History of Kathiyawadi Horses
….and ‘Lord Shiva’ took a handful of Westerly wind, blew his breath over it, and created the Kathiawadi Horse after the ‘Samudra Manthan’ with Dev & Danavas. He said to this magnificent creature, “I have made thee as no other, all the treasures and the power on earth lie between the eyes.” Thou shall carry my worshipers upon thy back.
Thy saddle shall be the seat of prayers of all Rajput’s to me. Thou shall fly without wings, and conquer without any sword. Oh Horse… The Kathiawadi Horse.
The actual evolution of ‘Kathiawadi breed Horses’ is lost with the mist and time, but it is said that the ‘Kathi’ Rajput’s came from central Asia and carved out a kingdom in the Punjab, sometime in 700 B.C. by Alexander’s historian Arriane. The Kathiawadi horse is perhaps the first domestic breed of animal breed by the ‘Kathi’ Rajput’s and, whose physical parameters were fixed by its breeders, much before the birth of Christ, and still it’s unchanged till date. The ‘Kathi’ and his horse have been inseparable from immemorial.
The ‘Kathi’ inherited his love and knowledge of the horse from his ancestors, the ‘Hittites’, the first people to domestic the animal as Col. Todd, writes in his epic, Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan: “ The ‘Catti’ was never happy but on Horseback….”. As the time went by, the ‘Kathi’ people, being nomadic in nature moved to Kutch and from there to the land, which took their name and horse breeds name - ‘ Kathiawad’. In Kathiawad they found the perfect place for their favorite activity, Horse breeding and settled in the peninsula.
The Kathiawadi horses since then have been exported to all parts of India and abroad as mentioned by ‘Shalihotra’ and ‘Hemsuriji’. As peace descended on Kathiawad peninsula after the Walker Agreement in 1807 A.D. native Rajput’s rulers and Nawab of Junagadh took upon themselves to maintain Studs of Junagadh, Palitana, Bhavnagar and Navanagar ( now Jamnagar) where most famous. The Nawab of Junagadh issuing a postal stamp, on the Kathiawadi Horse, perhaps a World First. The ‘Kathi’ do not consider the horse, any other and placing it even higher than our own holy cow. Special terminology is used by the ‘Kathi’ to describe the day to day activities of their horses, and relationship a ‘Kathi’ shares with his horse is unique, perhaps unmatched with any man animal partnership. The Kathiawadi horse as learned from horse breeds history is that this breed has unmatched energy combined with astounding intelligence and a very mild nature. This makes them an ideal horse breed well suited for engaging in many equestrian sporting events as well as other kinds of equestrian activities. It is very easy to see from studying horse breeds history related to the Kathiawadi horse that it has been used on the trail as much it has been used as a show horse and it also finds much use in competitive events as well. In fact, horse breeds history with regards to the Kathiawadi horse shows how remarkably this breed has been able to adapt to the terrains that are different to its native dry and hard landscapes and they are able to easily adapt to long trekking in additional to their abilities as a war mounted.
Furthermore, horse breed history related to the Kathiawadi horse shows that owning this breed was deemed to be a symbol of Wealth and Standing in society and the numbers of this breed that a person owned was a statement of their wealth and social standings. Nevertheless, there is no denying the fact that the Kathiawadi horse is renowned for its speed and it is an endurance animal that has also played a part in formations of almost all different and modern horse breeds of India. There are also many interesting facts to be learned from studying Indian horse breeds history with respect to the Kathiawadi horse such as that people of great importance have always favored it. So one finds that the horse breeds history related to the Kathiawadi horse shows that many Kings and Great Rulers of India, including Britishers were all lovers of the Kathiawadi breed horses.