5
prised to find that the figures work out as well as they do under the circum-
stances. All the early part of the year the mares and young stock were starved,
and in several villages which I visited, I found the young stock totally blind.
The latter part of the year the horses were practically closed to all outsiders
owing to the strict quarantine regulations in force. Considerable improvement,
however, has taken place lately, and mares are coming in pretty regularly to
the Depôt horses.
Horse-breeding has remained more or less stationary in Gujarát and Sind,
although similar complaints as to plague quarantine regulations were received
from both these provinces.
Stallions which produce the
most suitable stock for the
Army.
10. Table V shows that out of 47 head of stock inspected by me, and issued
from the Ahmednagar Depôt, 18 were issued to British
Cavalry, 19 to Native Cavalry, 2 selected as chargers'
1 to Royal Artillery and 7 rejected. 64 per cent. got by
thorough-breds, 50 per cent. by Norfolk Trotters, 9 per
cent. by Arabs, 45 per cent. unknown, and 16 per cent. by Australian thorough-breds
were issued to British Cavalry. 14 per cent. by thorough-breds, 25 per cent. by Nor-
folk Trotters, 72 per cent. by Arabs, 27 per cent. unknown, 100 per cent. by country
breds, and 66 per cent. by Australian thorough-breds to Native Cavalry. Of the
rejections 27 per cent. were unknown, 14 per cent. by thorough-breds, 25 per
cent. by Norfolk Trotters and 9 per cent. by Arabs. The chargers were got by
thorough-breds—one English and one Australian. The above table again bears
out my statement of last year, that the first cross of the Arab is seldom big
enough for British Cavalry, but that produce again crossed by the thorough-bred
(which is without doubt the stallion for the Deccan) produces a powerful,
compact horse, full of quality, that is fit and capable of carrying medium British
Cavalry. The average height of those issued to British Cavalry was 15-1 and
to Native Cavalry nearly 14-3. No exception was taken to a single country-
bred issued from this Depôt during the year, and the Officer Commanding the
20th Hussars remarks that " all round they are the best I have ever had." The
above speaks volumes for the Deccan country-bred. The horse issued to Royal
Artillery was one bred under the old system in the Depôt, and was by an Arab
out of a rather well-bred Australian mare. He stood 15-3¼, a quick active
horse with great bone and power, and was a fair example of what can be produced
in these paddocks. I still maintain that there is no part of India which can
compare with the Deccan in producing horses with that perfect symmetry, bone,
soundness and general beauty which stock got in this district possess. Several
noticeable examples have occurred, within the last few years, of thorough-breds
which have been standing here and have been transferred to Sind. It is difficult
to find fault with the stock got by them here, as they have the best of legs and
feet, short backs, well ribbed up, and all the flowing lines of the good Arab.
These same horses transferred to Sind and mated with mares, as far as one can
trace, bred on identically the same lines as the Deccan mares, produce an animal
as different as it is possible for the get of one horse to be. They are high on
the leg, flat-sided, upright on their joints, in many cases unsound, and whose
hind legs, though perfectly straight when bought, gradually get crooked as they
grow older. I have taken very careful notes of these facts, and find that it has
not occurred with one horse only, but with all the best thorough-breds that have
been in the Deccan long enough to have left their mark behind, and where it
was possible to make comparisons. This matter has been made very much more
simple the last few years, as stock got by the same horses in the Deccan and
Sind are running together under identically the same conditions in the Depôt
paddocks, and can be compared day by day. The question is a most interesting
one, and I can only attribute the extraordinary difference to the large admixture
of Arab blood in the Deccan mare, and after years of experience I find that
working on certain lines you can be perfectly sure of breeding an animal which
possesses a fixity of type that does not exist in other parts of India, and that a
mare bred on these lines can be relied on, if mated with a thorough-bred, to throw
true to her type year after year, with practically little variation except increase
in size. I do not know of any other part of India of which the same can be said,
and mares, although covered by the same horse, will one season produce shapely
offspring, and the next an awkward ungainly colt resembling neither sire nor dam,
B 302—2