A day at "Rann Riders Stud Farm" in Dasada village of Gujarat.

Have been involved with " Horse-racing" since the age of 19 years, initially as a fan and later as a punter . "Mahalaxmi racecourse(Mumbai)" was a "Second home" to me since the 1990 's being used in the morning for my regular jogging itinerary and in the afternoons for punting on horse races. It was for the first time in my life that i got to see a "HORSE STUD FARM" and interact with the horses, syces, stud manager and the family owned representative of "Rann Riders" Mr Mujahid.Malik .We were a group of 17 tourists of the "B.N.H.S(Bombay Natural History ) group" on a 4 day safari tour of the "Little Rann of kutch" in Gujarat. Our hotel residence was at the exotic "Rann Riders" resort which had a stud farm attached to its resort and also exotic farm animals and pets.The stud farm rents horses for riding to tourists and breeds only local Indian riding horses and not "Thoroughbred Racehorses". The "MARWARI" and "KATHIAWAR" breed of Indian horses are bred in the Stud farm.Mr Mujahid.Malik , the owner of the resort and stud farm belongs to the royal lineage of Baktiar-ud-din who got 24 Sq Miles of Dasada village from the Sultan of Gujarat in the 15th century.Baktiar-ud-din took the title of " Malik Bakhan-1" and so did his successors after him and hence the family name of "Malik". and vast estates of landed property in Dasada village of Gujarat.Dasada is famous for its horses and good pedigree riding horses can be valued from Rs 2 to Rs 10 lakhs as owning horses by the landed gentry classes is considered a status symbol in rural India akin to owning "Race horses" by the wealthy city dwellers at horse racing centres in India."Kathiawadi" horses can be easily distinguished from Marwari horses by their height as they are shorter(approx 58 inches) compared to 60" + of the Marwari breed.A horses height is measured in Inches from its shoulders upwards.Kathiawadi horses are more temperamental and difficult to train compared to the Marwari breed of horses. . :- Seafarer/Blogger/tourist Rudolph.A.Furtado.