Riding Horses in Arabia

A  lthough there are many things that women cannot do here in Saudi Arabia, horseback riding is not one of them. Private equestrian centers are places where women are free to take off their abayas and uncover their hair. I would imagine that this is not something that most Saudi women take advantage of because there are men workers all around, but it is more an activity that Western women and their children might likely do. Actually there is a passage in the Q'uran that specifically directs Muslims to teach children how to swim, shoot a bow and arrow, and ride a horse. Whether or not all Muslims follow this directive is unclear. A couple of days ago, my son Adam took his first horseback riding lesson at an equestrian ranch not far from our home. Amidst all the frenzied development taking place here in Jeddah, there remain pockets of desert and relatively underdeveloped areas. Our district of the city is a fast paced growth area, but not too far from where we live are vast desert expanses. We veered off the freeway exit through a stretch of winding road lined with hundreds of junk yards containing wrecked cars.

We arrived at the privately owned Trio Ranch at 8:30am while the temperatures were still quite comfortable. It was established in 1989 by an Italian businesswoman and caters mostly to young people. The 22-hectare sports complex is a large dusty facility which doesn't offer much shade, but has a comfortable clubhouse serving refreshments, several arenas where horses are trained and lessons are conducted, plus facilities for other sports including golf and tennis. Trio Ranch is fully staffed. All in all, there had to be at least fifty well cared for horses. There is even a swimming pool for the horses when the temperatures get too hot that the horses walk down into to cool off.

The ranch offers annual memberships which allow for reduced rate riding lessons. An annual membership is 1000 riyals ($250 US) which brings the rate for a half hour group lesson down to as low as 55 riyals (which is less than $13 US). Non-members are charged 150 riyals for a private lesson (less than $40 US). If you just want to ride a pony without any instruction, you can do that too.

Adam hadn't really ever ridden a horse before, and I must say, he was a natural. Just watching him riding around the arena, he looked like he had been doing it for years. I could see by the big smile on his face that he was thoroughly enjoying himself. But even though he's in pretty good shape from playing rugby, he's been complaining about how sore his back and thighs are from riding for the past couple of days. We're going to have to get Adam some riding boots and proper pants too.

There are several other places in Jeddah where people can ride horses. From what I've read, a large equestrian center is being constructed in a more central location of the city. Who knows, maybe one of these days, I'll even try it myself!