Doha: First cargo flight with horses lands safely in Liège, German horses may follow as early as Sunday night
First horses from Doha safely in Europe, German horses are expected to fly on Monday morning
from Jan Tönjes 
The first show jumpers have landed safely from Qatar in Liège, Belgium. Photos: Instagram The first flight from Qatar to Europe landed safely in Liège, Belgium, on Sunday. On board the cargo plane were, among others, the horses of Max Kühner from Bavaria, who was competing for Austria. His groom Mariella Offner had spread the news on social media. An Instagram post from the Al Shaqab equestrian center in Doha had previously shown the horses being loaded. The reel showed the show jumpers being loaded into trucks and then leaving the facility for the airport. A total of 75 horses were able to board the flight to Liège.
Cargo flight with horses from Qatar lands in Liège
The stadium, which was supposed to host a stage of the Global Champions Tour this weekend, is just under an hour’s drive from the airport in the capital of Qatar. To the west is the largest US base in the Arab world. The military base, where up to 10,000 members of the US Army are stationed, has repeatedly been the target of Iranian retaliatory strikes since the air strikes launched by Israel and the USA on Iran last weekend. Video recordings made by nurses on site show flashes of light in the evening sky over Doha. They presumably show Qatar’s air defenses intercepting missiles from Iran. Yesterday, a larger flying object relatively close to Al Shaqab is said to have been prevented from reaching its target by the defensive measures.
Flying objects also over the Al Shaqab stadium
With the start of the hostilities in the region, the grooms and the few riders who were already on site were asked to only move the horses in the halls on the large equestrian complex for safety reasons. The greatest danger was posed by debris that had fallen uncontrollably over the city of Doha as a result of Iranian drones or missiles being fired.
The horses that are expected to set off for Europe on Monday morning include horses belonging to German rider Janne Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann, who sent her thanks to the local organizers for their support via Instagram.
