continue what she does best — lead by example.

And for this the Sharjah-based jumper has set up camp well in advance to start her preparations for the Pan Arab Games scheduled in Qatar at the end of this year.

"The show must go on. After the Asian Games I knew that I had to continue with my training schedule, and since this could not be done at home [due to the summer] I decided to shift base to Germany instead," Al Khojai said in a candid talk with Gulf News.

Fresh target

Al Khojai became the UAE's first equestrienne to represent her country at an Asian Games when she came up with a creditable display on board her horse Dubai Duty Free Whisper in last year's continental competition in Guangzhou, China.

Encouraged by her results there, Al Khojai decided to give herself the opportunity of taking her sport to the next level by now targeting the Pan-Arab Games in Doha in December.

With this in mind, she has recently started an intense summer training schedule at the famed German stables, Hof Kasselmann. Her focus is simple and clear: get as much experience as possible by competing against the best dressage riders on the international stage in Europe, and put the same in practice at the regional competitions with the Pan-Arab Games as the epic.

"The Kasselmann family has been a vital part of my success to date. They have a reputation for training some of the world's most famous dressage stars. It is a true privilege to spend my summer training at Hof Kasselmann stables. I intend to stay here in Germany until September and fit in as many competitions as possible," she said.

"The objective is to ride as much as I can. I will participate in three competitions in the UAE and then follow this up with the FEI World Challenge in November before I fine tune my preparations for the Pan-Arab Games," Al Khojai related.

To aid her in this pursuit, Al Khojai has already added a second horse by acquiring Dubai Duty Free Matzuka Graffin (literally meaning ‘Polish Dance Countess') with an eye on the 2014 Asian Games to be held in Incheon, South Korea.

"Competitive dressage horses can only compete at the top level for a certain number of years, so I had to take a new horse as part of my future planning.

Right horse

"It was very important for me to make sure the horse is the right match and I think Dubai Duty Free Matzuka Graffin will be a worthy companion to me," Al Khojai said.

Though Dubai Duty Free have backed Al Khojai's pursuits since the past couple of years, the UAE dressage rider hopes she can get some more sponsors aboard. "Dressage is a very expensive sport to participate in at the higher levels and hence I am always looking for sponsors to help with the tremendous costs. My ultimate aim is to promote dressage in the region and hope to inspire other UAE riders," she added.

Al Khojai's progress can also be followed on her Facebook page www.facebook.com/f.alkhojai.