79
279. In this State horse breeding may be said to be confined to the stud Nabha.
maintained by the Rajah. This, at present, consists of:—
7
38
26
stallions.
mares.
head of young stock.
The arrangements for the mares and young stock are really excellent.
They are kept in large runs and the young stock are reared purely on the
liberty system. I recommended that a little more care should be exercised in
the selection of the mares, especially as to color. At present duns and greys
predominate; this, however, His Highness informed me would be changed, as
he would in future keep none but bays and browns.
Stallions.—Prior to my visit, none but country-breds were kept, and al-
though after careful inspection of mares and young stock I came to the con-
clusion that new strains of blood were necessary, still I was struck with the
quality of the majority of those employed at stud work. They were good in
bone, with good flat legs, and, as representatives of their class, they would be
hard to beat. As, however, new strains of blood are required, His Highness
has added a high caste Arab to his stud and is willing to purchase a good
Australian when one is available.
The zemindars of this State are not fond of horse breeding, this being
partly due to the fact that cultivation has increased greatly during the past
few years, still as they bring mares to be covered by the stud stallions, I feel
that in all probability an impetus might be given to this industry.
Mule breeding has hitherto had no footing in this State, but His High-
ness, who is anxious in every way to ensure the welfare of his subjects, con-
sented to purchase a donkey stallion and to place it at their disposal. I trust
by next year to find that mule breeding has obtained a hold on this State.
Jhind.
280. The greater portion of the territory belonging to this State is situated
close to the Hissar district and consists of the tehsils of Jhind and Dadri; the
headquarters are at Sangrur. I visited the latter for the purpose of discussing
the subject of horse and mule breeding with the Council of Regency, and would
here tender my best thanks to the President and Members for the cordial re-
ception accorded to me. After consultation with them, it was decided that it
would be useless to attempt anything at Sangrur, but that as the zemindars
of the tehsils of Jhind and Dadri owned many good mares a good Arab stal-
lion was to be placed in each, provided that after inspecting the mares of these
Tehsils, they were considered sufficiently good to warrant the expenditure.
Not having time to devote to this duty, I deputed Veterinary-Lieutenant Cran-
ford, who states as follows :—
"Charkhri Dadri Tehsil.—I am of opinion that the Arab stallion will be readily used by the
zemindars, and as their mares, generally, are a young lot, the prospects of improvement in the
breed of horses in this tehsil are favorable.
"Jhind Tehsil.—Over 400 mares were collected; a very large number of these being from 3 to
6 years of age. They were a roomy lot with fair stamina, but nearly all had the same fault of be-
ing too heavily topped and light in bone. The majority stood from 14 to 14-2 hands. Generally
speaking, the mares and young stock were in good condition, and the former more suitable for
brood mares than those seen at Charkhri Dadri, being a more roomy lot."
Two Arabs have consequently been sent, and I am pleased to find that
152 mares have been covered during the year under review; the results, with
the class of mare to be found in the State, must be beneficial.
It was also decided to start mule breeding. With this object in view, two
donkey stallions have been purchased by the State.
Faridkote.
281. In this State the authorities had collected 128 zemindari mares for my
inspection, and of these I classed 98 as fit for horse breeding. I was much struck
with the good class of mares found in this State. They consist mainly of
large roomy animals with good bone, and well fitted to produce excellent troop
horses if mated with good stallions. The owners, zemindars of the Faridkote
State, are evidently fond of horse breeding as was evinced by the fact that the