International trainer and KNHS judge Annemiek Raaijmakers will lead sessions from 24 to 29 October, before coaching participating riders during the competition on 30 and 31 October.
International dressage trainer Annemiek Raaijmakers is returning to Kuwait for a six-day clinic from 24 to 29 October 2026, placing a concentrated period of training immediately ahead of a two-day dressage competition.
The programme was announced jointly by Al-Joan Equestrian Center and Equiciety on 7 October. It is open to riders of all levels and will cover dressage lessons and preparation for competition, according to the organisers’ announcement.
Raaijmakers, described in the announcement as an international trainer and KNHS judge, will also remain available to support and coach participating riders during the competition on 30 and 31 October. The schedule connects the clinic directly to a competitive outing, rather than ending the visiting trainer’s involvement when the lessons finish.
Six days of training before competition
The organisers have presented the clinic as suitable both for riders preparing to compete and for those seeking to develop their riding or their horse’s performance. That distinction gives the programme a broader scope than a preparation session reserved for experienced competitors.
The six-day window runs from Saturday, 24 October, to Thursday, 29 October. The competition follows on Friday and Saturday. For those taking part in both, the arrangement puts their training and competition within the same eight-day period.
The announcement identifies two strands of instruction: dressage lessons and competition preparation. It does not publish a detailed daily timetable, lesson duration or fees. Those arrangements are being handled through the organisers’ booking contact, with places described as limited.
Raaijmakers’ role during the competition is specified as support and coaching. Although the announcement also identifies her judging qualification, it does not name her as a judge for the October event.
A returning trainer with a dressage background
The announcement describes Raaijmakers as returning to Kuwait, making this a continuation of her involvement with local riders. Her professional profile identifies her with RS Stables in the Netherlands and describes experience in both competition and judging.
The combination is relevant to the clinic’s stated emphasis on preparation: competitive dressage involves performing a prescribed test, while teaching takes place around the work needed by each horse-and-rider combination. The organisers have not announced particular exercises or promised specific competitive results.
Al-Joan’s own website describes a centre providing boarding, breeding and training, with a particular focus on showjumping. Its involvement in the dressage programme places this visiting instruction within a facility whose wider work already includes training horses and riders.
There is also an established competition connection. Kuwait Dressage’s public results archive lists an Aljoan Equestrian Center dressage event held on 9 and 10 May 2025. The October announcement therefore sits alongside a documented history of the centre’s participation in the discipline.
Equiciety’s connection to visiting instruction
For Equiciety, the clinic reflects an involvement in dressage that has included bringing overseas teaching to Kuwait as well as supporting competitions. The venture was founded by Sheikha Fajer Bader Al-Sabah and Sheikh Sabah Mubarak Al-Sabah.
A 2023 report by Eurodressage traced Fajer’s interest in developing local instruction to her own experience of travelling to Europe to pursue dressage. It reported that she contacted Dutch trainer Amber den Heyer in 2019, before the pandemic delayed plans for clinics in Kuwait.
Den Heyer eventually travelled to Kuwait in June 2022. Fajer explained at the time that the intention was to make instruction available to other interested riders, extending access beyond her own lessons.
The report also documented a federation-approved competition in November 2022 using locally prepared tests inspired by the Dutch system. Teaching and competition were developing together, with visiting expertise contributing to a local framework.
The forthcoming Raaijmakers clinic follows that same broad sequence of instruction followed by an opportunity to compete. Its specific feature is the continuity of coaching through the competition weekend.
A place within Kuwait’s dressage calendar
The local discipline now has a published range of tests and a record of recurring events. Kuwait Dressage’s test collection includes an introductory Training level, Basic, two Light levels and two Medium levels, reflecting different stages of development.
Its results archive lists competitions involving several venues during 2025 and 2026, including Equiciety’s annual championship on 16 and 17 January 2026. Further local results are recorded for February, May and June.
That background helps explain the timing of a clinic immediately before competition. Riders are preparing within an existing sequence of local events, with graded tests providing a framework for their work. The October post’s invitation to all levels should not, however, be confused with a published list of competition classes; the announcement does not supply that detail.
The same archive records a Kuwait FEI Dressage World Challenge event in December 2025. That series is designed to give riders an international competitive comparison without requiring them to leave their own country. It represents a separate part of the discipline’s development from the October clinic, but shows how the domestic programme extends from training and local classes towards wider competition. The forthcoming clinic announcement does not describe the October competition as an FEI World Challenge event.
For the forthcoming programme, the confirmed sequence is clear: clinic sessions from 24 to 29 October, followed by competition-day coaching on 30 and 31 October. Al-Joan and Equiciety have directed booking enquiries to WhatsApp on +965 9944 7986.
