51
in this particular tract who are keen on horses and horse-breeding." The
Superintendent thinks that the province of Sind has great possibilities for
successful horse-breeding and that there is a large tract of country on the right
bank of the Indus which requires special attention. Many wealthy zamindárs
of this district are reported to be displaying extreme interest in horse-breeding
and touring stallions in a modified form have been tried with great success.
6. There were 74 stallions on the register at the commencement of the
year and 73 at its close. Two thorough-breds and one hackney have been
received from England which are stated to be suitable in every way. The
Superintendent experienced great difficulty in obtaining pure-bred, large-boned
Arabs and was unable to complete the number required for the Presidency. A
very high class country-bred stallion which cost Rs. 450 was purchased at the
Shikárpur show. This first experiment of a country-bred stallion of doubtful
origin being used in this Presidency will be watched with interest. Success
may be more certain in this case than that attending the use of half bred
imported horses, and in view of the patent failure reported on of imported
stallions as foal-getters it is a question to be proved whether country-bred sires
would not be more satisfactory in this respect.
7. The effective number of stallions actually at stud work was 86.6 per
cent. of the total number against 95.5 per cent. last year. The Superintendent
ought to have clearly explained this falling off. Casualties were the same as last
year, i. e., 5.4 per cent. Six unserviceable stallions were sold as against four
last year. Under special arrangement with the Government of India, the Jacob-
abad stallions were removed to Quetta for the hot weather with satisfactory
results. With reference to suitable stock for the Presidency, it appears that out
of 72 remounts inspected 30 were rejected as unsuitable. This is a high propor-
tion and is explained as due to the fact that young stock were bought with a
view to starting the nursery at Ahmadnagar which ought not to have been
purchased. Some of the young stock were the produce of small Arab galloways
and did not grow to the size demanded for army remounts but they were good
shapely animals which were readily purchased by the public and realized an
average price of Rs. 320. The Superintendent is endeavouring to weed out the
galloway stallions and to replace them by pure-bred large-boned horses whose
stock will grow into suitable remounts.
The Norfolk-trotter stands first as the producer of the most suitable stock
for the army, next comes the thorough-bred English stallion, and last the Arab.
The reason why the Arab stallion takes so low a place, even below that of
unknown stallions, is explained above. It would seem advisable to show
separately the Norfolk-trotter and the hackney which are different classes of
horses, but are in the returns classed together; for it seems probable that a
proportion of the young stock accepted as remounts and classed as the produce
of the Norfolk-trotter, was actually got by pure-bred hackneys.
8. The number of mares covered by horse and pony stallions fell from
2,034 last year to 2,017 this year. There has been a considerable falling off in
the number of mares covered in Gujarát, presumably owing to the severe out-
break of anthrax. In Cutch and Sind the number rose 14 per cent. The
average number of covered mares rose from 28.85 last year to 31.90 per stallion
this year. This shows an improvement, but the stallions on an average are still
very far from being fully employed.
9. The Superintendent branded in all 1,233 mares during the year inclu-
sive of the figures for Baluchistán. This gives an increase of 163 mares over
the previous year's figures and is due to the large number of mares branded for
mule-breeding in Sind and Cutch. There were considerably fewer mares branded
in the Deccan and more than last year in Gujarát. The large decrease in the
number of mares branded in the Deccan for horse-breeding, from 236 last year
to 57 this year, should have been explained.
10. The number of mares covered during 1892-93 was 2,034. The results
noted below of the average number of mares covered by each horse are exceed-
ingly disappointing:—