Five years ago, Andrea Agnew was coaching at Sunnybrook Stables and the Riding Academy at the Horse Palace in Toronto, Ontario. Today, when she looks out the window of her home, it is a much different vista that greets her.
“I saw an advertisement on an equestrian website looking for qualified coaches to teach at a riding school in Dubai, and I thought that it would be a good idea to miss the winter and go experience the Middle East,” explained Andrea. “I planned to come for only six months, but when I got here I started a relationship with an Iranian show jumper – whom I married last July – so now it looks like I’m here to stay!”
The 27-year-old, who originally hails from Prince George, BC, now works and coaches at Jebel Ali Equestrian Club, a riding school that her husband, Farhang Sadeghi, founded. “It’s a very friendly and informal stables, but also hectic, with nearly 1,000 students. I especially enjoy teaching my two ‘jumping teams.’ One team has six kids competing weekly at Emirates Equestrian Federation shows at the 1.05-metre to 1.10-metre level. The other team has four kids who do the unaffiliated shows and one-day events once in a while.” Two other former Toronto residents, Lebanese-Canadians Rafic and Aya Dalati, are her students at JEAC. “They share a horse and Rafic competes in the 1.05-metre level jumpers.”
A busy couple, Farhang also manages the Dubai Polo and Equestrian Club, an enormous club which opened in 2006 and now houses about 600 horses and provides its exclusive membership with everything from top-level polo to sumptuous restaurants and spas. The club recently hosted the Dubai Gold Cup, the first major polo tournament of its kind in the region, and the Al Saheel Horse Show, which ran concurrently.
Andrea still competes for Canada when time and opportunity allow. She explained the procedure by which she can represent her home country: “To compete in a CSI international competition here, you need a letter from your country’s equestrian federation giving permission for you to represent your country in that sport. After they get the letter, the federation here will invite you to compete in the show, after which you can enter.”
Andrea is currently developing some newly-acquired horses, since her regular 1.30-metre competition mount – a student’s horse – was sold last summer. “I have three mares: an ex-polo pony that loves to do cross-country, a five-year-old Westphalian that I got last year, and a 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood that I just got,” she said, adding, “My new horse has turned out to be amazing, so I am gearing up to do all of the international shows here next January.” At last year’s CSI*** Dubai Show Jumping Championship, Andrea and Farhang each had a single rail down, while this January Farhang won the Big Tour Puissance at the CSI International at the Sharjah Equestrian Club.
While the UAE has developed some outstanding show jumping facilities over the years, one has to wonder where you would take an ex-polo pony keen on tackling cross-country fences. “There are some lower-level one-day events now and again in Dubai,” said Andrea. “There used to be a really beautiful cross-country course at the Desert Palm Polo Club, but it hasn’t been used for the past couple of years, sadly. Now most of the events are held at the Emirates Equestrian Centre, where they have a course set out in the desert. My husband and I are trying to get something set up for next year at the Dubai Polo and Equestrian Club, as that location would be ideal for cross-country. They have some hills, lots of greenery, and of course, the big polo fields.”
Although Dubai is a long way from her friends and family, not to mention the snowy Canadian winters, Andrea is very content with her new self-professed “crazy life.” “I really love living in Dubai, as there is always something to fascinate me. It’s ever-changing. The mix of nationalities is amazing; with 209 nationalities living in one city, there’s always a new accent to decipher and new stories to hear.
“The weather is also a big bonus. Sometimes it’s silly hot, but most of the time it’s perfect and I do love the sun! I miss my friends and family in Canada a lot, though. This is such a transient place; everyone’s always coming or going, so it’s hard to make good friendships.”
They say you never know where you’ll end up: Andrea Agnew took a chance on a job in a distant land, met the man she would marry, and together they are embarking on a new life – and all because she wanted to avoid another Canadian winter!
