The 15th session of the Sharqiya Arabian Horse Festival is to be launched today in Belbis Desert. The 4-day event is organized by the governorate-based Tourism Promotion Authority Office.

Participants will be competing in a fence-jumping competition over the President Mubarak Cup, running this year for the 8th session in a row.

The Festival is considered a tourist event of which Sharqiya Governorate boasts. The Arabian Horse Organization flies its flag over the area of the festival to signal of the the event importance.

In the past, the festival organized a marathon for horse-breeders, the first of its kind (1994); a fence-jumping competition (1995); and a long-distance horse riding competition (1999).

The 1st session of the Mubarak Cup Fence-Jumping Competition and the 1st International Sharqiya Cup Horse-Breaking Competition were organized in 2000. In 2001, the Festival held its 1st session of weapon-handling on horse-back. Honored at the event was Dubai's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammad bin-Rashed al-Maktoum, who won the Arabian Knight title.

The festival's preliminaries will be held Friday September 1.

The main competition, however, will take place on Saturday. The first five winners and the first three winning horses (of each kind: colt, filly, and mare) will be given in-kind and cash prizes.