Horse-Breeding in India 



OPINIONS OF THE LATE VETERINARY COLONEL HALLEN 



The first endeavours to improve the native breeds of horses 

 were begun by the East India Company in the year 1794, 

 and the " Stud Department '' then established continued in 

 existence until 1876, when it was abolished. This institution 

 had accomplished a certain measure of success ; some excellent 

 horses were bred there, and were drafted into the stables of 

 our cavalry regiments ; but experience showed that the results 

 achieved were not commensurate with the cost of maintaining 

 the studs, and in the year named (1876) the Department 

 was abolished and the Army Remount and Horse-Breeding 

 Departments were created. 



The " Department of Army Remounts " had for its duty the 

 selection and purchase of Austrahan and Persian horses in the 

 local markets, and also of as many suitable country-breds as 

 might be procurable. The Department of Horse-Breeding 

 Operations was organised with the object of encouraging 

 productions of suitable country-bred horses ; and it is to 

 this Department that we direct our attention. 



In a remarkably able and instructive paper * by the late 

 Veterinary Colonel J. H. B. Hallen, the then General Super- 

 intendent of Horse-Breeding Operations in India, we find the 

 plan of the new scheme clearly laid down. It was, broadly 

 speaking, to establish a native breed of horses, which should in 

 course of time render the Army in India independent of foreign 

 markets. The Government was to maintain a supply of 

 stallions of the classes most suitable for improving the native 

 breeds ; only selected native mares were to be eligible for 

 service (always gratis) by the Government stallions, these 



* Government Horse-Breeding in India : Past, Present, and Future. (Read 

 at a meeting of the United Service Institution of India, 6th May, 1887.) 



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