8
The Superintendent, Civil Veterinary Department, South Punjab, re
marks:—
"Judging from the stock I have seen purchased at the Fairs by the different Remount Officers, I am con-
vinced that the produce of the thorough-bred English or Australian is far the most popular, as this is unques-
tionably the most suitable stallion for producing Army Remounts, when the dam is a roomy one. At the same
time it must never be lost sight of that the thorough-bred or Arab must be a powerful horse with good bone."
The Superintendent, Civil Veterinary Department, North Western Prov-
inces and Oudh, states:—
"In offering an opinion on the class of stallion most likely to produce suitable stock for the Army, it has
to be taken into consideration the class of mare served. In these Provinces, the majority of our mares possess a
large amount of Norfolk Trotter blood, a great number of them being big roomy mares, and these I consider,
when covered by thorough-bred English, thorough-bred Australian, or good class Arabs, should give us excellent
remounts. The Norfolk Trotter persisted in too far I consider a mistake; their produce not only become ill-
shapen for cavalry purposes, but they have no staying powers. On the other hand, to try and breed remounts
from thorough-breds or Arabs only, I do not think would be a success. We want a certain proportion of Hack-
neys to keep up the class of mares, and then with thorough-breds like "Vendor," "St. Porcaire," "Francois,"
and "Harvester," the produce ought to be capable of carrying a British soldier."
The Superintendent, Civil Veterinary Department, Baluchistan, states:—
"There are only two stands in Baluchistan where Remount Officers attend for purchasing, viz., Quetta and
Sibi; at these places Fairs are held anuually, and the roll of remounts shows that the majority of the stock
purchased at Quetta were by Trotter stallions and those purchased at Sibi were by thorough-bred English horses.
I have already stated that a thorough-bred horse has, so far in Baluchistan, proved himself to be the best sire
for getting good remounts."
40. The above remarks, when summarized, prove:—
1st.—That we cannot do with any one class of horse; that we require
some of each class in different districts.
2nd.—That for some time to come, the greatest number must be
thorough-breds and Arabs, to counteract the long continuance of
the Norfolk Trotter strain.
3rd.—That the Arab and thorough-bred sire must be powerful and that
the former must be big; the small Arab, whilst frequently
getting most symmetrical stock, does not get them big enough
for the weight which they have to carry.
41. I think therefore that our policy for the next few years must be to sup-
ply the best thorough-bred blood to such districts where there has been too great
a preponderance of Norfolk Trotter strains; that in such districts as Shahpur,
where there are already a large number of strains of thorough-bred English
blood, care must be exercised not to allow the stock to become weedy. I do
not make this remark owing to the fact that the stock of these districts
show any signs of weediness at present, on the contrary the mares and young
stock at Shahpur are simply marvellous, possessing great bone and quality, in
short, they are typical Army horses; and in this connection I would record a
remark of an old Native Cavalry Officer, who, when speaking of the horses
bought at this Fair and the higher prices paid for them, said:—
"Come to the Regiment in 10 years time and you will see these thorough-bred horses all at work, but none
of those by Norfolk Trotters will have stood the strain for this period."
To guard against weediness, we have, in the thorough-bred Australian, a
stallion in every way qualified to ensure bone and substance.
Country-bred
remounts.
Number
pur-
chased.
42. Table VI (page xv) will show that remounts and young stock were
purchased. The following will show the number obtained during the past
three years:—
Bengal...
...
...
...
Bombay...
...
...
...
Imperial Service Troops...
...
1893-94.
1,972
343
102
2,417
1894-95.
1,573
656
101
2,330
1895-96.
1,680
521
164
2,365
43. The increase is most noticeable in Bengal where 107 more were obtained
than last year. This must be due to the fact that Native Cavalry bought more
country-breds and fewer horses of other breeds, notably Australians. Some