If you have ever seen a horse, most probably in India, where its ears curve so far inward towards each other that they almost touch, you have seen a Marwari. Marwari horses are indigenous breeds to India. They come in all colors, but are noted for having those curved ears.
In 1995 a woman by the name of Francesca Kelly went to India and fell in love with Marwaris. Upon buying a horse, she found out that India had signed a “global diversity act” which declared Marwaris a part of the country’s “national wealth”; in other words—the horse could not leave the country. After years of battling, Kelly not only was able to lift the restriction, she was also instrumental in defining a breed standard—which had never been done for the breed—and starting a breed registry. In 2000 she brought her first foundation crop of horses to the United States, and the first Marwaris to leave India.
These horses, comparable to their desert Arabian ancestors, are a hearty breed with origins going back to the Marwar region ca. 1212.
Local world travelers, Lori Windows and John Engstrom from Wyanet, IL, made a trip to India in December 2011. While there they toured many game preserves to see leopards, tigers, guars, and hundreds of other flora and fauna native to India. They were also able to witness their first Indian ceremonial proposal—performed by the groom riding a white Marwari to his bride-to-be.
The horse pictured is most likely a “True White” horse, even though it has blue eyes. Most white horses are born dark grey, black, or chestnut and gradually turn white, unlike this Marwari. He is not an albino, either, which would be indicative of having red eyes and non-pigmented skin. No true albino horses are known of because of this.
Information found for this article and about the Marwari breed and white horses can be found at:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/raja.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marwari_(horse)
Comments