Natalie Lankester is a professional dressage rider who will represent UAE in the Asian Games in September 2022. She's also having to face up to her husband's leukaemia diagnosis.
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00:00 [upbeat music]
00:02 [gentle music]
00:11 I was probably about three years old
00:12 when I first sat on my pony and had my first ride.
00:15 Once you've got that connection with the horse,
00:16 it stays inside you.
00:18 I did try a little bit of jumping
00:19 and a bit of cross country
00:20 and a bit of different avenues
00:22 before I really settled on dressage.
00:24 I love to be able to teach and develop
00:26 along with the horse.
00:28 I started competing probably around about the age of six
00:30 and then as I sort of grew older, it faded out.
00:33 I focused more on my schoolwork
00:35 and I moved here to Dubai back in 2010.
00:39 I wasn't initially in the horsey scene when I came here.
00:42 I was in lighting design.
00:44 It's always drawn me back.
00:46 I mean, I couldn't watch television and see a horse
00:48 and not feel something.
00:49 So I got my first horse here in Dubai.
00:52 He was an off the racetrack horse
00:54 and it was my mission to retrain him in dressage.
00:56 Yeah, he taught me a lot of lessons
00:57 but he got me into the sport here.
01:00 So I'm very thankful for that.
01:02 And then it was in 2015 that I met my husband.
01:05 He's a show jumper here
01:06 and he was actually on the UAE team
01:09 for the Asian Games in 2010
01:11 where he won a silver medal.
01:12 So I had big shoes to fill.
01:14 My first real competition horse here in Dubai,
01:16 she was a mare called Ali.
01:18 She taught me a lot.
01:19 She was my first advanced horse.
01:21 My first season here was a bit nerve wracking.
01:24 I hadn't really been in big competitions before.
01:27 Luckily I had Ali underneath me
01:29 and she held my hands and took me through it.
01:31 And she really gave me the confidence
01:33 to actually think I could do this.
01:34 I can actually make something of myself
01:36 and I can progress in the sport
01:37 and make it my career.
01:39 I was developing the horses.
01:40 I was developing myself.
01:41 I was training.
01:42 And then my husband was diagnosed with leukemia
01:45 and there was a very unknown prognosis long-term.
01:49 I didn't know if he was gonna be taken away from me.
01:51 I didn't know how long we had.
01:53 I didn't know anything.
01:54 I was thinking I need to regain my calmness
01:57 and I need to find my serenity in all of this
02:00 because I'm no good for him if I'm not good inside.
02:03 It was at that point really I think
02:05 I really, really started to appreciate
02:07 the relationship that I have with the horses.
02:09 They are able to connect with me in a way
02:12 and to really keep me grounded.
02:15 Rashid responded really well to his treatment.
02:18 So I actually quickly got back into competition mode
02:21 when I got my horse first dance DXB.
02:24 I thought right, this is my chance.
02:26 This is my chance to train from scratch
02:28 and I'm gonna take him all the way.
02:30 So we knuckled down and we trained hard.
02:32 He didn't lose a single competition since we started.
02:35 So I just secured my spot on the UAE team
02:38 for the Asian Games.
02:39 And I'm very, very honored and proud to call Dubai home.
02:43 I'm proud to be part of the development
02:45 of the dressage scene here.
02:46 And I hope that I can do something
02:48 and make everyone proud.
02:50 (gentle music)
02:53 (upbeat music)
02:56 [MUSIC PLAYING]