Our guest Julia (from Russia, living in Turkey at that time and horse lover) brought up her wishes once she would come to Jordan. First she wanted to ride a horse around Petra. Second and since very long time on her bucket list, a visit to the Royal Stables. Third, sleeping in the Wadi Rum.
We put everything together in an itinerary for her and a friend who would join.
The Royal stables were the last on the list early morning before their flight back from Amman.
The stables are situated in a beautiful suburb of Amman. Once there we could visit all the horses freely and got a demonstration of the white stallion. We were so delighted to see all those beautiful horses.
I was hypnosed by the blue eyes of some of the horses. Never seen this before. Everything in the stables was an example of how you can stable those beautiful noble creatures. Very clean and neat.
The demonstration of some stallions in the paddock was breathtaking.
‘Royal Heritage’
HRH Princess Alia is the director of the Royal Stud and wrote the book Royal Heritage.
HRH Princess Alia is the eldest daughter of the late King Hussein and Sharifa Dina, his first wife. Sister to the King of Jordan, Abdullah II bin al-Hussein. She wrote a book with Peter Upton: ” Royal Heritage“, the story of Jordan’s Arab horses, from the early days of the bedouin tribes to the 21st century, a story closely associated with the Hashemite family of Jordan, direct descendants of the Prophet.
In 1987 Princess Alia, organised the first Arab horse show to be held in Arabia entitled ‘ The Arab Horse at Home’. It was an event which inspired other Arab countries to organise horse shows of their own.
‘Small Miracles’
The story of the Princess Alia Foundation.
Small Miracles is co-authored by HRH Princess Alia, and Sharifa Sarra Ghazi, Small Miracles, the Story of the Princess Alia Foundation is the account of an extraordinary charitable endeavour. When it was established in 2009, the authors little knew how the Foundation would fundamentally change their lives, as well as the lives of countless others – animal and human.
Written with passion and humour and gloriously illustrated, this book should be compulsory reading in every part of the world, to reawaken the seeds of compassion that live in all mankind but all too often lie dormant through ignorance or social conditioning, to remind us that we share this planet and our destiny with all living things, and to promote the balance, harmony and respect of all creation.
Interview with HRH Princess Alia on Youtube
Princess Alia Foundation
Compassion & respect for all creation
In 2009 HRH Princess Alia founded the Princess Alia Foundation (PAF) to address issues relating to human and animal welfare and the environment. The Foundation follows a holistic approach and its message is ‘Compassion and Respect Towards All Creation’.
Patron of Brooke
She has worked with Brooke since 1988. Since then, Brooke has enabled significant improvements in the welfare of working horses in Petra Park. Princess Alia continues to play a vital role in supporting our work to ensure local veterinary care is available for horses and donkeys in Petra and good welfare is maintained.
As a young girl, Princess Alia cared for a Shetland pony, developing a bond with animals that has since blossomed into a strong passion for interacting with animals and all nature in a humane and mutually respectful manner. This is strongly reflected in her attitude towards another major aspect of her work, equestrianism. She is the founder of the Princess Alia Foundation, an organisation established to promote the balance, harmony and respect of all creation. Princess Alia is a vocal and pioneering advocate of animal welfare causes.
As director of the Royal Stables of Jordan for the Preservation of the Arabian Horse, Princess Alia initiated the annual festival of the ‘Arabian Horse at Home’ and organised the Middle East Championships for Purebred Horses. She has been President of the Royal Jordanian Equestrian Federation since 1993.
WAHO
I attended my first WAHO Conference in Calgary in 1982. My involvement with equestrian activities increased when I became President of the Royal Jordanian Equestrian Federation, a position which I still occupy. The purebred Arabian is involved in showing and endurance riding as well as show jumping in Jordan, and the Federation organizes several of these events including the international Middle East Championships Show, and the Wadi Rum Endurance Ride in some of the most spectacular scenery in Jordan, which are respectively an ECAHO title show and an FEI international 120 Km ride.
Introduction of HRH Princess Alia on WAHO
Wikipedia about HRH Princess Alia
Once I hope to meet HRH Princess Alia, for now I admire her already for her work with animals, their protection and educational programs.
Next time more about my life with horses in Petra.
If you like to know where I am now and what I do, visit our website Jordan Desert Journeys. or our facebook page JordanDesertJourneys. Or connect to me on facebook.