From the very first time she sat on a horse, Yasmine Abdallat knew it was something she wanted to do for the rest of her life. She begged her parents to let her go on a trail ride in Southern California’s San Dimas, and fate took hold. “That was how I fell in love with horses. I was 11 years old, and the trail ride was an hour long,” she says with a laugh. “After that, I knew I just had to ride.”

Once that auspicious trail ride was finished, Abdallat never let the idea of riding horses fall from her mind. Her parents, AJ and Janet, recognized her passion and gave her riding lessons as a Christmas present. Abdallat started learning at Elvenstar Farm in February of 1996, and “it grew from there,” she explains. “I rode a pony and learned how to steer. I had no idea! After I took lessons for a while, I rode in my first little schooling show for summer camp, where we just flatted around. I was hooked.”
Abdallat, a 22-year-old student at Moorpark College, hails from Thousand Oaks and is one of five children in the family, but the only one involved with horses. “We know nothing about horses but have gotten involved through Yasmine’s enthusiasm for the sport,” says her father, AJ, an Amman, Jordan native. “We fully support her.”
Abdallat now rides with Karen Healey and is fast becoming a dedicated student of the discipline of show jumping. “I had watched her for years,” Healey remembers. “When she started riding with me, we dropped her back a division and concentrated on the basics. She is a great student and has really worked hard on developing a feel for the horse and how the jumpers are supposed to feel.”
“With Karen, we work a lot on just basics. She really emphasizes that it is correct and accurate flat work that prepares us for jumping. Good flatting sets up for good jumping, and bad flatting does the opposite,” Abdallat notes.

Team Harmony
One of the reasons that Abdallat is able to compete regularly in the jumper divisions is through the support of Team Harmony, a group of riders that is sponsored by Her Royal Highness Princess Haya Bint al Hussein of Jordan.
Princess Haya asked Abdallat to join Team Harmony in March of 2005. Team Harmony was originally the name chosen by His Majesty, the late King Hussein of Jordan (Princess Haya’s father) for the “international string of horses that would tour and compete with HRH Princess Haya in pursuit of her Olympic ambition.” Princess Haya was the first Arab woman to compete in equestrian sport at a world championship level, and she represented her country at the 2000 Olympics and the 2002 World Equestrian Games. Princess Haya wanted Team Harmony to continue to aid equestrians.
Abdallat is the only North American rider that is sponsored by Team Harmony. “I met HRH Princess Haya through the Royal Jordanian Equestrian Federation,” Abdallat recollects. “I’m very, very lucky to be involved with Team Harmony. Words can’t describe what Team Harmony means to me. It still hasn’t quite sunk in that I am a part of it. It’s such an honor to be a part of something so special.”
In the Amateur Owner jumpers, Abdallat currently shows Team Harmony’s More Glory and Team Harmony’s Rainbow. More Glory, known around the barn as Hamilton, is a 12 year old Dutch Warmblood gelding. The Abdallats found the grandson of Nimmerdor in Holland six years ago, and they have worked their way up from the Low Children’s Hunter classes to the High Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumpers. Rainbow is a 12 year old Belgian Warmblood whose grandsire is Lucky Boy. Rainbow was a 6 year old young jumper champion in Europe and won at the grand prix level. Abdallat has ridden him for a year and hopes to move up to grand prix classes in the upcoming year.
Just weeks ago, the Abdallats traveled to Europe with Healey to find a new mount that will hopefully partner with Abdallat in the bigger jumper divisions and international competition. Lady Lou, a 12 year old German Warmblood mare, is a horse that Abdallat hopes to show in the High Amateur-Owner Jumper classes and the grand prix classes in California. “Yasmine is a great competitor. She really wants to win and learn how to do things correctly,” Healey expresses. “She’s extremely dedicated. In the long-term plans, I want her to be able to legitimately represent her country in the Pan-Arab Games and eventually the Olympic Games.”
For Abdallat, it is hard to believe that when she took that first trail ride in the park, it would lead to a lifetime of horses and the opportunity to represent her country in international competition. “My goal for this year is to show at the Pan-Arab Games in Cairo, Egypt, this September. I have dual citizenship with the United States and Jordan, but I will represent Jordan for the team and hopefully show as an individual,” she explains. “I want to eventually go to Europe and show with the other riders of Team Harmony. That would be an experience of a lifetime.”