The International Equestrian Federation has banned its president's husband from riding in endurance races for six months after his horse twice failed doping tests.

Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, accepted that his horse, Tahhan, tested positive for a hypertension drug and the steroid stanozolol, the governing body said yesterday.

"Consistent with the FEI's strict liability approach to anti-doping rule violations, the panel has found Sheik Mohammed responsible for the doping of his horse," a tribunal panel said in a ruling published on the FEI's website.

His ban runs through October 3, and he must pay US$4,200 in fines and legal costs.

The sheik's horse trainer, Abdullah bin Huzaim, admitted giving the horse drugs without the sheik's knowledge before the 120 km desert races at Bahrain and Dubai.

Bin Huzaim was banned for 12 months and fined US$3,750.Sheik Mohammed's wife, Princess Haya of Jordan, is president of the FEI and has campaigned to clean up equestrian's doping and medication problems. She took no part in the disciplinary process.

The three-man panel said bin Huzaim, manager of the sheik's Emaar Stables in Dubai, "clearly wanted His Highness to do well with the horse. This behaviour is not acceptable and needs to be sanctioned severely."