Today's Edition
AMEINAH ALZEYOUDI (ABU DHABI)
With a ticket to “Furussiya: The Return to Origins”, visitors to the Abu Dhabi Royal Equestrian Arts (ADREA) take their seats in the indoor arena expecting a show. What unfolds, however, is not a spectacle but a story – one told through the graceful harmony of horse and rider, moving like ballet on horseback.
Mohammad Obaid was left in awe. Though familiar with show jumping, endurance racing, and flat racing, he said that kind of thrill and action was entirely different from the grandeur of classical horsemanship on display.
“The performance was a beautiful lesson in horsemanship,” he told Aletihad. “This kind of presentation encourages practitioners to continue doing what they love and to grow.”
Every Saturday at 6pm, the show takes over the sand pit at the centre of ADREA’s 1,200-seat indoor arena, immersing audiences in a world shaped by Furusiyya, the Arab philosophy of harmony, courage, and artistry in horsemanship.
From moments of stillness, horses emerge – rising and turning – while riders respond through instinct and deep connection, answering with patience and precision.
“In every performance, movement becomes memory, and heritage writes the next chapter of our equestrian legacy,” according to a preview on ADREA’s website.
Another visitor, Shamma Ahmed, observed that “every movement was deliberate, and every detail carried meaning”, making the performance an introduction to horsemanship as an art and a culture.
She said she was especially impressed by the composure and precision that the horses and their riders displayed.
Hamdan Al Ameri praised the effort to present classical horsemanship “in a contemporary yet authentic way”. As the show drew to a close, he reflected on the importance of preserving such a rich heritage.
First-time visitor Ahood Ahmed described the performance as extraordinary. Every detail of embodied genuine Arab horsemanship, as the wider ADREA experience honoured centuries of equestrian tradition. “It was a lovely memory,” she said.
For Obaid, ADREA stood as a culturally significant landmark, one that represented “the story of our civilisation – our past, present and future”.
