A Breed Apart

WHAT MAHARANA PRATAP'S horse, Chetak, did four centuries ago during the battle against the armies of the Mughals at Haldighati has survived into the 20th century. The movement he made to protect his rider, the udang-an action in which the horse leaps into the air and kicks out its hind legs violently-is to this day an integral part of the manuals used at classical indoor Spanish riding schools where it is known as the capriole. But this is one of the few remaining traces of the Marwari breed of horse renowned in Rajput legends for its valour and loyalty. In fact, the legend of Chetak's loyalty is as great as that of his bravery. The story goes that a badly wounded Chetak, having charged an elephant, carried his injured master to safety across a nulla. It was only when he knew that Maharana Pratap was safe that he collapsed and died. More than400 years later, this famous Marwari breed and the town of Haldighati are under the spotlight again because the descendants of the royal families of Rajasthan have formed the Chetak Horse Society of India and held a horse fair recently to revive interest in the dwindling Marwari breed. There are barely more than a thousand left now due to the cross-breeding during the Raj and lack of incentives to breeders. Also, what has gone against the breed over the years is that horse owners have preferred thoroughbreds which can perform on race tracks and earn money for them. Marwari horses are cowhocked-knees turned inwards-so they cannot be trained for the race track or for polo.

But under the leadership of Narendra Singh, uncle of the present Maharana of Mewar, the society is aiming to boost the market for the breed by reviving interest in the qualities of the horse. The greater demand is also expected to put pressure on the European Community to lift its ban on the import of Asian horses, which, in turn, it is hoped, will push prices from the current fi gure of Rs 15,000 for a horse to around Rs 8 0,000. About 300 visitors witnessed the display of colts, fillies, mares and stallions daily during the recent fair. Kunwar Yashwardhan Singh, the director of the Indore Royal Rider club, bought two horses for around Rs 13,000 each-a considerable rise over a measly price of Rs 3,000 a decade ago.

Positive signals have come from the foreigners who visited the fair. Dr Joseph Cichon, president of the Bavarian Riding Club, said: "Perhaps two or three of the Marwari horses could be invited to the Equitana horse fair in Essen to show Europe a breed that it will simply love. This horse could find a good market abroad."

The class of the Marwari breed is indisputable, as was evident in the movements of Alibaba who won everyone's heart at the fair. Alibaba, who has been featured in the prestigious British magazine The Horse and Hound, demonstrated the piaffer, a gait in which the feet are lifted in the same succession as a trot, but more slowly. Indeed, Alibaba frequently went a step further and performed the see-saw piaffer, an even more complex dressage movement. "What Alibaba is doing is superior even to the Spanish school of riding. It is better than what any Olympic gold medallist can perform," says S.A.H. Imam, a well known writer on horses.

But there are those like Kunwar Yashwardhan Singh who fail to appreciate the reason for holding the horse fair and think the society is pushing up the prices of the horses unnaturally. The fear of those who love this breed is that if many others begin to think the same, the sheer class and nobility of the Marwari horse might be harnessed for the mundane job of taking foreigners on safaris through Rajasthan and then, one day, it will truly disappear into the desert sunset.