3
During my long experience of the Bombay Arab horse market, I have
only in one instance had to give as high a price as Rs. 3,000 for an Arab
stallion, and this horse proved as a stock getter worth the money. The
Government of India have not limited the price to be given for stud Arabs,
and should I have the good fortune to find in the market an Arab horse worth
more than Rs. 3,000, I would not hesitate to purchase the animal.
No. 80, dated 7th June 1892.
6. I would here note that on account of so few pure bred and good boned
Arabs now-a-days being obtainable in Bombay, I proposed that horses of this
breed should be obtained from the Hungarian studs ; and I was deputed in
July 1892 to proceed to Buda Pesth with the view of purchasing six from the
Government of Hungary. The authori-
ties are aware of the reason why these
horses could not at the time be secured. The whole correspondence, together
with a report on horse-breeding in Hungary by Major Douglas Dawson,
Coldstream Guards, is given as Appendix I, (vide page 61), a perusal of which
will be found most interesting.
7. It may be hoped that arrangements will yet be made by which some
really good Arabs will be bought in Hungary.
No, 47-M.D, dated 16th September 1892, to the
Military Department.
8. With the view of using every endeavour to obtain pure bred Arabs of
the stamp required, J. submitted sugges-
tions that—
(a) Reliable Arab dealers of the Bombay market might be requested to
import such horses, and, with the sanction of the Government of
India, the offer of the Arab dealer " Jassim bin Fid" to bring
about 20 first class Arab horses for the pre-emption of the Gov-
ernment of India has been accepted with the understanding that
only those approved by the Government purchasing officer will
be purchased.
These horses are expected this season.
(b) That a selected officer be deputed to proceed first to Southern
Arabia, and afterwards to Northern Arabia, to visit the tribes
possessing the best horses, and to purchase a given number con-
sidered suitable for stud purposes. It was decided by the Gov-
ernment of India that the proposal (a) should be first carried out;
and that of (b) should pend for the present. The correspondence
with regard to these proposals is recorded as Appendix II (vide
page 78), to which special attention is invited.
9. It is doubtless a very easy matter to describe the kind of stud horses
required; but, as noted by General A. R. Thornhill in many letters
addressed to me, he generally found great difficulty in securing the number
of thorough-breds of the stamp required for the Government of India, and
had on several occasions to make up the total of indents with a larger number
of the class hackneys than was indented for. Again, the well-known fact of fewer
good pure bred and large boned Arabs being imported annually to the Bombay
market renders it impossible to obtain Arab horses of the good old stamp. As
a rule, mongrels, half Persian, and half Arab form 90 per cent. of the horses
imported by the Arab dealers. Again, in former Annual Administration Re-
ports it has been recorded that, despite the endeavours made to obtain really good
Thorough-bred Australian stud horses, possessing large joints and bone of leg,
only now and then can an Australian horse of the right stamp be purchased.
The late Mr. Dangar, one of the leading breeders of thorough-breds in Australia,
in a letter, dated 10th December 1885, to me stated : " I shall have much pleasure
in doing what I can for you in informing breeders of your requirements. I must,
however, say at the outset that there are very few breeders who breed the de-
scription of horse you require, and who would care to export them for the money.
We are in quest of the same kind of horse ourselves. The stallions mostly used
are those which have been on the turf. The good ones fit to breed from are
worth £500 to £1,000, and those which might be got at your figure would not
be of the sort you require, nor indeed would it be judicious to breed from them,