Having ridden for four years, I was now eight, and my enthusiasm for horses was increasing exponentially. Jane Teague, my mom, tossed and turned all night after I announced at dinner that I had decided to be a riding instructor. She had no problems with my ambitions to become an instructor, but she knew that this would only lead to me needing to put more time and energy into the field and the people who were teaching me.

 

By morning, she decided that my current role model’s in the equestrian world were not the people she wanted me to learn to emulate as I spent countless hours training to accomplish my dreams. We went on a search to find the perfect place and quickly stumbled across Pam and Galal at El Gezira Riding Academy. After meeting them, we realized that these two people were the answer to our many prayers. Pam and Galal had diligently built up a school that not only taught you how to ride, but also instilled in you great horsemanship, character, responsibility, generosity, and a selfless love for the animals and people of the El Gezira community and the world we live in. We signed me up for my first summer camp immediately.

 

By age eleven, I was one of the first official “Barn Rats” to help run the barns and the camps, and by age fourteen, they had taken me under their wings and I was training horses and teaching lessons and truly happier than I had ever been before as I watched my dreams come true. We had found my home away from home and to this day, twenty-four years later, I still look up to Pam and Galal not only as wonderful teachers but also as my second family. I will always love you guys, and I will be forever indebted to the love that you poured back into me and the young woman I have become because of your devotion to the sport and especially to me.

PS You wouldn’t believe how many times over the years and to this day that Islipped up and accidentally called Ms. Pam, Mom. And if you knew how much I love my mom, you would see that this is the greatest compliment I could give someone.