Word around the paddock is that Sohair Mansour has officially arrived, and she isn’t just here to blend into the background. At only 18, she’s already making waves, and the tack room is absolutely buzzing with opinions. Can we talk about her gear for a second? Complete minimalism. No sparkly browbands, no bright saddle pads, just high-end, matte black everything. It’s a total vibe, but the traditionalists in the main aisle are already calling her "pretentious." 

Have you seen her lessons with the head trainer? It is pure tension. Sohair is 18, so she’s right at that age where she thinks she knows everything, and she’s not afraid to question the distances he's calling out. Last Tuesday, she flat-out refused to take an inside turn during a gridwork exercise because she thought the ground was too slick for her horse's hocks. The trainer looked like his head was going to explode, but honestly? The horse did slip a little in the corner earlier. She might actually have the instincts to back up the attitude. 

There is a rumor going around the working students that Sohair has been sneaking back to the facility way past closing time.

"Someone saw headlights by the indoor ring at like 11:00 PM last Thursday. The next morning, the jumps were set up in a completely different configuration—way tighter turns than what the trainer sets."

If she's secretly practicing advanced course management at night because she doesn't want the daytime crowd judging her mistakes, that explains why she looks so exhausted during morning chores.