Bella Hadid may be best known for her flourishing career as a supermodel, but did you know that the 18-year-old stunner is also a nationally ranked equestrian?
And the younger sister of model Gigi Hadid now plans to take her longstanding passion for riding to the next level. In an interview with Porter magazine, Bella revealed she has been training to compete in a horseback riding event in the 2016 Olympics Games in Rio De Janeiro.
The model told the magazine she began riding when she was three years old, and that it was her mother Yolanda Foster, a former model and "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star, who inspired her passion for the sport.
"My devotion stemmed from my mom's love of horses," she told Porter. "I have been riding since I could walk and the fact that my mom knew everything about horses really helped my passion grow."
Hadid added that, in the midst of her busy modelling career, she finds horseback riding therapeutic.
"You know how every model is like, 'I do yoga.' Well, I find horses have the same effect. You have to put your ego aside and concentrate on making the horse do the things you want it to do, and move in the way you want it to move."
This isn't the first time the model has spoken about her passion for riding, as the Mirror pointed out. In an interview with the New York Post last month, Hadid revealed that she had previously never even considered a career in modelling, and that she had always had her sights set on riding professionally.
"I never knew [modeling] was something I wanted to do. I started riding at an early age and my sister was modeling for years before I was. I thought that was going to be her thing."
And as Refinery29 notes, Bella's announcement likely won't surprise her 1.4 million Instagram followers. Hadid has shared several riding photos on the social network:
For more from the interview with Bella, be sure to pick up Porter magazine when it hits newsstands on October 2.
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