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The initiative taken up by the Manipur Horse Riding and Polo Association (MHRPA) in engaging with young people, but specifically students at its Pony Breeding Farm at Lamphelpat through its Ride the Pony School Project is a welcome step. For long, there has been a lament that the Manipuri Pony is on its last legs with fewer people taking to playing Polo leading to its diminishing numbers. Fewer still, are people who rear Manipuri Ponies as there are no financial incentives in doing so. The recently concluded ‘Ride the Pony School Project’ taken up by the MHRPA along with an educational institution in the state may well be a beginning towards engaging young people towards conserving and protecting this fine animal. Though there may well be areas of confusion whether Polo as a game originated from Manipur or elsewhere, one area of clarity is that the Manipuri Pony needs to be protected.
During the course of the 6th International Polo tournament held as part of the Sangai Tourism Festival in 2012, the foreign Polo team players had only words of appreciation for the Manipuri Pony and left after showing their keenness in taking a few specimens of the animal to Europe and other parts of the world along with horsemen and Polo players of the state. It is this nature of innovative methods that the concerned authorities in the state need to imbibe to make Polo popular and bridging the gap between the people and the Manipuri Pony. For long, the animal has been left to the hands of a few avid Pony lovers and taken out as showpieces during the few Polo tournaments that are organized during a year. In between Polo tournaments, the animals are left around to wander on the streets of Imphal and graze in garbage dumps. To begin with, the game of Polo is associated with the elite all over the world. It is limited to what is called the jet set crowd or in former royalty circles and outside of this, is popular only in the armed forces. The MHRPA has been doing its part admirably by promoting Polo tournaments in the state and even holding International tournaments to put the spotlight on Manipur being the place of origin of the modern Polo game. But the MHRPA alone cannot shoulder the entire responsibility of ensuring that the Manipuri Pony and Polo as a game continue to thrive.
In Manipur, the earlier royal patronage of the game and the animal no longer exists while the ‘elite class’ has no inclination towards encouraging the game or has the time to pursue Polo. In this scheme of things, it is only but natural that the game would suffer and the animal grow lesser in numbers. Considering the historical and cultural context of Polo and the Manipuri Pony in the state, a major share of responsibility must be taken up by the Government to ensure that steps are taken to make people empathize with the game and the animal. This responsibility does not have to be confined only to matters of funding but to come up with concrete action plans that can be implemented. A small beginning is already in the making with a school and the MHRPA joining hands to draw students towards the Manipuri Pony, but this needs to be taken up in every educational institution of the state.
The children of today are the pillars of the future generation. Once the children and the young people of the state get a closer exposure to the beauty of Polo as a game and the cultural and historical legacy of the Manipuri Pony, there will be no stopping them given the gene-pool of sporting ability and talent that the state has. Young people in the state may well end up becoming the game’s brand ambassadors by getting pro-active and pledging to ‘adopt’ Manipuri Ponies. In their hands will be the reins of the Manipuri Pony heading towards a glorious run.
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