A Horse show

Dubai International Arabian Horse Championship 2011, a 3-day event & competition for Purebred Arabian horses, showcasing the beauty, agility and heritage of the region's finest horses was held last month at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The event was open to the public free of charge but since the event was of interest only to a select crowd it was not very over-crowded and we were able to reach every corner of it & enjoy the show.

The Arabian Horse with a known history going back about five thousand years, is supposedly the oldest breed of horse in existence. His exceptional versatility as a performance horse, quality and soundness, together with his unique temperament and affinity for humans makes him a very prized animal to possess. For the interested you can get a more detailed explanation here.

We were greeted by these traditionally attired little girls who looked at us with big round eyes & held out incense in welcome.

Before the horse show started we went around looking at the stalls and watched traditionally dressed Emarati woman weaving baskets and men engraving on swords.

Some men had 'real, live' hawks & falcons on display and we could ask for them to be placed on our wrists & take pictures with them.

The children ran off to put henna on their hands & I wandered towards this stall where woman was hand-printing our names in Arabic using Calligraphy. I got a lovely card with the better-half’s & my name printed on it correctly but found many disappointed people around me because their names were mispelt. You see there are many letters of the english alphabets which are not found in Arabic. A little boy Param had his name printed out as Baram because the letter P does not exist in Arabic. Deepak is Deebak.......yeah the Arabs say Bebsi for Pepsi;-D.

There was also a Horse Fair, which was held alongside the Championship. This Fair was the largest equestrian exhibition in the region and catered to everyone in the equestrian world from traders to consumers. The various stalls were an eye-opener, from their food[the horses] to their medicines to their paintings all were displayed to the public with detailed explanation if anybody cared to listen. The kids were clustered around a different looking treadmill. The stall-owner explained that it was treadmill for horses & then all of us adults gently nudged the kids aside to have closer look at the contraption. I forgot to take a picture in the confusion. 

I know its not a clear picture but for some reason I really like it:-)

 

It was time for the horse show to begin and so all of us trooped off to our seats. After the usual introduction the names of horses were announced and each of the horses along with their trainers came cantering in and showed off their skills. All of them[the horses I mean;-D] were so well-groomed, their skin tatooed attractively and mane so glossy, absolutely gorgeous animals. One look at them and you'll know that they are worth a lot of money.

The Horses would finally come to a halt in front of the judges and the trainer would use the cane[see pic above] in his hand to control[not violently] the horse and the judges would mark the points in their record book. I had absolutely no idea how the mark were given and after sometime stopped wondering and just enjoyed the show. At the end of each round the winners were announced, the owners and everybody associated with the horse would cheer loudly, collect the prize and happily pose together for pictures. For people who want to know more about what happened in the competition, you can go here.

 The only thing which frustrated me was that none of my pictures of the horses were clear and how will they be; the horses just did not stop moving;-/. I watched the professional photographers who were recording it for their newspapers trying to keep up with the horses to get the best angle for their pictures. There was this lone woman photographer among the sea of male photographers; one could not help watching her atleast I couldn't. She handled her photographic equipment stylishly and yet was so economical in her movements all the while clicking away. Yes ofcourse I took pictures of her;-D. Here take a look.....



Doesnt she look like the female version of James Bond here;-D????

Since we were holding VIP passes[yeah I knw entry was free but there was a vip section:-)] we got plush couches to sink our bottoms into and some 1st class treatment. Waiter would pass by every few minutes carrying delicous looking & tasting appetizers and we had the time of our lives delibrating between which goodies to eat. My children came alive while desserts were served and embarrased us by lying in wait for the waiters at strategic places. Well they can't be blamed[though I looked daggers at them]...yummy little strawberry tarts, creamy rasberry sorbets, cheesecakes, scones and so many mouth-watering selections were there to be made:-). The waiters also were so sweet, they knew exactly where the kids[soon other kids joined them] were and would go out of their way to pass by where they were;-D

As we made our way out at the end of the show I passed this section where photographs and paintings were displayed..of horses ofcourse. Each of them so beautifully composed and picturised; ofcourse the price-tags said that the artists knew exactly what their pictures were worth:-).