The dusty grounds at the Endurance City took to fierce competitive storms as the Dubai Show Jumping Championship kick-started on 16 January 2019, paving its way to a mind-blowing event put up by the Organising Committee and the Emirates Equestrian Centre (EEC). The internationally acclaimed Dubai Show Jumping Championship (DSJC) saw an extension in the duration this year, spanning over four days.

The event is more than a mere championship where riders put forth breathtaking skills and talents but it is also a celebration ground, a celebration of these beastly mighty beauties – horses. Horses in all the elegant shades, from black to brown to golden to silver and white! It is a greatly pleasing and highly elating sight to watch these horses as they race and jump around, with their rider proudly mounted atop. The event is a perfect idea of spending a fruitful weekend. When it comes to horse-riding or watching the show, it is leisure to some, a craze to many and worship to few others!

UAE has always shown a great amount of love and enthusiasm towards horses. The Dubai Show Jumping Championship is one among the many occasions when this love for horses is expressed loud and clear, calling in for people from around the world to come together and cheer. 

Riders from different parts of the world come to showcase their exceptional talents on the horseback while also flaunting their beastly beauties, holding fancy names like ‘Sansibar’, serious ones like ‘Franklin’ and sometimes those that sound funny like ‘For cash’ and ‘Cash Up’. One of the most popular local stars is an 11-year-old ‘Sama Dubai’, the mount of EEC-trained Abdulla Al Marri.

 As you settle down to witness this enthralling event, you see riders hailing from various countries – Ireland, Portugal, Great Britain, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and of course the United Arab Emirates. Another interesting fact about this event is that it has no different categories for male and female riders – both participate neck-to-neck on the same grounds for the same prize, with the very same competitors. And women have many a time outshone men in the many Championships taking home a whopping amount of money.

The Championship evolves more into e festive mood with hundreds and hundreds of people flooding in with their families and friends, sitting by the lawns, munching on to food from the food stalls, spending quality time with each other. This shows the organizers’ appreciable commitment towards making the event a fun outing for the entire family throughout the four-day equine festival. The venue completely transforms for the event, including an outstanding especially-constructed food and entertainment village with stalls and food trucks offering a variety of local and international cuisine. A live music band, pony rides, bouncy castles and face-painting stations all add to creating a unique and festive atmosphere.

The event is made possible especially with extensive support from its partners, the ‘Meydan’ pillar partners that include Emirates Airline, Longines, Azizi Developments and Gulf News.