A Riding Experience to Remember

Providing adaptive riding, stable management and driving classes for individuals with special needs.

Welcome to Al Marmoom Initiative

Thanks to the generosity of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai , Al Marmoom Intiative was gifted a generous piece of land in the Emirate of Dubai. This along with the continued support of King Hamad bin Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa of Bahrain and His Highness Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, has assisted us in providing special needs adults and children with adaptive equestrian and greenhouse farming activites.

NEWS


September, October, November, December 2022 News December 2022

September kicked off with preparations for the upcoming 2022-2023 season, including cleaning the stable, levelling the riding arena, updating signs, and preparing the mounting block. The first week of riding classes went smoothly, and we were thrilled to see our riders and volunteers back in act...

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May, June, July, August 2022 News August 2022

Between lessons, during break time, we are running our Volunteer Payback Scheme where those who wish can have some riding/ground lessons in return for their benevolent work. We are deeply grateful to our volunteers for their tremendous help.  As for Cara, she had the chance to enjoy an ener...

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January, February, March, April 2022 News April 2022

We kicked the Year 2022 with a lot of rain and completely flooded roads! Talk about a happy start! And thus we had to postpone our term 2 lessons. Thanks to Dubai Municipality though and the Engineering Office, the roads were fixed and business could occur as usual. We are also very grateful for...

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September, October, November, December 2021 News October 2021

Hello there my fabulous fellow horse lovers! Well it has been quite the start to the new season here at Al Marmoom, how wonderful it has been in welcoming some new faces and always a pleasure to see the old faces return to our horse haven. We would love to take this time to share all the importa...

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May, June, July, August 2021 News August 2021

Hello there my fabulous fellow horse lovers Well, it has been quite the summer at the stables and we would love to take this time to share all the important happenings and goings on. We began preparations at the end of July for our upcoming 2021-2022 season, as anticipated the schedule of l...

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January, February, March, April 2021 News April 2021

We are happy to share some news for the last few months! We started our second with increasing our capacity to 60%, doubled last term! Sadly, at the end of January we had to stop all activities due to the increasing number of Covid-19 cases. Hope to see you all next term with a 100% of our capac...

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September, October, November, December 2020 News December 2020

We started our autumn with preparation Al Marmoom Initiative for the new 2020-2021 season – trimming the trees, deep stable cleaning, grass trimming, finishing the training for the horses to pass by sterilization tunnel. All staff completed “Fire Fighting Awareness Course”. Big THANK YOU t...

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May, June, July, August 2020 News August 2020

Over the summer and Covid-19 lockdown Life slowed down significantly here at Al Marmoom and we missed our Students and Volunteers equally.   Nevertheless we used the hot period to prepare for the upcoming autumn/winter season and keep everyone safe.  We installed a sanitisation t...

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March, April 2020 April 2020

Over the last couple of months life changed dramatically for everyone around the world. Covid 19 has caused disruption to every home and to everyone’s everyday lives.  We stopped all our activates at Al Marmoom Initiative from start of March and centre was on quarantine since that. T...

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January, February 2020 News February 2020

Start of the new 2020 year we began with Endurance race for our students. 5km loop in the desert was not an easy ride. We are very proud of every participant!!! WELL DONE!!!  Heavy rain came couple of weeks after January started. The stable was unreachable due to the flooded roads for more ...

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November, December news 2019 December 2019

We are excited to have all our students completed the first ‘Basic riding’ and the second “Show jumping’ blocks of lessons after 12 weeks of hard work. We are so proud of them! We also take this opportunity to thank all the amazing volunteers who offer selflessly their precious help every w...

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Jun, July, August, September, October News 2019 October 2019

This summer was no so hot and humid, but finally it is over, and we launched our 2019-2020 season. The horses had a nice holiday and ready to go back to work. A big thank you to Dubai Ambulance, who trained our grooms and gardeners a refresher course in basic First Aid. The Basic Riding block was ...

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May News 2019 May 2019

Yesterday we had a last day of the lessons of our 4th Season 2018-2019. It has been another amazing season at Al Marmoom Initiative. 61 new students joined our family this season. We are so happy to have you and deliver to you fun, joy and educational part in our lessons. More than 100 new volunte...

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April News 2019 April 2019

We started April with the volunteer pay-back scheme, where our regular volunteers enjoyed some riding lessons and desert hacks to thank them for all their hard work last term. After the spring break, the weather was good enough for us to continue riding lessons for a few more weeks, before moving ou...

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March News 2019 March 2019

March has been a mix of weather where we were able to take riders out into the desert challenge and further afield, and we’ve also had to shelter from several sandstorms by working in the stables instead. We’ve continued to be well supported by corporate and student volunteers, including from th...

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February News 2019 February 2019

Another month gone very quickly. February brought us few rainy days and been very productive with corporate volunteering. Companies like Al Hail ORIX Finance PSC, Eversheds Sutherland, Alstom Transport SA, Manipal University came with their team to give a part of their time to the community. We had ...

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January News 2019 January 2019

We had a busy and productive January hear at Al Marmoom. Amazing Festival of Fun took place at the start of the year – our 4th annual even, where we invite all our students and volunteers with their families to enjoy our achievements. Volunteer of the Year is Anke, our dedicated volunteer that wit...

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December News 2018 December 2018

The last month of 2018 was as full of big achievements at Al Marmoom. We had around 30 cyclists participating in a cycling race for national day. Dubai police blocked the way for us and even arrived in sports car to show their support for the super event. Thank you to Hogan Lovells, Sheraton Dubai ...

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November News 2018 November 2018

Isn’t the weather sensational at the moment? The omnipresent sunshine coupled with a cool breeze makes the riding lessons so much more enjoyable! Huge congratulations to our rider Abdullah Sayde from Senses school, due to his dedication and passion for horse riding, he’s now in perfect control a...

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October News 2018 October 2018

  We feel honoured that Ari TV came to our stable to film and document what we do best here at Al Marmoom Initiative, which is providing horse riding lessons to special needs students and offering gardening activities in our beloved organic greenhouse. Seeing the smiles of delight that ou...

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June, July, August, September News 2018 September 2018

Ladies and gentlemen, It’s that time of year again! The humidity is subsiding, you can wear your sunglasses without them steaming up and impairing your vision, which is never a good thing whilst you are riding a horse J We are very pleased to announce our complimentary riding lessons will comme...

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May News 2018 May 2018

Dear friends, The end of May brings blooming flowers and sunshine into our lives, but nothing can match the glow of gratitude remaining from the season that has just finished. Our amazing students completed the last part of their classes: stable management has always been a hard work. We are so ...

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April News 2018 April 2018

  Dear friends, April has ended and with it our riding lessons. Unmounted activities will be taking place at our facility all through next month which will be the last month for this season. Right after our spring break, Al Marmoom students enjoyed the Egg Hunt in the Desert Challenge,...

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March News 2018 March 2018

  Dear friends, Time goes by fast and spring is already here to remind us that temperatures in the desert will be rising soon. We have had an exciting month with people coming to and going from our stables! To start with, two of the best high-quality, 5-star hotels of Dubai sent us ...

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February News 2018 February 2018

Dear friends, We hope you’ve had a great February! This month we were happy to welcome the SWERVE company to our stables and thank in person all the people who contributed to our annual event back in January. We still watch the video they made for Al Marmoom Initiative and we get emotional! ...

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January News 2018 January 2018

  Happy New Year!!! The start of each new year brings all of us an opportunity to feel fresh with renewed spirits, energy and enthusiasm. Our commitment to continue the life changing therapies for our students will remain strong into 2018. To start with, first big event of the year was...

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December News 2017 December 2017

Dear friends, As 2017 comes to an end, we all think back through this year and count our achievements, our pending goals and set our future plans.  Al Marmoom team would like to share the last news for 2017 with you. December has had lots of fun as we hosted a high-spirited party on the 8th o...

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November News 2017 November 2017

As November comes to its end and winter is just around the corner, we would like to share some of our monthly news with you. We are excited to have all our students finishing the first block of lessons after 8 weeks of hard work. We are so proud of them! We also take this opportunity to thank all...

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May, June, July, August, September, October 2017 October 2017

To celebrate the launch of the 2017 season, we would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that has helped in the progress and development of our unique center. Since its inception 3 years ago, our project has grown to be the biggest in Dubai, giving opportunity for people with physical an...

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April News 2017 April 2017

April was another extraordinary month for the students of the Al Marmoom Initiative with plenty of growing and harvesting in the Greenhouses to Pony Club action with the horses. With the temperature quickly increasing here in the Desert, riding students focused on completing their Mini road-rider c...

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March News 2017 March 2017

Another month… and the action just gets more exciting for the students of the Al Marmoom Initiative.  March saw yet more ‘firsts’ as the students competed against able-bodied competitors at the ‘Horse & Hound’ show at Al Habtoor’s Polo and Equestrian club.  This was the first of it...

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February News 2017 February 2017

Four lovely students from Kings’ school’s new Autism class join us every Thursday morning from February 23rd onwards.  The Al Barsha based children are very much looking forward to learning skills in the Greenhouse and with our horses. Students from SNF school working our homemade ‘T-junct...

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January News 2017 January 2017

  The month of January certainly ‘kick started’ a brand new exciting year for the Al Marmoom Initiative.  The team at Al Habtoor Polo and Equestrian club organised an event where we were able to take part in a number of classes with our students.   Eight of our riders negotiated their w...

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December 2016 News December 2016

The past few weeks at the Al Marmoom Initiative has been action-packed as ever. All students have completed their second block of training and have completed their Gardening and Basic Riding assessments too. To celebrate their achievements, ‘The Festival of Fun 2016’ was held at the Centre. More...

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Nowember 2016 News November 2016

November was a fast and furious month for the students, staff and volunteers of the Al Marmoom Initiative.   Block 2 started with ‘Basic Riding’ as the weather is now cool enough to saddle up for more weekly challenges.  Students have been learning the basics while perfecting their balance on...

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October 2016 News October 2016

October 2016 brought even more developments for the Al Marmoom Initiative. Block one’s ‘Showmanship’ course, lasting six weeks, came to an end and produced plenty of happy graduates with their rosettes and achievement sheets. Greenhouse activities were also in full bloom with plenty of f...

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September News September 2016

The new outdoor riding season has begun! With 5 schools attending in the weekdays and many individuals at the weekends we already have more than 80 students a week benefiting  from our Riding and Greenhouse sessions. We have also completed 4 volunteer training sessions, training around 50 volunte...

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August News August 2016

The greenhouse lessons were in full swing in Aug.  Students now are learning how to plant and care for different types of crops in our temperature controlled greenhouses they love getting involved with nature and seeing their hard work grow.  Stable management lessons continued indoor whilst the w...

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July News July 2016

Even during the heat of the summer Al Marmoom didn't slow down. The Al Marmoom Greenhouses are in the final stages of preparation and we hope to have them launched and operational by Sep. The is a very exciting new project for us and will help provide vocational positions and income for a sustainabl...

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June News June 2016

Our Stable Management classes continued and so did the commitment of our fabulous volunteers .  We had one of our quarterly clean up days where a army of hardworking ladies and gents scrubbed, brushed, polished and washed the stables . Thank you all we could not do it without you. VIEW GALERY...

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Volunteer coffee morning May 2016

It was a great to catch up with so many of our amazing volunteers at our coffee morning. We got some great feedback and ideas and then tried to get ourselves out of a human knot and challenged some to a game of 'What am I'. A huge thank you to Sheraton Dubai, Mall of the Emirates Hotel who sponsored...

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May Students May 2016

A few tough students continued their outdoor riding lessons despite the heat.  We also started our full time indoor stable management program which teaches the students  practical tasks to care for horses and ponies. We held our volunteer coffee morning and had the Marriott team volun...

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April Students April 2016

With more than 45 students riding weekly we started to wind down our outdoor riding due to the hot weather.  AL Marmoom will be running indoor stable management classes throughout the summer where students learn how to care for our lovely horses.  We had a new member of the Team join us Emir who w...

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March Students March 2016

As our student numbers rose so did the fun! We now have a total of 40 students riding and taking part in stable management classes weekly.  Some of our volunteers took part in first aid courses and we had a bit of rain which meant there was more swimming than riding for a week! VIEW GALLERY &...

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Feb Students February 2016

Marmoom now has more than 30 students benefiting from equine therapy every week.  This is an amazing achievement in our first season and its thanks to our fantastic staff and volunteers that this has been possible.  We continue to see amazing results from the riding and stable management sessions ...

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Al Marmoom first annual BBQ January 2016

On Jan 15th we held the first annual BBQ and celebrated our amazing first few months since opening.  Thank you to all who attended and helped with the event. 100 students and volunteers ate, played games and enjoyed balloon bending and face painting  .  With 300 riding hours and more than 500 ...

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Autism Awareness talk with Sarah Baker January 2016

On the 29th of January Ms Sarah Baker of the Dubai Autism center  gave a talk to our volunteers and outside visitors.  She spoke in detail about the challenges faced by Autistic individuals and the best way to approach those who have this diagnosis. She also gave more information about the wide...

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King Hamad Al Khalifa and Sheikh Nasser Al KHalifa visit January 2016

On Jan 6th we were honored to receive HM King Hamad Al Khalifa and HH Sheikh Nasser Al Khalifa to Al Marmoom Equine Therapy.  Both His Majesty and His Highness are supporters of our venue and are committed to  developing special needs individuals throughout the region.  King Hamad and Sheikh Nass...

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Rashid Pediatric School visit December 2015

The children and adults from Rashid school joined us for a BBQ and karaoke morning in December.  The students enjoyed a fun filled time with dancing, singing and spending time with our lovely horses. Al Marmoom works very closely with schools and residential centers like Rashid to provide recreatio...

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November Students December 2015

As the weather got even cooler  more amazing students  have been riding and taking part in our stable management classes in the month of November.  Students of all ages from all over Dubai have been enjoying the benefits of the interaction with our wonderful horses.  Take a look at some of these...

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Greenhouse planting November 2015

Here at Al Marmoom we are committed to the all round development of individuals with special needs, part of this is our brand new greenhouse project. Through this project we aim to teach special needs adults how to plant, look after and harvest, vegetables, plants, flowers and fruit.  Hamooudi and ...

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October Students October 2015

Its been a busy October here at Al Marmoom, the weather is now perfect and we have been visited by children and adults of all ages and nationalities.  A huge thank you to all our hard working committed volunteers making this possible. Check out our gallery to see some of the fantastic classes our s...

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Volunteer Training with RDA UK October 2015

More than 35 volunteers attended Al Marmoom's training sessions on the 9th and 10th of October.  The classes were conducted by RDA UK coach Jane Barker who had flown in from the UK to assist us in preparing our volunteers. The sessions covered all aspects of a riding lesson with a special needs in...

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Senses Residential Centre Visit September 2015

Pupils from Senses Residential Centre for individuals with special needs enjoyed a fun filled morning with us.  Ten pupils from age 6 to 35 learnt how to fill hay nets ready for horse feeding, spent time grooming the horses and then had a chance to feed them with their favorite snack, carrots.  Ma...

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Volunteer Open Day September 2015

More than 40 committed volunteers attended our first volunteer open day held on 5th Sep 2015.  These volunteers were given a tour and detailed information on the venue they will be helping run. The attendees met all the horses, were shown an example of a lesson and how they would be involved in th...

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RDA Visit July 2015

RDA consultant  Jane Barker flew in from the UK for one of her regular trips to Al Marmoom , as we follow the UK RDA syllabus and guidelines we regularly take advice and host members from the UK. These experts assist and advise on best practices and the newest techniques available. This constant on...

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