Watch the world’s best showjumpers, brush up on your riding skills and enjoy a memorable encounter with a champion Arabian at the fabulous Al Shaqab in Doha, Qatar.
While the long-haul flight from Australia to Europe is always arduous, horse lovers in the know have found a wonderful way to break their journey.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup put Qatar firmly on the map for soccer fans, but it also shone a spotlight beyond the new stadiums to other attractions in a Middle Eastern country with a proud equestrian tradition.
With no expense spared – as you might expect in one of the world’s richest countries – Al Shaqab really has to be seen to be believed. Built to look like a giant horseshoe when viewed from the air, the sprawling 980,000-square metre architecturally designed complex on the edge of the desert features lush, irrigated, emerald-green paddocks framed with white fences, elegant water features, pristine marble-walled stables, and plenty of air-conditioning to ward off the unrelenting summer heat.
ARENA ACTION AT CHI AL SHAQAB
The centrepiece is Longines Arena, an impressive state-of-the-art facility considered among the best in the world. There are actually three arenas under one roof – an expansive, floodlit outdoor arena that looks especially photogenic at night; an air-conditioned indoor arena; and a warm-up area – with total capacity for more than 5,000 spectators.
The three-day Commercial Bank CHI Al Shaqab Presented by Longines is held here every February or March, featuring the world’s leading showjumpers, dressage and para dressage riders. The 2023 event, the 10th edition, came to a dramatic finish when German showjumper Marcus Ehning and his 12-year-old bay stallion Stargold won for the second year in a row by triumphing convincingly in the jump-off of the Grand Prix, contested by seven riders. On a challenging course featuring 1.6m fences and luxury sports cars, Ehning achieved clear rounds of 71.67 secs and 72.8 secs, before racing to a time of 41.74 secs in the jump-off, beating an overall field of 39 riders from 16 countries.
CHI Al Shaqab is followed in Doha by the opening leg of the Longines Global Champions Tour, the world’s premier showjumping event which brings together the top 30 riders from the FEI Jumping World Rankings at a string of glamorous locations across the globe.
Australia’s four-time Olympian Edwina Tops-Alexander is a regular competitor at both events, alongside a who’s who of European equestrians, and can be often spotted with her husband, Jan Tops, the Dutch Olympic rider and founder of the Longines Global Champions Tour. The people-watching is equally interesting. Louis Vuitton and Hermès handbags are typical accessories among the well-heeled spectators who get their Bentleys and Lamborghinis valet-parked at the front. There is a ripple of excitement through the crowd as members of Qatar’s royal family arrive, including Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, wife of the former Qatar Emir and co-founder of Qatar Foundation, a non-profit organisation that includes Al Shaqab among its members.
EQUESTRIAN HERITAGE
Underpinning the glamour is a commitment to an equestrian heritage that spans back to when desert tribes measured their wealth by their steeds. Al Shaqab was founded in 1992 by His Highness The Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani to help preserve and perpetuate the Arabian horse breed as well as to support top standards in horse welfare, breeding and show.
Today, you can book a tour through the organisation’s website – www.alshaqab.com – to be squired around the property by golf cart and meet the resident purebred Arabian and endurance horses face-to-face.
It’s quite the experience. We meet our guide at the front entrance of the arena and he drives us to the Royal Stables, where the prize Arabians reside. A contemporary interpretation of the classical stables at the Château de Chantilly near Paris, they are a fusion of European and Arabic design, curved into an elliptical structure fitted out with pale grey marble and gleaming stainless steel. While the horses may not take much notice of the beautifully starred geometric designs on the front of their stalls, they certainly appreciate the air-conditioning, as well as the soft-as-a-cloud imported European wood shavings underfoot, not to mention the top quality hay, shipped in weekly from Lexington in Kentucky. It’s no surprise to discover that these stables are meticulously cleaned twice a day – they practically gleam.
When we visit, the much-loved residents are outside in the neighbouring paddocks, frolicking and feeding in the glorious early spring sunshine. They approach us inquisitively, their enormous soulful eyes in distinctively dished faces watching us with intelligence, moving with a languid grace befitting their status.
Al Shaqab’s breeding program has produced seven world champions and contributed to bloodlines around the world. The program is divided into three categories: International Arabian horses, combining all Arabian bloodlines; Straight Egyptian Arabians; and traditional Qatari bloodlines. The breeding philosophy is centred around producing horses of great character and kindness as well as beauty, athleticism and physical strength.
RIDING LESSONS
While the Arabians are clearly the stars of the show, the complex accommodates a wide variety of steeds, from English Thoroughbreds to the small ponies used for children’s riding lessons and summer camps. Leaving the Royal Stables, we drive past the Equine Education Department, a full-service riding academy which offers lessons and structured programs for riders of all skill levels from aged six upwards. Though we sadly don’t have time during our guided tour, visitors are encouraged to book a one-hour introductory lesson.
We drive to the historic Ottoman stables and fort, all thick stone walls to keep out the desert sun, and then to the state-of-the-art Equine Exercise Center, where personal trainers work through individually tailored exercise programs with their four-footed clients. Endurance riding is hugely popular in the region, with races of up to 160km, and these facilities are designed to ensure maximum rehabilitation after a tough race.
A 72m one-lane, cold-water lap pool stretches into the distance along one wall, while a treadmill and an eight-horse carousel provide exercise options even in the middle of the sizzling Arabian summer. An equine spa, used for both relaxation and rehabilitation, occupies a commanding position in the middle of the floor. It’s a boxy affair that looks a little like a diving decompression chamber – the horse stands in the spa with his or her head poking out of the top while the water jets massage their body. The hydrotherapy is especially beneficial for tendon and ligament injuries, inflammation and soft tissue damage.
Returning to the Longines Arena, we pass the Equine Veterinary Medical Center, opened in 2020 to advance equine medical research as well as to provide services such as surgery, diagnostic imaging, pain management and dentistry to horses in the region.
Our tour comes to an end near an 18-hole golf course and one of the stadiums built for the World Cup. Looking back, we can just see the paddock where we met the Arabians earlier in the afternoon, munching contentedly on their premium hay. It’s a hard job, but some horses have to do it.
Dawn Gibson-Fawcett was flown to Doha by Qatar Airways as a guest of The Commercial Bank CHI AL SHAQAB Presented by Longines. EQ
