The FEI disciplines of show jumping, dressage, and three day eventing and endurance are all relatively recent sports in the Middle East. However the heritage and tradition of horsemanship, and breeding is centuries old in the region. Horses have existed in the Arab region as partners to mankind long as recorded human life; a history much longer than that of either Europe or the Americas. Historians argue the genetic purity of the Arabian breed, as opposed to the desert horses, but none deny that the earliest records of domesticated horses exist in Arabia.

The first historical recordings of horses in Europe come from the MESOPOTAMIAN Era civilizations, all in the form of paintings of horses pulling war chariots. The first European to appreciate the many qualities of the Arabian horse was Alexander the Great of Macedonia. In 330 BC during his Eastern Campaign many of his bowman were trained on Arabians, and history recorded their ensuing success.

During the Crusades, hundreds of crusaders' lives were lost when they rode their heavy horses into battle in the Holy Land of Jerusalem. They met the men of the desert on their light, fast, Arabian horses. Despite all the blood that was shed, one great treasure was stolen, the invaders did not leave Arabia without taking a good number of Arabian horses with them to cross breed with their own heavy animals.

As the religion of Islam spread to the far corners of Spain, a large number of the Arabian horses that acted as facilitators of this message were crossed with the lesser quality Spanish horses, producing a light war horse called, "The Jennet". It was these Jennets that Christopher Columbus packed on his ships to travel to the New World (America). Many of his ships were wrecked off the shores and the herds aboard swam to shore, creating the first herds of horses to exist in America. Others were soon captured in battle by the Native Americans. And in catching them and taming them they trained and dealt with them in a fashion very similar to the way that the Bedouins had handled these horses' forefathers centuries before.

From these purebred horses of the desert came three special horses that had the greatest impact on Sport Horses of today. The Byrely Arabian, the Darley Arabian, and the Godolphin Arabian. All three of these founding fathers sired great horses and all modern horses in sports are traceable back to these three stallions. The Byrely Arabian was stolen in battle and eventually ridden by Captain Byrely in King William's War. The second was the Darley Arabian, known to be bay with a white blaze and three white legs. He was found by the traveling merchant Thomas Darley in the desert of Greater Syria. The Godolphin Arabian was said to be gifted to the boy King of France, whose court did not fully appreciate the horse due to his small size and emaciated appearance after the strenuous sea crossing. He eventually came into the ownership of the second Earl of Godolphin. The Godolphin Arabian became known as "Father of the Turf" and lived to the age of twenty nine years.

Horse Sports as we know them today took off in earnest in the Middle East in the early 1980's. In those years the main sport in the region was show jumping. Best known athletes that competed internationally were: Ali Rafic Ghandour (LEB) and Andre Sakakini (EGY). In Morocco Princess Lala Amina was concentrating on building a breeding program and show jumping circuit. In Libya an enormous equestrian facility was built also, which regularly held international jumping competitions. In Iraq and Syria show jumping also took off at CSA levels. In Syria the effort was spearheaded by the late Basil Al Asad who competed himself. At that time the FEI Group VII was presided over by, Saad Khalifa (EGY) who was President of his own National Federation also. At this time FEI Group VII included North and South Africa, Arabia, Cyprus, India, Iran, Turkey, and Pakistan.

Group VII was then taken over by Prince Faisal Bin Abdullah Bin Mohammad Al Saud, who led the Group for 8 years. He was instrumental in building and shaping the sport in the region, and laying the foundation that exists today. He first assessed that the Group was too large to function with efficiency. He began by dividing the Group into three geographically organized sub-groups. North Africa became sub-group A, South Africa became sub-group B, and Arabia Cyprus, Pakistan, Iran, India and Turkey became sub-group C, which was headed by HRH Princess Haya Al Hussein.

HRH Prince Faisal and HRH Princess Haya agreed that the priority for the sub-group C was to work on the eradication of piroplasmosis and EVA from the region. These diseases prevented cross border transit of horses, and prevented any hope of creating a circuit for competition in the region. Sub- group C made huge efforts throughout the early 90's to clarify the health status in the region in close parallel with the Gulf States (UAE) who were also very dedicated to this program to fulfill their racing ambitions. In the Arabian Peninsular it was generally a case of setting up the correct administration to police the equine population. By the mid-1990's this was largely achieved, which resulted in a league being set up of international jumping competitions throughout the region, under the jurisdiction of the FEI.

HRH Princess Haya also produced a proposal for HRH Prince Faisal for the World Children's Series. Noel Vanasoste (FEI) and HRH Princess Haya wrote the formula for the competitions and it became a major feature of the FEI due to HRH Prince Faisal's support and interest in promoting Children's Equestrian Competitions Worldwide. One of the series finals was hosted by Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Through HRH Prince Faisal, the FEI also gained the sponsorship of ART for many years. His Highness also commissioned a book on behalf of Group VII that was printed in two parts, titled "FURUSIYA". It documents in detail the entire history and tradition of equestrian sports in Arabia. His Highness was responsible for sending the first Arab Equestrian Team in history to an Olympic Games, when he sent the Saudi Arabian Team to compete in Atlanta in 1996. He also sent the same team to Sydney Olympic Games 2000, making Saudi Arabia the only Arab country to field two equestrian Olympic squads to date. After HRH Prince Faisal's 8 year tenure, Group VII was taken over by Mr Shaael Al Quwari (QAT).

But thanks to HRH Prince Faisal many of the events which he instituted continue, Egypt organized a CSIO which has improved through the years, Cairo organizes an additional invitational (which has not taken place for the last four years but was recently reinstated.) This invitational was enormously popular with European riders who compete on borrowed horses. The World Show jumping Challenge has also been organized for the past fifteen years in the Gulf, catering for riders aged 16 and upwards so that they may be assessed with other riders in the world. The finals are held at Paul Schockmohle's and he provides the horses. In Syria, in the late Basil Al Asad's name, The Championships of Friendship and Peace are still held annually in Lattakia, is the Basil Al Asad Memorial Show (Indoors). Algeria and Tunisia also organize a number of International FEI Competitions, as does Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan.

The FEI Jumping Committee now looks forward to the new World Cup Jumping Series in the region, which they believe will be a breath of fresh air for the sport, and a fantastic opportunity for the Middle East to bring sports and riders to a level with the rest of the world.