Manipuri Horse

Origin: Assam - Manipur.

Height: 11-13hh.

Physique: Sturdy, sure-footed pony, thought from its appearance to haveboth Asiatic Wild Horse and Arab ancestors. Alert head, gaily carried; deepchest and well-sprung ribs; clean, hard legs; high-set tail.

Polo is a game which has been popular in Asia for almost 2,000 years,though with the decline of the Moghul empire it lost its vogue in India andwould have died out had it not been for continued enthusiasm in the hillstates of the Himalayas and Assam. The Western fondness for the gamecame about through its discovery by English planters who worked inAssam in the 1850s and who took to the local game with relish. The poniesthey rode were Manipuris; and thus Manipur ponies, in Western eyes, arethe original polo ponies. They are still used for the game in their home-land, though in Europe and America they have been succeeded by muchbigger, faster animals.

Ponies have been bred in Manipur since time out of mind, though thebreed must have undergone the gradual changes and refinements (ordegeneracies) common to native breeds all over the world. There are records of polo having been locally introduced by the King of Manipur inthe 7th century, when the game was played on ponies bred in his state.

Manipur ponies are claimed as the mounts of the all-conquering Statecavalry which once terrorized northern Burma, though it is open to doubtwhether these ponies actually were Manipuris or were simply ponies whichcame from Manipur. Writing in 1896 about the successes of the Manipuricavalry, Major-General Sir James Johnstone says, "Manipur in olden dayspossessed a famous breed of ponies, larger and better bred than the so-called Burmese ponies that came from the Shan States. On these ponieswere mounted the formidable cavalry that in the last century made Manipurfeared throughout Upper Burma ..." which places a big question markabove the historical identities of both these breeds, since today's Manipuriis smaller than the modern Burma pony.