Horses Used By The Sikhs

[Singh559]

5,000,000 rupees? So 100,000 usd offered to buy him? Wow, that's so much.

I guess now a days it's only a rich person's sport so the average person may not be able to pursue the interest.

Do you know what breed it is and of it's a war horse. The horse is hugeee,

[zoltansingh]

Looks like a big draught horse of some description. Maybe a Percheron? Would not fancy riding a draught horse into battle as you would want a stead that was fast and agile, plus can you imagine riding something that big? Would soon mess your hips up if it was too wide.

[Singh559]

Looks like a big draught horse of some description. Maybe a Percheron? Would not fancy riding a draught horse into battle as you would want a stead that was fast and agile, plus can you imagine riding something that big? Would soon mess your hips up if it was too wide.

I see.

[Majorsahib]

Sat siri Akal

The following is a thread I found on the forum a few years back by Jangal Da.

Sikhs were once famed horsemen and Emily Eden during her tour of the Punjab with her father, the Resident of Delhi, during the Sikh Shahi of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, commented upon the fact that Sikhs had 'very showy horses' in her memoire.

A long time ago I read that the breed of horses developed by the Sikhs of that period was known as 'Anmol' which literally means priceless. The breed was developed from the best of the Arab and Central Asian breeds. Prior to that Sikhs raided good quality stock from the Mughals and Afghans. If you look at the paintings of Sikhs done by European artists of the period, you will see that the horses were beautiful, grand creatures, with many features akin to pure bred Arabs.

This is a sharp contrast to today where I am afraid to say that seeing a decent horse in Punjab is a rarity and even the Nihangs that are said to uphold the tradition of horsemanship, mostly ride very badly and ride the kathiawar breed which is a pathetic looking horse compared to the what the Sikhs rode in the past. (Again partition is to blame as good quality horses used to arive from the breeding grounds of Kandahar and Kabul to the horse fairs of Punjab).

Anyone who rides a horse and has seen their displays, unfortunately knows what I am talking about. In the Uk we are fortunate that almost anywhere apart from maybe the remote highlands, horse riding lessons are accessible. I strongly urge the Sangat to engage in this pastime, as it not only keeps you fit, but is a thoroughly enjoyable way of maintaining our heritage. Certainly consider this for those that have kids aged between 5y and 10y as that is the perfect age to start.

a fresco from the original Akal Takht showing Bhai Bidhi Chand presenting Gulbagh and Dilbagh

The major problem I want to identify is what happened to the breed after the destruction of sarkar-e-khalsa. Were the British mainly responsible for the loss of good blood stocks or was it down to us. Did Partition really make a difference? Its a major travesty that part of our heritage has been taken away from us. Forget the Rajasthani type horses, I dont belive Hari Singh Nalwa ever rode any of them. Either way I really want to see the horse our ancestors rode and tasted glory with.

[dalsingh101]

A Sicque horseman is armed with matchlock and sabre of excellent metal, and his horse is strong and well formed. In this matter I speak from a personal knowledge, having in the course of my journey seen two of their parties, each of which amounted to about two hundred horsemen.

The predilection of the Sicques for the matchlock musquet, and the constant use they make of it, causes a difference in their manner of attack from that of other Indian cavalry; a party , from 40 to 50, advance in a quick pace to the distance of a carbine shot from the enemy, and then, that the fire may be given with greater certainty, the horses are drawn up, and their pieces discharged; when, speedily retiring about a hundred paces, they load and repeat the same mode of annoying the enemy. The horses have been so expertly trained to the performance of this operation, than on receiving a stroke of the hand, they stop from full career.

George Forster 1783

An image showing horsemen during the hey day of the Sikh empire.

[Singh559]

Priceless ^

That picture is insane, brings about so much emotion and information, it's unreal.

Both Akali Nihang Singhs and non-Akali Nihang Singhs together and the rest are farmers?

[clarity]

There is a massive resurgence of Sikhs taking up horse ownership in the PUnjab and people should be encouraged to buy from Nihang SInghs as they carry the best breeds used by the Sikh gurus

[Singh559]

I was researching a bit on horses lately again (i used to) and this topic sparked my interest yet again. I was wondering, is there any maryada or guide on how to take care of your horse and how to mount it?

I know there are a lot of NIhang Singhs who don't actually get saddles.

From my understanding the plates they put into the horse's mouth hurts (at least the modern way), is there something that reduces the pain to the horse?

edit-nvm i guess saddles have been used in the past as well.

[ub1]

An image showing horsemen during the hey day of the Sikh empire.

I beleive there are a set of 4 etchings done by the Dutch artist Whitschenstien as the above (I may have mis-spelt the name). The originals are at the National Sikh Museum in Derby, UK and they are SENSATIONAL !!!!!

[Singh559]

Any idea of the nasal of these ghoray?>

http://www.flickr.com/photos/swarajcapturing/4759807078/sizes/l/in/faves-60421816@N03/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22803549@N07/2191723115/sizes/l/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wildhiss/113352210/

Guru Ji used to have horses bought over from Persia, so more than likely arabi, Akhal-Teke, turkoman inspired the breeds used by the Sikhs. Old european paintings of the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Ji show horses of arabi appearance.

The Budha Dal used to have 80 mares at Raqba at one time for breeding and still have some puratan nasal horses from the famed lineage of Mundra, Raju Baba aka Karamati etc etc. These lines have good size (16hh+)and ears smaller than the marwari etc. If you ever chat with old Nihangs like Baba Maghar Singh then he can give you lots of information on this great bloodline. Sadly one of the stallions from this great puratan line was in very poor shape last I heard. The Bidhi Chand have a stallion in their fauj named Sawai which no one rides as he is reserved for Guru Ji, he is a bit old now but also a fantastic looking horse with good height and some say he has arabi type looks. It is important that these bloodlines are preserved and hopefully horse lovers in Punjab will come together to do this before it is to late.

There are also other bloodlines in Punjab (usually these distinct bloodlines are ignored as the Marwari's from rajasthan get promoted as some sort of super war horse, reality is that the rajasthani horses are nothing when lined next to the punjabi bloodlines). There is also the famous Chuner Wala Ghora who has good height and some of his offspring are amongst the most highly sort after horses in India.

Do you have any pictures of the puratan bloodline horses from Budha Dal veerji? If so i'd really appreciate, or if you know where i can find i'd appreciate.