Setareh (Star) Sadeghi, a 13-year-old Canadian residing in Dubai, has been racking up the ribbons in the United Arab Emirates since she dove into FEI competition in January of 2023. We caught up with the talented young rider at the Al Shira’aa Horse Show at the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Centre, where she had just won a pair of Children’s classes and placed second in another, to ask her about her Canadian connections, her horse, and her future plans.
Star and mom Andrea. (Angrea Agnew Facebook)
Star is trained by her mother, Andrea Agnew, a Canadian show jumper and EC coach originally from Prince George, BC, who moved to Dubai in 2005 for a temporary position – but life and love had other plans. She now coaches and works at Sustainable City Equestrian Club alongside her husband Farhang Sadeghi.
Star was born in Dubai and has been riding “seriously” for about five years. She already has nine wins in her young career, most coming aboard her spicy 17-year-old grey Westphalian mare Alesi. “She’s very sassy, but she’s a really good jumper; she’s really fast and really good turning,” says Star, who actually is most proud of her two sixth-place finishes at the 1.30m level in two international competitions. She has also won the prestigious FBMA (Fatima Bint Mubarak) International Show Jumping Cup twice. “I’ve been riding since I was young because both my parents ride.” Andrea and Farhang are often found in the ring themselves competing at the two- and three-star level.
It makes sense that her mom is Star’s coach, and has been for a long time. “She’s trained me since I was young,” says the teen. “She’s really good at coaching – she’s easy on me, but some coaches are really hard on you. She helps me a lot.” This approach seems to be working marvelously so far.
Star lists her competition highlights to date as “Definitely my first two one-thirties; I placed sixth in both of them. Alesi was really good in both of them. And winning FBMA two times, and [CSI3*] Fujairah was also amazing,” she says proudly. At the latter she had great results, including a win in very competitive, large classes.
And what does the future look like for this talented young equestrian? “I want to do well when I move to juniors, because there’s a lot of good junior riders. I want to compete and get more placings in the higher level. And I want to go to the Olympics one day!”
Anything else? “Maybe a new horse? We’ll have to leave that to my parents.” Take note, mom and dad!
Star in the prize-giving following her first 1.30m win at Fujairah. (Angrea Agnew Facebook)
