Feature: Horse riding gaining popularity among girls in Upper Egypt

Source: Xinhua| 2021-08-11 19:50:02|Editor: huaxia
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by Marwa Yahya

QENA, Egypt, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Black Horse School, the first of its kind in Upper Egypt to teach females horse riding, has been gaining popularity among local girls.

In the past 20 years, many sports clubs and academies opened special schools for training females on equestrian in Cairo, as well as the coastal and Delta cities, while Upper Egypt did not have an encouraging environment for girls to learn horse riding, due to conservative notions held by many in the southern provinces, Dutch coach Tamara Youhan said.

The 39-year-old horse-riding trainer said there has also been misleading information that "horses and bicycles will harm females' health."

She explained that the Black Horse School, established in 2019, has succeeded in changing stereotypes and encouraging girls to engage in sports, especially equestrian.

"At the beginning, girls were not encouraged to learn equestrian because of their families' rejection," Youhan said, but when photos of females riding horses in Qena Sports Club, where the school is stationed, went viral on social media in May 2020, many girls were enthusiastic to participate.

The school provides eight sessions per month, divided into two hours weekly, for 600 Egyptian pounds (nearly 38 U.S. dollars), according to Kareem Talha, a 55-year-old man who founded the school.

"I adore horses since I was very young and I had the dream of launching the school for a long time, and my project was finally welcomed by the authorities of Qena to raise awareness of girls about a new sport," he said.

He started his school with 13 Arab and Dutch horses and a private coach for each to ensure the safety of the animals and the trainees, but he hopes to open more branches in all provinces of Upper Egypt cities like Luxor and Aswan.

"In the first months, only four girls registered for training," Talha said, adding that after almost two years of the inauguration, 110 girls of different ages have joined the school.

Talha explained that he started to use social media to promote his project, giving online lectures about the importance of that sport and speaking with the parents who visit Qena Sports Club.

"The school is an out-of-box idea for my community," said Merit Adel, a 26-year-old woman, adding that she owned a new life experience with excitement by taking such classes.

Besides its sports role, the school is also a step to empower women in Upper Egypt to combat outdated mindsets, Adel said.

"My family completely opposed the idea, citing that sport as shameful," she said. "But, when my father saw the photos of the girls wearing decent clothes on horses and with a female trainer, he changed his mind."

Meanwhile, Salama Salah, a 19-year-old university student, said it took her three months to persuade her family who worried a lot about her wearing tight clothes and dealing with an animal.

However, when she joined the classes, her eyes were opened to a new amazing world. "I love my horse like a friend," she said. Enditem

KEY WORDS: Egypt,Horse riding
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