El Jadida is also known as «The city of the horse», where does that expectation come from?
The El Jadida region is rich in all its broad cultural facets. Its history, its tradition and its people, make the capital of this region, a unique city that is mandatory to visit. However, among the aspects of greatest tourist interest that this city enjoys is its illusion, illusion and love for the horse world, in fact, El Jadida is also known as “The city of the horse”.
The hobby that the practice of this sport arouses in El Jadida causes such expectation that it can be compared to large international horse riding circles such as Vienna, Rome, Cordoba, Paris, Budapest, Moscow or Avignon. In addition to golf, the citizens of this Moroccan city are great athletes and there is a great love for horses in general. It has the Princesa Lalla Malika racecourse where competitions are held such as the International Horse Show, known for its worldwide relevance.
Another of the horse world events that you can enjoy in the city of the Moroccan Atlantic West is El Jadida Horse Show. A hall where more than 150,000 people usually visit its 62 stands where they can also see 623 different horses. Most of them compete in Dressage, Show jumping or Polo and some are on show.
The Association of the Horse Show of El Jadida, the one that organizes all the events around the equestrian world, was founded in 2008 and this, declared of public utility, is in charge of establishing channels of cooperation and communication between different institutions in charge of promoting it as organizers and professionals of the equestrian sector. Thus, El Jadida in this sense is one of the great motors of the equestrian world within Morocco, in charge of horse development in the Maghreb country due to its contribution to economic and social development.
But, where does such expectation for the horse world come from?
Although there is no study of this correlation, the Moroccan population has always had a very close relationship with animals and, especially, with the equine world.
In this sense, in North Africa an ancestral riding tradition called the Tbourida. It is a kind of race in which the riders compete at a gallop making a series of movements and at the end of these they shoot off towards the finish line. Its declared origin from when battles are carried out on horseback and is currently a very common practice on specific dates for Bedouin tribes. In this constant adoration that is lived in the north of Morocco in cities like El Jadida, Tbourida continues to be represented as a symbol of that desire for the equine world that survives among miles of people in the country.