Marwar Horse Festival to open on Feb 3 in Jodhpur

It has also helped in apprising the government of the breed and efforts of the society for their conservation and promotion, said Nathawat.So far, 3210 horses have been registered in the stud book from all across the country.

The ninth edition of Marwar Horse Festival will be inaugurated by the erstwhile ruler of Marwar Gaj Singh on Saturday. The two-day event, aimed at promoting and conserving the indigenous breed, the Marwari horse, is being organised jointly with the All India Marwari Horse Society and Marwari Horse Stud Book Registration Society of India. Secretary of the society Inderjeet Singh Nathawat informed that the horses registered in the stud from across the entire country will be participating in this event. Diverse activities and competitions under different categories will take place in the event.

It may be noted that Marwari horses, also known as Malani breed, are famous for their elegance, endurance, agility and loyalty. These traits of this horse have resulted in huge fascination and demand for this breed all across the globe.

''We not only provide an appropriate platform to highlight this breed through this show but we also invite breeders with their horses to compete with each other. We, therefore, motivate them for their promotion and conservation'', said Nathawat.

Earlier, there was no pedigree mapping for this breed. Therefore, a stud book was opened in 2006 under the helm of Marwari Horse Stud-Book Registration Society, for preparing a pedigree of the Marwari horse.

''This registration process contributed not only to preparation of a list of pure-bred Marwari horses with their pedigree but also encouraged the overseas horse lovers to have these horses. It has also helped in apprising the government of the breed and efforts of the society for their conservation and promotion,'' said Nathawat.

So far, 3210 horses have been registered in the stud book from all across the country. Of them, the DNA of 763 has been done for ascertaining their lineage.