The story
Souq Waqif Equestrian Festival in Souq Waqif
Now past its seventh edition, the Souq Waqif Equestrian Festival runs each January across the historic market and centers entirely on purebred Arabian horses, featuring the Souq Waqif International Arabian Purebred Horse Championship, the larger Qatar International Arabian Peninsula Purebred Horse Championship, children's heritage competitions, and a closing horse auction.
Long before the automobile reached the Arabian Peninsula, the Arabian horse was among the most valuable assets a Gulf family could own, prized for endurance across desert terrain, speed in raiding and hunting, and a bloodline pedigree tracked as carefully as any human genealogy.