In my opinion, the Marwari horse is the best all-purpose an animal that money can buy. With the cost of maintaining a horse becoming more and more expensive with the passing of time, it becomes very important for an individual to have a horse which fulfills if not all, at least most of his requirements.
Generally speaking, the Marwari house is intelligent and faithful, he is fairly easy to train and if you ride it on loose rein on a track which is not smooth it will maneuver him all the time. More often than not he knows the way back home, even if it is dark. He is a sure-footed animal and this makes it a very good animal for the horse safari in any sort of terrain.
When you have kept a Marwari horse for some time a bond develops between the rider and horse and the faithfulness is there for all to see. If a rider falls off, his horse would stand by his side and not let a stranger come near his master. We have known many a story of the Marwari horses bringing his injured master home from the battlefield. There can be no better example of this when a badly injured chetak took Maharana Pratap to safety in the battle of Haldi Ghati before Chetak breathed his last.
The Marwari horse has plenty of stamina and this can be further developed with good feeding and proper exercise. If we see the results of the past few years we see that the Marwari horse has acquitted its self, very well in the various endurance rides. We are yet to realize the full potential of the Marwari horses as an endurance animal. We now have plenty of opportunity for endurance riding and in due course of time, I am sure the Marwari horse will prove its self to be an animal of international class endurance animal.
The Marwari horse being originally an animal of the desert is not a fussy eater and will do well on dry fodder and grain if one can balance the diet and gives it green fodder as well as you will get optimum results. We know that in parts of western Rajasthan it is not possible to have green fodder all the year round in spite of the Marwari horse does well.
Tent pegging is a sport in which Marwari excels, even if you have one horse you can compete in tent pegging at the national level. Pre-independence Marwari horses were used for polo. The Marwari is not considered to be a good jumper but he will do the basics in jumping. It is used extensively for marriages where it is a prolific dancer. A good dancing horse can fetch as much as Rs. 50,000 for performing in a single marriage. I suppose it can also be trained for dressage.
It is very difficult to separate the Marwari horse from the Mirasi in Western Rajasthan and North Gujarat. In the past Mirasi was a ‘Chabak sawar’ he would travel from one stable to another and fine-tune your horse for your specific liking in riding. In recent times they have become more horse traders than horse trainers through some of them will do both fairly well. I would take the liberty of the calling them the walking and talking stud book of the area in which they reside. To give you an example of someone whom I have known for more than 35 years – Bakshu Mir of Malan village of Banaskantha District in North Gujarat. He would have the details of which mare is in foal to which stallion. He would also know the preferred choice of various horse owners and contact the person concerned for a particular animal. He would barter animals with you or even go through with the deal, which is part sale part barter. Needless to say that he has the gift of the gab and he will praise the animal he is selling sly high and make you feel that you are going to miss an opportunity of a lifetime if you don’t purchase the animal he is offering. A mare with him is 5 years of age for the next 5 years till such time that someone will point out to him that 3 years back he had said that she was 5 years old. I have fondly christened him as the “holy crook” a name to which he responds!
The horse shows have dome a world of good to the Marwari horse and I can say this without any hesitation that the general standard has greatly improved over the years. I was in the recent past judging a horse show in Ambod near Gandhinagar in Gujarat and the standard of animals was very good and the general condition was excellent.
The registration of horses by our society has helped in promoting the true to type horse and the benefit of this. I am sure will be reaped by the breed in the years to come.
To conclude I would say, enjoy the Marwari horse as an all-around package.
