The wordplay that energizes the verse-- to the mild extent that it can be said to be energized at all-- is of course that of and . Grammatically, it could just as well (or even better) be Ghalib who is on the proud, prancing steed. But of course in a constrained, well-behaved verse like this we know it's the patron. To the patron himself, Navab Ali Bahadur, Ghalib wrote (in Persian) to recommend the study of Mir and Mirza Sauda as well as various Persian poets, and added the passage cited in the letter above. Although he deprecates his own Urdu poetry, it's also clear from this letter that Ghalib is considerably proud of his Urdu ghazals (he recommends them as models for the Navab to study and imitate). This verse, with its overt and specific flattery of a patron, makes an intriguing follow-up to 99,9 with its implied disparagement of all patrons. Aristocrats often commissioned portraits of themselves on horseback; here's an example showing Ghalib's last patron, Navab Kalb-e Ali Khan of Rampur (r.1865-87): graphics/patronhorse.jpg