#theyre still a rare breed with like only a few thousand in the world today

[maudie-does-art]

Day 3 of Neighvember, the Marwari horse! I only knew about their ears, but reading about them they are a breed indigenous to India, known for the curved shape of their ears. But they used to be cavalry horses, known for their endurance and bravery! Ridden by nobility, and said to have keen hearing and amazing sense of direction so they were able to take back their injured/lost riders back to safety.

They almost went extinct due to british colonial rule. British settlers preferred thoroughbreds and polo ponies and ruined the reputation of the Marwari, mocking their ears as a "mark of a native horse", and their bloodlines eroded with poor breeding practices. Many were eventually sold off as pack animals or killed. Maharaja Umaid Singhji came to their rescue in the first half of the 20th century and saved the Marwari and his work was carried on by his grandson.

In 1995, a woman named Francesca Kelly founded a group called Marwari Bloodlines, and in 1999 she and Raghuvendra Singh Dundlod, a descendant of Indian nobility, founded the Indigenous Horse Society of India which works with the government, breeders, and the public to promote and conserve the breed.