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National Inclusion Week: Salwa Tebai from the Urban Equestrian Academy on what inclusion means

Friday, 29 September 2023

As part of our National Inclusion Week activities, we’ve been talking with some of the names championing inclusion within the equestrian community. Salwa Tebai is a part of the team at Urban Equestrian Academy and completed her Level 1 teaching certificate as part of British Equestrian’s Equi-Youth programme and now has her sights set on studying towards her Level 2. Salwa is working to bring horses to new participants in the ethnically diverse community of Leicester.

We caught up with Salwa to find more about what inclusion looks like to her…

In terms of equestrianism, what does inclusion mean to you?

It means to have more people from a minority ethnicity included, which is not really the case at the moment. We can’t really accept others. Khadijah Mellah was an icon for the kids, when they saw her, they were like ‘I want to be like her.’ So, she opened doors for other girls. Simply, it’s more people like us.

Why is inclusion important?

It’s important because it makes you feel part of everyone else, like you’re just like everyone else, they don’t make you feel apart or not wanted or because you’re not behaving in certain ways, because of your difference basically, and I think this should not be the case.

Is that about being comfortable being you?

Yes, 100%. But if there is no inclusion, you cannot be yourself and that creates frustration and leads to other problems like isolation. It’s a group sport, so we have to be together and share our experiences to be able to progress.

What do you tell the young people you coach about inclusion in equestrianism?

I say, ‘Just stick to who you are and don’t be ashamed of where you come from. You have to be proud of what you are, it’s not because you are different that means you are not like everyone. I would say, ‘It’s difficult, so you have to be brave and strong and never lose yourself. Be proud of what you are.’

What would you say to people who haven’t come from the same cultural background as you?

I want them to be aware, it’s not an easy field they are going into and they have to be prepared to be confronted - just be strong and probably people will like your difference, because what you’re saying doesn’t affect me because I know who I am and where I am from so it’s not a problem and I’m prepared for it.

Why do we need to be ore inclusive in equestrian sport?

It’s important because there is no specific sport for specific people - sport is for everyone. You don’t have to come from a certain space of the world or class, it’s ok, you can be from wherever you are from and participate and be taking part in this sport. So, this is why it is so important, otherwise, it would be like everybody knows - ‘equestrianism is for rich people.’ No, the horse is not for rich people, the horse is for everyone. You have to be rich to participate in horse riding or showjumping or anything like that, it’s difficult because I think it’s too closed. It’s a very closed sport, they just have to be more open to be able to offer this to everyone.

How would more representation improve equestrianism?

First of all, that’s where we reflect, ‘Oh, it’s not that closed. It can be accessible.’ We can open the doors for other people to be able to join this and, again, it would maybe break this stigma. It will take time, I’m aware of that, but people will understand, ‘It’s ok to have different people do different kinds of sport.’ You don’t have to be very privileged to do this.

In five or ten years, what do you hope equestrianism will look like?

I hope in five years, but probably more like ten, it will take more than this amount of time to make the change, to change the type and probably with people like you [British Equestrian] doing this [promoting inclusion] that will help a lot to start slowly, but we will build the path.

We were at Burghley Horse Trials a few weeks ago and taking onboard everything we said and moving forward, I hope in ten years’ time it will be more inclusive than when we went two weeks ago. We were counting how many people like us were there. One of my friends was saying, ‘If you look properly, they all look the same.’ And it’s true, they all look the same, like one … We’re different.