A total of 147 horses and accompanying staff have returned safely to Europe after being stuck in Doha, Qatar, following the cancellation of the Longines Global Champions Tour of Doha. The event, which was scheduled to take place at the Al Shaqab Equestrian Centre in Doha from March 4 to 7, was cancelled two days prior to show start due to the current situation in the region – with grooms and horses already on-site.

Here, Mariella Offner, who works as a show groom for Austria’s Max Kühner, shares her experience in Doha.

On 29 December we flew to Doha with six horses on board. Escaping the European winter sounded nice, but to be honest the motivation wasn’t at its highest. Geneva and London had just finished, and none of us had much time to recover from the intense indoor season.

Arriving in Doha, the warmth immediately felt good. Slowly more riders and teams arrived, and it became clear that we had a great group of people there. We celebrated New Year’s Eve with a Cheesecake Factory dinner and jumped straight into the routine the next day with the vet check.

The plan was simple: two weeks of shows, one week off. The first show weeks passed quickly. We had some good results, although the Grand Prix luck wasn’t fully on our side.

During the first week off it was back to riding six horses a day. I’m used to riding a lot, but during winter show seasons you rarely have that much time for training, so the muscle soreness came quickly. Thanks to TikTok we discovered an amazing massage place, and it soon became a weekly routine: Monday 6 p.m. massages with the girls, followed by dinner.

We also tried to enjoy the time away from the shows. A big group of us visited the food festival, explored the city and spent time together. Having your friends around for so long makes the riding days even more enjoyable.

Even our blacksmith team came out for a visit. They usually work quietly in the background, so it was nice that they could finally see the horses competing in a five-star Grand Prix.

Weeks three and four followed, and to be honest most of us didn’t take the shows quite as seriously as we might have in Europe. 

After those weeks finished, plans suddenly changed. One horse went back home to help with the World Cup shows in Europe, while two others were sent to Doha. The winter at home had become very harsh, and since the horses were feeling great and the facilities in Doha were excellent, Max decided to bring Elektric Blue P and EIC Up too Jacco Blue to get some sun and start their season with some easier rounds.

That also meant my plans changed. Instead of staying until mid-March, I would be there until April.

Weeks five and six started with my two favourites arriving, more friends joining the tour, and Team Swans finally fully assembled. We knew the coming weeks would be fun.

What we didn’t fully realise was that Ramadan was starting, which meant very late class times. Mornings in the stables were quiet, and many of the competitions ran deep into the night. Still, the horses felt amazing and the atmosphere stayed relaxed.

After those weeks we had another break before the GCL week. We spent our evenings going to the mall, eating sushi, getting massages, and resetting after the long nights at the shows.

Everything felt normal. Until it suddenly wasn’t.

The day started like any other. We were working the horses as usual. Nobody was really checking the news, and none of us knew about the escalating situation in the region.

At 12:22 I was riding in the main arena with EIC Cooley when an alarm suddenly went off on my phone. I didn’t think much of it. It sounded like I had accidentally pressed the emergency button in my pocket.

Back at the stable I noticed the grooms gathering together. Everyone was confused. Then the alarms started going off again on our phones. That was the moment we realised something serious was happening. A war had started.

My first call was to Max, telling him we were under attack. At that point nothing had even appeared in the German news yet, so I started sending him every piece of information I could find.

At 12:29 we heard the first boom. Missiles were being intercepted by the defence system above Doha. You could feel the explosions through the ground. We could clearly see everything happening in the sky while sitting on top of the horses. Everyone went quiet. You could feel the fear immediately. Questions rushed through all our minds: What’s happening? Are we safe? Are the horses safe? How will we get home?

Since we didn’t know what would happen next, I decided to give the horses a “spa day” instead — long grooming sessions and extra time in the Activomed blankets. I didn’t want them leaving the stables again.

At 16:46 another explosion. At that moment we already realised we might be stuck here for a while.The teams from GCL, Borg Events and the Doha Tour started organising meetings, trying to keep everyone informed as best as possible.

Then at 18:49 — another boom. By that time nobody was really leaving the stables anymore. Not every groom had accommodation at the showgrounds, and neither did I, but we all knew one thing: Tonight we would stay together. Scrolling through social media only made things worse. There was a lot of fake AI footage, but also enough real videos to make the situation terrifying.

Our small group decided to organise night shifts, two people at a time, checking the horses so everyone could get at least some rest. At 22:38 it started again. Explosions every few minutes. Sometimes there were short pauses, then another series of interceptions. For the first night, those were the last ones we heard.

The next morning the first thing I did was check the news. Had anything been hit? What was the security level? And the biggest question of all: What are we going to do with the horses? 

At 08:03 the decision was made for us when another interception happened. So we kept it simple: hand walking the horses and another spa day. After that things became strangely quiet. Too quiet. Before, we had enjoyed the calm atmosphere in Doha. Now the silence felt unsettling. But luckily the rest of the day stayed calm.

On 7 March at 14:21 the message came: We have flights tomorrow. Nobody had details. Just one instruction: pack and be ready. Packing equipment for seven horses in a few hours felt impossible, but we played Tetris with every trunk and bag. At that point we didn’t care how things were packed — we just wanted to go home.

At 18:34 the schedule arrived:

Equipment ready: 22:00

Loading horses: 02:00

Take-off: 10:00 Sunday

75 horses. One plane. Once the horses were in the containers, everything moved quickly. The pilots were ready, and soon we were taxiing down the runway. During take-off you could feel the tension in the plane. Then the seatbelt sign turned off. That meant we were allowed to go back to the horses. But it also meant something else. We were finally in safe airspace. We made it.

- Mariella