Ten winters ago, on the Mapal Kangjeibung grounds in Imphal, the oldest polo ground in the world, England took on Manipur at an international tournament. The English players were on their horses, the Manipuris on their ponies.
The horses were 14 hands high, the ponies 10 hands. The horses were trained, the ponies were not. The Manipuri players rode barefoot, the English wore shoes. But the better equipped and kitted English looked distinctly clumsy on their horses as they tried to keep pace with the nimble ponies racing at a swift canter.
The bamboo-root ball shot across to the boundary wall, and the final goal was scored: Manipur won. “Polo runs in our blood. Players from other countries can learn the game; but they cannot match us,” said N. Tombiraj, a polo enthusiast.
Polo champ
That was the last time foreign players brought their own horses (partly because of the prohibitive cost) to the game — international tournaments are now played exclusively on the Manipuri pony — an elegant, sturdy, indigenous breed, believed to have been developed from the Tibetan pony, and known for its endurance and speed.
Used as cavalry horses in the 17th and 18th centuries and later for polo by the British, it remains ‘the pride of Manipur’, an integral part of cultural life and, of course, of Manipuri polo. The sport is played with very different rules, and with freedoms denied in international polo. There no goal posts, only boundary walls. Players can cling to the side of a speeding pony as they catch the ball. They can swing the mallet wildly.
But today, both the sport and the animal are in peril: the Manipuri pony is fast vanishing, and there is mounting pressure on the Manipur government to find ways to save it.
“In 2003 the pony population was 1,898 and in 2007 it was 1,218; it dwindled to 1,101 in 2011. Then in 2014 we invited all owners and pony clubs in Manipur to bring their ponies for a head count — there were less than 600,” said N. Ibungochoubi, honorary secretary of the Manipur Pony Society. The authorities are yet to conduct a census for 2017.
The reason for their decline? Rapid urbanisation, which has left the animal with virtually no grazing ground. The animals graze by roadsides, in fields and marshland, and are rounded up by their owners just before a tournament, of which there are five international ones each year.
There are no incentives for pony owners to conserve the breed. The number of pony clubs in Manipur has fallen from 60 around a decade ago to just 15 now, and the talented, self-made pony polo players get no recognition.
Conservation efforts
Last year, the Manipur government formulated the Manipur Pony Conservation & Development Policy. “We submitted a project proposal of ₹39 crore to the Centre, and we are hopeful of a positive response,” said State Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, who chaired the committee that chalked out the policy.
One of the proposals is to set up a sanctuary for ponies in Imphal East District. “The government has acquired 23 acres at Marjing (near Imphal) for a sanctuary for stray ponies,” said Singh. But officials, on the other hand, said the project is yet to materialise as no funds have been made available as yet.
A pony farm at Tingkhai Khunnou was also attempted, but it was a non-starter as there was neither much grazing ground nor water.
Riding a risk
As ponies roam the streets, often feeding off garbage, polo players and animal lovers are growing increasingly concerned with the rising number of road accidents the animals are falling prey to. It isn’t uncommon to see carcasses of ponies with gaping wounds or sick ones lying on roadsides.
The animals are also prone to diseases from eating garbage stuffed in polythene bags. People are at risk too — the police say many have been critically injured or even killed when they have been kicked by the ponies.
Authorities are also worried by the rising death rate among ponies. “In the last two years, 38 colts died. Deaths are higher than births, and it is alarming,” Ibungochoubi said.
As this goes to press, an international polo tournament is under way on Mapal Kangjeibung grounds, as part of the Manipur Sangai Festival, and Argentina, England, Morocco, the U.S. and India are participating.
The pony is in the spotlight but whether the breed, the game and the sporting heritage will survive much longer is the big question.