William Moorcroft (explorer) - Superintendent of Stud

Superintendent of Stud

In 1803 a citizen army was mobilized to defend Britain against a threatened Napoleonic invasion. Moorcroft joined the Westminster Volunteer Cavalry. His activities with the volunteers brought him to the attention of Edward Parry, a director of the East India Company. Parry recruited Moorcroft to manage the Company stud in Bengal. In 1808 Moorcroft left the comforts of his home and the security of his thriving practice for Calcutta, India, the seat of British rule.

Everywhere the new Superintendent of Stud looked upon his arrival he found depressing signs of laxness, neglect and ignorance. Often undersized mares were bred with local stallions, the best colts were kept back and stud books falsified. Nevertheless under his care the stud rapidly improved. He took brisk charge of his staff and weeded out deficient horses. Moorcroft became the first to cultivate oats on a large scale in India and set aside 3,000 acres (12 km2) at Pusa for its production.

In 1811 Moorcroft traveled extensively among the northern sub-continent in search of better breeding stock. To Lucknow, the capital of Oudh, and to Benares (then still part of Maratha territory), but Moorcorft failed to acquire the ideal breeding horses that he sought. In Benares he learned that Bukhara was rumored to have "the greatest horse market in the world." Moorcroft recruited a Persian named Mir Izzat-Allah to make a scouting trip to Bukhara and map out the route. He also learned that fine breeding horses might be found in Tibet.