About SARJ

A love of horses became our life. Today we share it with you.

The story

A horseman and a poet.

SARJ began with a horseman and a poet. Fahd met horses as a boy and has spent his life since learning what a horse asks of a person. Marwa first came to know him through his poems, written in his years away from Egypt. Letters followed, then marriage, then life in Abu Dhabi, then six years in Dahab with a café and a stable. When they came home to Cairo, the horses came with them.

In 2023 they were certified in Horse Guided Empowerment, and SARJ opened. SARJ is the Arabic word for saddle, the piece between horse and rider that makes their partnership possible. Today SARJ lives at a barn outside Cairo, with its herd, two wooden rest houses, and a growing circle of people who come to work beside the horses.

What we believe

Truth

Horses respond to what is real in a person. We meet people the same way, as they truly are.

Autonomy

Each person chooses how far to go and what to take home. We prepare the place, and the step is yours.

Companionship

We walk beside people, the way a herd moves together.

Service

What we received from the horses, from our heritage and from life, we pass on.

Spiritual grounding

Our work rests on faith, and on trust in something larger than ourselves.

The dignity of the horse

Horses take part by choice, and every horse keeps its place in the herd for life.

The meaning is yours

A horse raises a question. The answer, and what it means, belong to you.

The practice

Horse Guided Empowerment

Horse Guided Empowerment is ground work with horses, on foot, with no riding. Horses live by reading the bodies and intentions around them, so they respond to what a person carries more than to what they say. In a session the horse is a partner and a mirror. Its response raises a question, and you find your own answer, with the facilitators beside you. SARJ's facilitators are certified in Horse Guided Empowerment® and practise it in SARJ's own way, rooted in natural horsemanship and in the Arab and Islamic heritage of the horse. Whatever a horse shows you, the meaning is yours.

The barn and the herd

A barn outside Cairo, two rest houses, a paddock, and the herd.

The horses are part of the SARJ team. Each has a name, a history and its own way of meeting people. When age or injury means a horse can no longer work, it keeps its place in the herd, because what a horse gives was never only its strength.

The barn is in Orabi Agricultural City, outside Cairo. Visits are by booking, and your confirmation includes the location pin and directions.

A barn outside Cairo, two rest houses, a paddock, and the herd.

Sultana

Where the story begins

Our first horse, in Dahab. She carried our early days, taught Fahd through long silent conversations, and took us from loving horses to living with them.