Business & Money | Wednesday 8 March, 2017 8:31 am |

The Kingdom’s advancement of women’s rights has given a female Saudi horse trainer hope that one day she might be able to realize her dream of starting her own business.

Dana Al-Gosaibi, 35, dreams of opening her own stables to focus on “a more gentle” way of training horses than the standard approach.

Change is under way, says Gosaibi, who returned to Saudi Arabia four years ago after more than a decade living abroad.

“I came back and I saw all these women” working as cashiers, in sales and in offices, Gosaibi says.

Since last year, a government plan for social and economic reforms has given more impetus to this trend.

The government wants more women in the workforce as part of the Vision 2030 plan to diversify the country’s oil-based economy, and is trying to expand sports opportunities for everyone.

Saudi Arabia last year appointed Princess Reema Bint Bandar to oversee women’s sports in the Kingdom.

She said last month that authorities would begin granting licenses for women-only gyms.

“Even (in) sport they’re really encouraging women, which is a very new thing,” Gosaibi says, taking heart that the change heralds a more favorable climate for starting her business training horses.

But the horse trainer, who learned her skills in Britain and the United States, says she has faced resistance — “especially with my approach” to the animals.

Horses have been central to Saudi life for centuries, and the Kingdom is famed for its strong desert-bred Arabians from which the racing thoroughbreds are descended.

The traditional way of training horses in Saudi Arabia requires “a lot of force” including spurs and whips, she says.

But Gosaibi prefers to take her time, observing the animal and learning to understand the way it thinks until she “becomes part of the horse’s herd”.

“You need to establish a certain relationship and understanding because the horse needs to trust you,” she says, whether you are preparing a horse for show jumping or rodeo.

If she were a man, her unorthodox approach would be taken more seriously, she feels.

Many Saudi women are now taking riding lessons, Gosaibi says.

Gosaibi keeps two horses at stables in Jeddah.

“Women are becoming stronger and they have a voice,” she says.