Jafar tends horses at a farm in central Homs province, Syria, Nov. 11, 2021 (Photo: Xinhua)

Horses run on a farm in Syria’s central Homs province on November 11, 2021 (Photo: Xinhua)

Jafar tends horses at a farm in central Homs province, Syria, Nov. 11, 2021 (Photo: Xinhua)

A little girl feeds a horse at a farm in central Homs province, Syria, November 11, 2021 (Photo: Xinhua)

Maen Jafar fought to preserve the Arabian horses her family raised during the Ten Year War in Syria.

On his farm in the countryside of the central province of Homs, Jafar is proud to have 55 horses, because Arabian horses, one of the oldest horse breeds in the world, are treasured for their beauty, endurance and speed. .

He takes care of the horses with his brothers and cousins ​​at the sprawling farm, where the horses can run freely without limitation.

Speaking to Xinhua, Jafar said during the war that they had to move horses from one place to another to protect them from death or theft.

“We are preserving the horses because they represent the passion of our ancestors and ours too, so we like to continue this cause despite all the difficulties,” he said.

The middle-aged man pointed out that Western sanctions imposed on Syria hamper the import and export of horses and access to necessary vaccines.

“We are running out of vaccines, and food prices are so high that we have had to sell horses,” he said.

Before the crisis, breeders exported horses to other countries who valued the purity of Syrian horse lines.

During the years of the war in Syria, the breeding of purebred Arabian horses was hit hard, especially with rebel groups controlling large areas of the country and stealing thousands of purebred horses from private and public farms. from the countryside of Hama, Damascus and Aleppo. provinces.

The rebel groups had also smuggled many of the best horses across the border to Turkey and other countries, where they were sold at low prices.

Ghiath al-Shayeb, former director of the Arab Horse Office in Syria, told Xinhua that in the first five years of the war, Syria lost around 3,000 horses.

With the help of the Syrian authorities, some of the horses were recovered, especially after the Syrian army seized many areas of the country.

Between 2014 and 2020, al-Shayeb registered up to 5,000 new horses, which helped increase the number of horses in Syria to its pre-war level.

Al-Shayeb noted that one of the main difficulties facing horse breeders is the high cost of feed, which forces them to sell some of their horses at lower prices.

He added that the lack of horse exports, which is blocked by Western sanctions, has undermined the ability of horse breeders to take good care of horses, as the exports provide them with a good income.

Al-Shayeb hoped horse shows and horse shows could resume in Syria as the security situation improved.