Arabian horses run through a field in al-Zawraa Park in Baghdad, Iraq, May 26, 2022. (Xinhua/Khalil Dawood)

An Iraqi veterinarian from Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, has been working hard for almost 20 years in hopes of realizing his dream of resurrecting the horse industry in Iraq.

BAGHDAD, June 4 (Xinhua) — In 2003, during the invasion of Iraq by the United States, Bakr Farouq, an Iraqi veterinarian, managed to save 16 rare purebred Arabian horses belonging to the former leader Iraqi Saddam Hussein.

Farouq, now head of the Arab horse care department in Baghdad’s al-Zawraa Park, then risked his life evacuating the horses, owned by Hussein’s Arab Knights Club, from the presidential palace to the Iraqi Equestrian Club in the al-Ameriyah district in the capital Baghdad.

Farouq hid the horses’ documentation in his house to protect them from looting, after American soldiers reached Baghdad and overthrew Saddam’s regime.

A horse trainer trains a thoroughbred Arabian at al-Zawraa Park in Baghdad, Iraq, May 26, 2022. (Xinhua/Khalil Dawood)

“Most of the horses were killed, starved, stolen or smuggled and sold overseas,” he recalls.

Farouq, aided by park manager al-Zawraa, only rescued 16 of the Arabian Knight Club’s more than 100 horses with the help of security forces.

There were offers from inside and outside Iraq to buy the 16 horses with offers reaching up to US$50 million, “but we rejected all of these offers because we believe the horses are the wealth of the country,” Farouq said.

With the 16 horses, the Iraqi government then opened a horse care facility in al-Zawraa Park to preserve the horse bloodlines. The horses then produced more foals, bringing the total number of purebred Arabian horses in the park to 48.

A horse trainer trains a thoroughbred Arabian at al-Zawraa Park in Baghdad, Iraq, May 26, 2022. (Xinhua/Khalil Dawood)

Arabian horses serve as a link to thousands of years of equine history in the Middle East, which is closely tied to the region’s Arabian heritage.

Arabian horses were bred by the Bedouins, a nomadic people who valued their horses and chose breeds carefully. They are beautiful, friendly, and devoted to their owners, as well as hardy and agile, qualities that make them suitable for harsh desert conditions and wars.

Baghdad’s once-thriving horse-racing industry was one of the most successful in the Middle East, attracting the city’s elite to the former location of the capital’s posh Mansour district.

However, three wars beginning in the 1980s, 13 years of economic sanctions and more than 30 years of international bans on horse racing due to Iraq’s failure to meet conditions set by the World Organization for Animal Health left the country’s horse racing in ruins, with many breeders leaving and many horses dying.

Arabian horses run through a field in al-Zawraa Park in Baghdad, Iraq, May 26, 2022. (Xinhua/Khalil Dawood)

At the West Baghdad Iraqi Equestrian Club, a few dozen men gathered in groups, either at a makeshift spectator stand or in a nearby room overlooking one end of the dusty track, watching the jockeys in slacks white and colorful silky shirts run to the finish line. .

Jamal Rasheed, 55, a veterinarian and head of the Iraqi Equestrian Club’s Arabian horse registration department, told Xinhua that UN sanctions and the wars in Iraq were having a serious impact on the club and the breeding of Arabian horses. horses.

“We still have a lot of work to do to rehabilitate horse racing,” Rasheed said, adding that the club lacked a stadium and other infrastructure, including a good racetrack.

There is also a need to support breeders, many of whom use club stables, according to Rasheed. The club has 146 stables, each with 16 boxes.

Being an autonomous and independent organization, the club’s capabilities were limited, he said, adding that he hoped the Iraqi government would support the club, allowing it to contribute to the restoration of part of Iraq’s national heritage.

Arabian horses are fed at al-Zawraa Park in Baghdad, Iraq, May 26, 2022. (Xinhua/Khalil Dawood)

“Horses have long been associated with Iraqi society, and Iraqis have cared for their horses since ancient times. They have a fondness for horses and even named them after their sons and daughters in the past,” said Kadhim Mohammad Ali, director of the Central Iraqi School of Equestrian Education.

“Sometimes horse breeders are more concerned with feeding their horses than feeding their sons,” he noted, adding that such passion even leads to conflict in families of horse lovers.

Farouq, who has worked hard in recent years to preserve Purebred Arabian horses, hopes his efforts to preserve and revive the horse industry in Iraq will not be in vain.

“All of our horses are purebred Arabian horses registered with the World Arabian Horse Organization in the UK, and they now meet international and Iraqi standards,” Farouq said. ■