HERITAGE ON HORSEBACK
The family of Sheikh Abdullah bin Majid Al Qassimi is synonymous with horses. The father and two sons nurture and pursue equestrian sports in different ways, preserving not only a family legacy but a broader Arab one.
By Alexandra Gouveia
PHOTOGRAPHS BY RABEE YOUNES
Sheikh Abdullah bin Majid Al Qassimi’s family are known as “the horse people,” as his son, Sheikh Ali bin Abdullah Al Qassimi puts it. “Horses in the UAE, that’s in our heritage.”
While horses historically held a key role in Arab life, for a while they were less present. Now, however, equestrianism is enjoying a renaissance in the Arab world. In the Gulf region, the horse population has exploded in the past 30 years. The UAE had about 450 head in 2019, up from 270 in 1989, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Saudi Arabia grew its equine population tenfold in the same period, to more than 30,000 horses.
Sheikh Abdullah deserves some of the credit. He founded the first equestrian club in the UAE, Sharjah Equestrian and Racing Club, in 1982, launching the country’s modern equestrian scene.
“It was through my family where we began our love of horses,” Sheikh Abdullah says. “In the past, equestrianism wasn’t a sport but was more casual riding with friends in the desert. It wasn’t competitive. It has developed at a very fast pace.”
He expanded the club “from just a few stables to the best facilities in the Middle East,” says his son Sheikh Majid bin Abdullah Al Qassimi. “The horse is part of us. It’s how people identify our family here,” adds Ali, who, like Majid, is a jumping champion. Encouraged by Ali, Majid has been training young horses for the sport as well. And they might just be ready to get back in the saddle for major competition.
“Every horse has a different personality—some are cheeky, some are nice, some not so nice… but they care. In my head they are part of the family.”
Majid and Ali, six years his junior, started riding before they started school. They grew up spending their days at the stables. Majid first mounted at four, started training seriously when he was nine, and competing when he was 11. His dedication is all the more striking because he is allergic to horses. “I have to take pills otherwise I get sick and feverish, but I just enjoy riding so much,” he says.
Sheikh Abdullah never pushed them to compete—another son and daughter didn’t pursue the sport—but he supported Majid and Ali, and provided the horses and training they needed. “It was my happy place when I was a kid, to go and feed the ponies,” Ali says. “I didn’t know anything about the sport side of it.” But he soon learned, as he watched Majid go to jumping competitions, and yearned to emulate his big brother.
Majid made it to the World Equestrian Games in 2010, age 25, part of the first UAE team to compete at the event. It fulfilled a lifelong dream. “It was mind blowing,” he says. “I didn’t care what happened, even if I fell. What mattered was that I was there. I had achieved my goal. It was everything I had worked for in my life.”
Majid performed even better—finishing fifth in the individual showjumping competition and with the UAE team earning a silver medal—at the Asian Games the same year.
And then, he stopped riding completely, even for leisure.
“It’s hard to describe. I didn’t feel empty but…” he drifts off. “All that hard work, waking every day and training and riding to compete in one of the best competitions in the world [was over]. When I returned I just didn’t want to do it anymore.”
Co-Jack, the beloved bay gelding Majid rode at the World Equestrian Games, stayed in the family when he went on hiatus. He gave Co-Jack to Ali, a bow to the talent of both of them.
“Ali competed with Co-Jack for a few years and then at the next World Equestrian Games in France, 2014, Ali qualified with him,” Majid says. “We felt the horse was magical.”
But just one month before the games, the horse was struck with a paralysing virus and had to be put down. “I still get emotional as I talk about it now,” Majid says, mourning both Co-Jack and his brother’s thwarted ambitions. He adds, “Every horse has a different personality—some are cheeky, some are nice, some not so nice… but they care. In my head they are part of the family.”
Ali agrees, “When you own a horse, you see them as different. You love them a bit more than other horses.”
Indeed, the Prophet Muhammad said, “Every man shall love his horse.” The region’s equestrian legacy reaches even before the advent of Islam. Horses are thought to have been first domesticated around 3,500 BCE in present-day Kazakhstan, and spread. The Arabian horse is the oldest known breed, documented to 2,000 years ago—and one of the world’s oldest breeds of any domesticated animal. It is remarkable for its beauty, grace, endurance and tolerance for a hot, dry climate and is the most widespread horse breed globally. Bedouins in particular treasured Arabian horses, not only as a cultural symbol but for military might. Horses made it possible to travel greater distances, helping to spread Islam. Horse-trading occurred on a global scale, even 700 years ago—most horses in Europe descended from either a lineage from the Arabian Peninsula or from a Turkoman line from Central Asia.
“Horses have been part of the lives of Arabs, always part of the society and culture,” Majid says.
The Arabian breed is the specialty of Sheikh Abdullah, who praises their intelligence, beauty, agility, and closeness to their owner. “The purebred Arabian horse is of the highest degree of originality in terms of the beauty of the external appearance, as its trunk is wonderful in consistency and harmony, and square in shape as if it was created specifically for the rider to ride,” he says. “His head is small and thin, beautifully formed, suggesting originality and grace, symmetrical with the neck and the rest of the body. The nose bridge is somewhat barren, this is a special feature that makes him more elegant and beautiful. His nostrils are wide, his eyes are large, radiating with vitality, and his skin is very smooth. As for his back, he is rich in muscles, horizontally short and wide, and the chest is wide, indicating the capacity of his lungs, and thus increasing his ability to withstand exertion.”
He notes that the spine of the Arabian horse has one or two fewer vertebrae than in other breeds.
“As for the limbs, they are well-formed, solid, with prominent tendons, ending with a small, rounded hoof, hard and highly resistant,” he says. “And when running fast, the tail rises like a flag, giving the horse a wonderful streak of beauty.”
Humans have domesticated and cultivated close relationships with other animals, especially dogs. But it’s really with horses that man and beast work and compete as one.
“The horses are like our teammates,” Ali says. “We treat them as athletes—they have their own system of training and feeding.”
In 2010, Ali participated in the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. “Just to be the first Emirati youth to represent the country in the Youth Olympics was an honour,” he says. “I felt for the first time that I was a professional athlete.”
“I will always support Ali. I’m so happy when he competes. I won a lot of things, but I won through hard work. I was never naturally talented, but he is.”
In 2017, Ali took the top prize at the Dubai Grand Prix. “It’s such a special show, you enter by invitation,” Ali says. “The first person to congratulate me was Majid. As much as I couldn’t believe my win that day, he felt the same—he understands me more than anyone else.”
“I will always support Ali,” Majid says. “I’m so happy when he competes. I won a lot of things, but I won through hard work. I was never naturally talented, but he is. It’s pure talent.”
Between the heartbreak of Co-Jack’s death and his burnout from competition, Majid was content to enjoy horses through his brother’s work. Then Ali intervened. “I honestly wasn’t planning on coming back,” Majid says. “But I went to the Netherlands to visit Ali and he showed me a young horse that was proving difficult and asked me if I could try to ride it. I’ve always loved young horses. Most competitive riders like ready-made horses, but I like to bring up the young ones. So I rode Ali’s difficult horse and it did really well. Ali then convinced me to look for a new horse. So I did.”
Ali’s trainer brought a horse with him to the Netherlands, one that had piqued Majid’s interest a few years earlier. “I was curious about that horse,” he says of Celtion. “But when Celtion came out I was scared, he looked like a psychopath. But he turned out to be amazing, he had such natural balance. When I started cantering it felt like I was floating. Co-Jack was incredible, but this horse I could feel was much stronger. He had more scope.”
With Co-Jack Majid had gone to the world games, with this horse he thought he could achieve even more. He purchased the six-year-old, and after three years of training Celtion helped cement Majid’s comeback. He joined Team UAE in 2017 to win the Longines FEI Nations Cup Jumping—Challenge Cup in Barcelona, along with Abdullah Humaid Al Muhairi, Abdullah Mohammed Al Marri, and Mohammed Ghanem Al Hajri.
“Winning that competition was one of the happiest moments in my life,” Majid says. “We were the only Arab country participating, and we were the underdogs competing against some of the best riders in the world. Riding is more like a hobby for us. We don’t have the exposure to a new horse every month like a European rider might. Also, European riders ride as a full-time job, for us it’s still not a full-time career. Nobody took us seriously. So when we won this cup it was like a fairy tale.”
“Just to be the first Emirati youth to represent the country in the Youth Olympics was an honour. I felt for the first time that I was a professional athlete.”
Indeed, Majid has a full-time career—as managing director at the Department of Government Relations in Sharjah. Even so, he rides daily and completes CrossFit training at least five days a week. He competes in smaller, local competitions—Covid-19 halted many international tournaments—but his main focus has been training young horses.
As Majid prepares for the next World Equestrian Games and Asian Games, it’s Ali who stopped riding, temporarily. “I just did three months of national service,” he says. “It was a different experience in my life—no horses, no phones.”
While their father, Sheikh Abdullah, no longer rides due to a knee injury, he continues to be immersed in horses. He breeds Arabian horses, which are coveted for flat races and endurance because of their ability to handle heat and long distances. Polo needs other qualities, with thoroughbreds favoured. Jumping requires still others, which are found in the breeds of German and Dutch horses the brothers are grooming. Their foals are kept in Europe until they are three years old—they don’t take well to the heat when they are young. Then the trainer will break them in, a labour of love and patience. When the horse is four it will start professional training. This is how Majid reconnected with riding.
“You need to be able to control the horse, keep him supple and teach him to listen to your hands and your legs,” Majid says. “It’s a very technical sport. From fence to fence, everything is calculated.”
By five, the horses start competing. Often Majid brings them to the UAE first to get their start.
“Statistically, buying young horses, especially not expensive horses, training them and going on to win major competitions is rare,” he says proudly. He sold Celtion in order to buy more horses—the operation is sustained by selling a polished horse in order to finance the purchase of more young ones to train. Currently he is grooming two horses, Center and Alentejo.
Majid is grateful for the unwavering support he has received from HH the Ruler of Sharjah. “He has supported me from the beginning, without him I would not have made it to the World Equestrian Games.” He credits too Sheikha Fatima bint Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan for taking the sport to another level—not only did she sponsor his team in Barcelona, but she is also the founder of Al Shira’aa Stables, “one of the best academies in the UAE, setting a great example in the region by supporting the youth.” One outstanding young rider is Omar Al Marzouqi, winner of the UAE’s first ever Youth Olympic medal in 2018, “a born star,” Majid says. “He is naturally talented and has no ego so he will rise well. He is so focused and so humble, he always wants to learn.”
Majid plans to bring Alentejo back from Germany and train him for a shot at next year’s World Championships in Herning, Denmark. “I’m not sure if I will be part of the UAE team but I want to try,” he says. “Though I think I have more hope with Center in the next competition in 2026. There are lots of competitions in between so I can start qualifying for them and hopefully get picked to be part of the UAE team.”
Ali’s two horses recently arrived from Belgium and the Netherlands, and he too is preparing for the next round of competition.
“The funny thing about Majid and me is that in sport we’re completely different,” Ali says. “Majid is the quiet person who puts a goal in his head and is going to work for it for such a long time and is going to believe in it. He can wait and wait and give the horses chances to be better. He’s better than me with younger horses. I’m more competitive than him. Majid wants everything to be perfect; he has a target. I just want to win. If I had a broken leg, I would still try to win. But the love of horses is still the same for us.”
THE SHEIKHS STYLED BY SARAH RUXTON / MMG ARTISTS; GROOMING BY KASIA DOMANSKA / MMG ARTISTS.
