“A Famous Dancing Horse — Bombay Chiefs’ Camp” by Mortimer Menpes, R. I.

A Famous Dancing Horse — Bombay Chiefs’ Camp

Mortimer Menpes

1903

Watercolor

Source: The Durbar, facing p. 84

“This Horse waltzed round on its hind legs with quaint dancing steps before the Viceroy on the day of the Retainer’s procession.”

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“Trained for . . . a very grim and serious purpose” — Dancing Horses in S. Asian Warfare

These were not trained as ordinary horses are: they were of a special breed, and had been taught to walk with dignity: magnificent creatures, exquisite in form: and as to colour, their owners had simply “let themselves go” and hung them over with every tassel and square inch of cloth of gold they possessed. The trappings were one blaze of colour. Clumps of gold and silver succeeded old-rose and salmon tassels; green-and-gold and vermilion-and gold saddle-cloths; massive silver anklets; plumes of every colour the sight was dazzling! Their bodies had been treated as an excuse for decoration, just as a wall would be, or a woman's face. Their tails had been stained, and harmonies had been created on their bodies. For example, a white horse would have yellow legs and a yellow tail. Many of these “creations” circled round the arena on their hind legs; others literally danced, springing forward in leaps and bounds with their legs gathered under them, and executing curious dancing steps in a way that could never be equalled by any circus horse. Nevertheless, these dancing and prancing horses did not appear ridiculous: there was a certain fitness about them. They are of a special breed that has been trained for generations not to go through amusing circus acts, but for a very grim and serious purpose, as we have discovered to our own cost. In warfare they were no target: they sprang on one side, or ducked, just like a professional boxer or wrestler. Their riders were able to swing about their great swords, mowing men down by the score. Perhaps they are not the sort of horses that would do for modern warfare; but, nevertheless, they are superb creatures, and as they passed our salmon friend waxed indignant. “You Westerners are spoiling the indigenous stock,” he said: “You are destroying the native horse.” The man was furious; and, seeing these magnificent fiery creatures, uninitiated person as I am, I could not help feeling that it was a terrible thing to let the breed die out. My neighbour talked in such a depressing way about the influence of the West in this direction that I began to picture the native horse of India extinct and placed as a specimen in the British Museum. Horrible! [“The Procession of Retainers,” 85-86]

Bibliography

Menpes, Mortimer. The Durbar. Text by Dorothy Menpes. London: Adam & Charles Black, 1903. Internet Archive version of a copy in the University of California at Los Angeles Library. Web. 27 May 2017.

Last modified 27 May 2017