About Indian Horses

The gazette notification by the Government of India identifies 5 breeds of Indian horses as Marwari, Kathiyawari, Manipuri, Spiti and Zanskari.

MARWARI:

The Marwari Horse has acquired its name from its original breeding place Marwar in Rajasthan. The Marwari horse today is descended from the splendid war-horses that served the ruling families and warriors of feudal India, throughout and from the beginning of that country's history. Their studs were unparalleled, as they were declared divine and superior to all men, including those of Royal blood. Accordingly, only the Rajput families and the Kshatriyas - warrior caste were permitted to mount these exalted animals. Today the breed is once again achieving eminence after over a century of twilight status due to the Imperial presence of the British and further, the new Indian democracy. Marwari horse, as the most potent symbol of the warrior Kings somehow survived wholesale slaughter, castration and fearful ignorance during the troubled times preceding Independence and for several decades later. It is thanks to the surviving Rajput families and horse lovers from all communities that the resilient and beautiful Marwari has emerged from the shadows onto a bright and hopeful future and out of the threat of extinction.

Read more at The Indigenous Horse Society of India site:

http://bit.ly/WcHUrQ

Image:
MAHARAJAH SREE BUKHT SING JEE OF JODHPUR
Watercolor; 22 x 30.6 cm.
Original unsigned watercolor; port. of Maharajah, mounted, in military dress with swords, riding toward left, with lance, on caparisoned horse.

Source: Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection, Brown University