Marwari horses are thoroughbreds but have long been ignored in favour ofArabian and English thoroughbreds. In fact, Maharana Pratap's Chetak was aMarwari horse. One of the top breeders of the Marwari horses, RaghuvendraSingh Dundlod, secretary of the Indigenous Horses Society of India, saysthat this breed was actually on the brink of extinction. But over the lastfew years, a couple of erstwhile royal stables, including his own, have beenrearing the Marwari thoroughbreds, bringing them back from the brink ofextinction.

The first lot of Marwari horses that has been sent to the US is a landmarkas no other Indian horses have been exported to the West. Ms Kelly, who hasearned the sobriquet ghodewali, fell in love with this breed when she cameto India a few years ago on a holiday. She spent three years documenting the40 Marwari horses in the Dundlod stable of Raghuvendra Singh to make thiscoffee-table book fascinating.

The Marwari horse may not fit the dictionary description of a thoroughbredof being "a breed of horse originating from English mares and Arabstallions", but they certainly fit the second and more importantdefinition-"whose ancestry for several generations is fully documented". TheMirasi community, the traditional stable hands in royal stables, recites theancestry of these horses in the form of a poem. "So, while for the usualthoroughbreds, the family ancestry can be traced only up to fourgenerations, the Marwari horses' ancestry can be traced to 10 generations,"says Mr Singh.

Another feature of the Marwai horse is that the bloodline is very pure asthere is no inter-breeding. But it is their unique characteristic of shortheight, which make them a class apart. Marwari horses are shorter than thetraditional thoroughbreds. They are only 14 hands as compared to the 16-18hands of English thoroughbreds. Marwari horses have narrow chests andsmaller feet. Other thoroughbreds have broad feet, which are not as adept asthe Marwari horse's smaller feet, points out Mr Singh. "The smaller feetare more flexible and give the horses a natural spring, which makes it easyfor them to move in the desert," he says.

The Marwari horses are also the only bred horses that have naturally curvedears. Their ears don't need to be twisted or curled or trimmed when they areyoung. They can turn their ears all around, which makes their hearing moresharp and enables them to protect themselves during sandstorms. Marwarihorses are also supposed to be much sturdier than the other thoroughbredssince they are used to the harsh terrain of the desert.

"They can function very well as police horses. They are not afraid of crowdsor cane-charges and can go straight into a crowd because of their racytemperament," says Mr Singh. It is because of this trait that the DelhiPolice, Punjab Police, the President's Bodyguards and the armed cavalries inthe country have started buying Marwari horses during cattle and horse fairsin Rajasthan and have slowly replaced their thoroughbreds with these desihorses, he points out.