Shamsa Al Shamsi is a young Emirati mother-of-one. She loves endurance and finds her happiness in riding horses at Nad Al Sheba stables in Dubai.

“The endurance field is deep”, Shamsa tells us. “Like an ocean. You can’t learn it in one night. You have to be patient with the horses, and you need experience to do that.”

“We usually start our training at the end of August, to be ready for the season which is October to March. Then we travel abroad and participate in Europe.”

And how did Shamsa discover this is what made her happy?

“When I was nine,  I went galloping with my friends on the farm. I fell and I injured my leg. I had a phobia. Then one of my friends took me for breakfast and I saw a stable. My friend said ‘Shamsa, come on, try. Ride the horse’. I didn’t know the basics but from that day I broke the phobia and I started to qualify. I said why should I stop? This is my ambition [to be an endurance rider].”  

“Endurance in Dubai, with the support of Sheikh Mohammed, is top. Top one.”

Discover more about Shamsa in today’s Hi Dubai.