Divine Horses of - Friends of Marwari / Kathiawari Horse UK

As the sun begins to set into the dust of the maidan, richly clothed
dancing camels and horses are led out to display talents that still
survive from the Natchni – a now extinct dancing
strain of the Marwari
his household cavalry.
“Riding a Marwari is like
looking at the world through
the sights of a rifle,” my riding
companion had said earlier that
morning as we rode out onto
the Sheikhawati Plains. As an
instructor in the Indian army
Colonel Sarpartap Singh was no
stranger to either horses or rifles.
Sitting astride a side-winding,
snorting black mare by the name
of Raat ki Rani (Queen of the
Night) I, however, had uneasy the
feeling that I had somehow placed
myself at the wrong end of the
barrel.
Raat ki Rani’s wonderful
scimitar-shaped ears, curving
inwards so that they almost met
at the points, did indeed give
an unusual perspective to the
Indian acacia. But so too did
her stomping hooves and the
acceleration of an instinctive
warhorse that threatened to make
me a permanent feature of the
desert acacia should I relax my
hold on the reins.
The warriors of the Rajput
caste were renowned for their
courage, their lust for conquest
and their nobility…and they refined
these qualities in their horses.
There are many stories of entire
Rajput clans who rode to certain
death in battle rather than retreat.
And there are tales of noble
Marwaris who leapt fearlessly
onto the spear-studded howdahs
of battle elephants or threw
themselves into the fray from high
battlements.
Since I was mounted upon
a creature that would once have
been considered of a loftier caste
even than her Rajput riders it was
fitting that Raat ki Rani should be
out to teach me some respect.
The Marwari Horse
During the days of the
British Raj the Marwari was
shunned in favour of imported
polo ponies and European
thoroughbreds. A victim of colonial
bigotry, this princely and perfectlyadapted
desert breed quickly
slid into disrepute until even their
wonderful ears were derided as
the ‘mark of a native horse.’ Even
today the descendents of once
proud warhorses can often be
seen hauling hardware carts in the
streets of Jaipur.
Despite their statuesque
beauty, Marwaris have all the
toughness and desert guile of
the hardiest Outback brumby
and Bonnie quickly realised that
with good training they would
be ideally suited to horseback
tours across the Sheikhawati
plains. Their fine, silky coats keep
them cool and their small, tough
hooves travel unflinchingly over the
stony land. Their long eyelashes
and their wonderful ears (which
can flick through 180 degrees)
have evolved to protect them
from sandstorms. Bred for long,
arduous desert campaigns, the
Marwaris could travel for great
distances on scant water and little
grazing; even today the horsetraders
of the Marasi tribe still
www.nagmagmedia.com email: info@nagmagmedia.com June 2009 NagMag ❘ 27
❝ How can I
compare
as a lover
to the mare
when she
is close to
thee? ❞