 |
| Arabian mare Karen is one of dozens of Arabian horses from all over Syria recovering from the impact of conflict (AFP Photo/LOUAI BESHARA) |
Damascus (AFP) - A shadow of her former self after years of war, 11-year-old Arabian mare Karen stands quietly as a Syrian vet gently pushes a syringe into her pale grey neck.
"Karen
used to be the beauty queen of all horses," says the vet, Ahmad Sharida.
But inside
her stable near Damascus today, her hips jut out viciously from her overgrown
speckled coat.
Weak and
withdrawn, Karen is unable to even whinny.
After
almost eight years of war, she is one of dozens of Arabian horses from all over
Syria recovering from the physical and psychological trauma of the fighting.
Prized for
their beauty, endurance and speed, Arabian purebreds are one of the oldest
horse breeds in the world.
In Syria,
Bedouins have bred them in the north of the country for centuries, seeking to
maintain the purity of the local bloodlines.
Before the
conflict, Sharida had proudly watched Karen grow from a long-legged foal into a
graceful equine beauty.
"I
know her very well. I was the one who brought her out of her mother's
belly," says the vet, a stethoscope hanging around his neck.
But he lost sight of Karen after she was stolen from her stable in Eastern Ghouta in 2012, the same year rebels overran the region northeast of Damascus.
 |
Horse
trainer Jihad Ghazal (R) says horses are very sensitive and that "the
sounds they hear greatly affect them" (AFP Photo/LOUAI BESHARA)
|
But he lost sight of Karen after she was stolen from her stable in Eastern Ghouta in 2012, the same year rebels overran the region northeast of Damascus.
The area
suffered five years of regime bombardment, as well as food and medicine
shortages under a crippling siege, before Russia-backed government forces took
it back last year.
Sharida had
long fled his home region but returned to search for missing Arabian horses and
immediately recognised Karen when he found her in October.
"I was
so shocked," says the 51-year-old vet.
"She
was all skin and bones, and could barely stand up."
'Kidnapped and killed'
Like all
other horses he found, she was frail and sick after years of being surrounded
by fighting, not enough food, and no medical attention.
Syria's war has killed more than 360,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.
 |
Of the
8,500 horses that Syria registered with the World Arabian Horse Organization
in
2011, it has lost 3,000 in the war (AFP Photo/LOUAI BESHARA)
|
Syria's war has killed more than 360,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.
And it has
taken a toll on the country's equine population too.
"Horses
have greatly suffered, just like us all," says Mohammed Ghaith al-Shaib,
head of the state's Arabian Horse Office.
"They've
also been displaced, kidnapped and killed."
Of the
8,500 horses that Syria registered with the World Arabian Horse Organization
(WAHO) in 2011, it has lost 3,000 in the war, he says.
But the
conflict in Syria has turned around in recent years, and after a series of
victories against rebels and jihadists, President Bashar al-Assad's regime is
now in control of almost two-thirds of the country.
Having
returned to one region after another, the Damascus authorities are now trying
to protect the country's Arabian purebreds.
 |
Karen (L)
is now cared for at a state-run stables west of Damascus (AFP Photo/
LOUAI
BESHARA)
|
Since 2014,
WAHO has recognised 2,400 new Syrian foals as Arabian, after samples from their
manes were sent off for DNA testing in Germany, Shaib says.
Horses
rescued from retaken areas are being looked after at a state-run stables west
of the capital, Damascus.
A
daughter?
At the
stables in Dimas, staff are paying special attention to Karen's recovery.
She hails
from the Hadbaa strain of Arabian purebreds, so called after their long
eyelashes and mane.
But after
years of war, she is the only known female survivor of a rare Syrian branch of
that family.
"The
Hadbaa Enzahi Fawaeira were already at risk of dying out before the war,"
says Shaib.
But
"today, it's only Karen".
 |
After
nearly eight years of war, Karen is the only known female survivor of a rare
Syrian branch of the Hadbaa strain of Arabian purebreds (AFP Photo/LOUAI
BESHARA)
|
Arabian
mares are often seen as more precious than their male counterparts, as they
carry the bloodline from one generation to the next.
Once Karen
has regained her health, her carers hope to artificially inseminate her so that
she can give birth to a daughter.
To maintain
her bloodline, a Syrian purebred should father that female foal -- but he does
not need to come from the same strain.
Karen is
just one of many Arabian horses all over Syria recovering from conflict.
'Greatly
affected'
In the
adjacent hippodrome, trainer Jihad Ghazal watches a student trot around the
red-earth arena on a horse with a shiny brown coat.
Nejm --
"star" in Arabic -- spent the war in Damascus, a city which has
remained relatively sheltered from the conflict.
But the
mare was one of the luckier ones, says Ghazal, who is full of anecdotes about
the suffering of her kind.
 |
Arabian
mares are often seen as more precious than their male counterparts, as they
carry the bloodline from one generation to the next (AFP Photo/LOUAI BESHARA)
|
"Horses
are very sensitive, and the sounds they hear greatly affect them," says
the 40 year-old, wearing jeans and trainers.
During the
war, an alleged Israeli strike hit Dimas, traumatising pregnant mares, for
example.
"For a
year afterwards, foals were born paralysed or dead because their mother had
been so terrified," he says.
In 2016, a
horse was so shocked by a blast that, within hours, he had killed himself.
"He
banged his head against metal until he died."
No comments:
Post a Comment