18
The Superintendent, Civil Veterinary Department (Mr. Drage), reports. "From what
I could gather, the show was an improvement on last year, although possibly not so many
animals attended. The animals attending are said to be of a better class; also in much
better condition and cleaner than last year.
"Like last year, with the exception of class VIII, class I A and B and class II filled
the best. Of the 61 branded mares in foal to Government stallions, many were extremely
useful animals. In class II there were some very pretty fillies, one or two of which 1
was able to brand before the judging began. These fillies should grow up into excellent
brood mares, as many of them are out of mares that have one or two strains of English
blood, and, of course, the fillies themselves are chiefly by Government stallions.
"The mule class was a very large one. Many would do very well for transport animals,
and a few are quite good enough for mountain batteries.
"The Deputy Commissioner is anxious that money may be granted another year as
prizes for horse runs. Several zemindars are willing, in fact anxious, to open out some
land for horse runs. If subsequently it is found that these runs have been started, and
are really used for the benefit of young horse stock, I would recommend that Rs. 100 be
given in prizes to one or two of the best of them."
Referring to the proposal to give prizes for horse runs, it has to be noted that
formerly such Government prizes were given in this district to zemindars who fenced in
land as runs for their horse stock; but it was found that these so-called runs were gene-
rally used for the cultivation of crops, and so prizes of this class were no longer awarded.
In the event of zemindars really having runs to allow liberty to their young stock and not
for cultivation purposes, it will be a good plan to award again for the best of these runs.
Rawal Pindi
Horse Fair.
This metropolitan horse fair was held from the 30th of March to the 1st of April
1893.
In the Secretary's report it is noted: "The attendance of animals was considerably
below the average. The holding of fairs and shows at Shahpur, Gujrat, and Lahore on
dates immediately before the Rawal Pindi Fair accounts to some extent for the falling
off in numbers at the latter. The heavy and late winter rains also interfered with the
Rawal Pindi Fair. The total number of animals present at the fair was 1898.
"The attendance for the previous five years was as follows:—
1888
3,072
1889
3,055
1890
3,011
1891
3,544
1892
2,302
"Of the 1,898 animals present at the fair, 271 competed for prizes, of which number
127 received awards.
"The following detail shows the number of animals entered for prizes as compared
with the previous year's fair:—
Horses ...
Mares, &c. ...
Geldings ...
Mules...
Donkey stallions
Ditto mares
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
TOTAL
...
...
...
...
...
...
1892.
228
130
23
381
1893.
251
Nil
20
271
Increase.
23
...
...
23
Decrease.
...
...
3
3
"From the foregoing figures it will be seen that the number of animals entered for prizes
was in reality rather better than last year, inasmuch as there were no entries in the
mule class (there being no prizes) while 130 were entered last year. The absence of
prizes did not, however, appear to affect to any appreciable extent the number of animals
brought in for sale. The animals would also appear to have been of a better class than
those of last year from the fact that 929 found purchasers out of a total of 985.
"Although prizes were not awarded for this class, the usual system of judging and
careful inspection was followed and certificates granted in order of merit to the five
mules selected out of the large number submitted for inspection."