Mohamed Elgayar

Egyptian showjumper and coach talks passion for the sport.

Mohamed Elgayar has been riding since childhood and made a permanent shift to becoming a professional rider and coach at the age of 29. He is based in Cairo and competes at CSI2* Grand Prix level. Hugely self-made, Mohamed trains alone most of the time but has an abundance of knowledge, which he passes down to his students. Mohamed has a strong reputation for producing top competitors in Egypt.

Equine Support International put us in touch with Mohamed, and he shares his story and passion with us in this international issue.

Tell us about your riding background and how you got to where you are today.

I have been around horses since I was four years old and my passion for horses started then. My father was a police officer in the police cavalry; I used to go with him to ride in the riding school there. From the age of 11, I started to focus more on showjumping. I won the Egyptian Juniors League Championship when I was 16 years old. To ride in the police cavalry was a very good opportunity to ride different kinds of horses and to gain lots of experience.

When I started as a professional rider and coach, I think I used a lot of that experience. I also started to read more and develop myself by following courses such as the FEI coaching course level two.

I made most of my riding successes after I started coaching. Coaching gave me insights into the horse and rider, and the dynamics between them. It’s like a continuous circle: coaching improves my riding and riding improves my coaching.