Established by the British in 1920, the Baghdad Equestrian Club has been one of the most stable institutions in Iraq since the invasion. “The crowd in the stands rose to their feet shouting and gesticulating in tense excitement as the horses rounded the final bend and thundered down the home straight to the finishing-post in a cloud of dust. A mundane enough sight in many places, for sure – but not perhaps what you would expect to find in war-stricken Baghdad.”