Tell Me About Polo

[Wanderosa]

After diligently avoiding polo for years despite being just down the road from a well-known club, I’m toying with the idea of taking some lessons. Turns out not to be nearly as expensive as I’d assumed and I think it might help me relax my old-lady-on-horseback nerves. I’m a bit of a klutz on or off a horse. So trying to contend with reins in one hand and mallet in the other would be more than enough to distract me from the fact that I’m cantering. :0

How long does it take to become semi-decent at it? Are there teams for novices? I harbor no illusions of ever being able to keep up with the pros that are running all over town in the summer but it might be fun to actually play a game at some point!

[4LeafCloverFarm]

I applaud you for thinking about trying something out of your wheel house. Polo is fun, uses a lot of different skills and is challenging for the horse and rider. I grew up with families that had strings of polo ponies that played on teams (in Nashville in summer and Florida in winter - not sure if it was amateur or pro - they were serious players and very good). I was a hot-walker and exercise rider for a few summers for a member of a local team. And got a few lessons along the way - though it was for fun. One family had a polo field on their farm for practice.

So my insight may be limited (as well as outdated - when I was doing this, the balls were wood! LOL). Its takes a good bit of time to become really proficient in polo (unless its the only riding you’re doing, and you’re doing it multiple times a week). It takes a really strong core, a good sense of balance, a really good seat, stamina and quick thinking. But my guess is that they start beginning lessons with basics - the tack, holding the mallet, neck reining, striking the ball at a walk/trot, and of course, basic rules of the game.

I would imagine a large club does hold scrimmages for beginners/novices, assuming they have enough people to fill out teams.

If I were undertaking this endeavor, I think my first stop would be my local book store for a good book on learning polo. Then I’d check on what equipment that I’d need for lessons - special helmet, knee/shin guards, gloves, vest, etc. The club should be able to provide this to you (and maybe the club provides all the needed equipment - just make sure it fits properly). Having the right equipment that fits correctly is very important. Those balls sting when you get whacked with one!!!

I wish you much luck! This sounds like fun.

[MegBackInSaddle]

I did an intro to polo clinic on a whim. Mostly what I learned is that polo is HARD! Seems like something it would take some time to learn. I’ve ridden from a young age, but the movement required felt very unnatural, and while I’m quite fit to riding, I. Was sore the next day (right arm and core, mostly).

It was just a one-day (3ish hours) clinic. We started on the ground learning how to hold the mallet and attempt different swings, then progressed to the same simple lessons in saddle It was fun! But difficult. Good luck!

[Cat_Tap]

Many years ago we had an introduction polo clinic at my barn. Some of the members of our local hunt club were interested. Though my horse was well schooled and balanced from showing dressage polo was not for him. He ran backwards every time I swung the mallet and when someone hit the ball he jumped up on all four. Everybody had a good laugh.

The question is whether or not your horse would like it.

[Gibson_s_Finest]

I’ve done two clinics and had an absolute blast!! I usually ride jumpers & one of the biggest differences is that the lower leg isn’t used in the same manner at all i.e. if you are leaning to the right to hit the ball, your left calf isn’t against the horse, rather your left knee is sort of jammed into the saddle to keep you in place.

We learned the different strokes on the ground with short mallets and then got on wooden horses with regular mallets before we actually got on a horse. The second time I went was with a bigger group (8 in total) and we ended up playing a couple of scrimmages, which was so much fun - we were all around the same level of terrible.

I’d definitely suggest trying it if you have access to a facility, I’ll go again if the opportunity arises.

[Bluey]

Our polo club had a cage with a fake saddled horse in the middle where you learned how to handle a mallet before even getting on a horse.

It was a lot of fun to hit balls there, that hit the walls and rolled right back to you at all angles.

Maybe your polo club has one of those?

It never hurts to try something new, go get 'em!

[halla]

You should definitely do it! I am completely inept at ball sports, but the school polo club was cheapest way to ride when I was in college so I gave it a try. I LOVED it and miss it terribly. We were playing mini games after only a couple lessons. It did take me a couple years of playing once a week or so to be able to hit the ball more than occasionally. Other people with actual skills got better much faster. Preventing the other team from scoring is half the game, though, so doing that was still plenty of fun.

It also got me over a long term fear of cantering. You get caught up in the game and trying to do all these new things and just find yourself doing it and it’s all good. Being part of a team was much more enjoyable than I expected after years of hating gym class. And the ponies know and enjoy the game, which was really amazing to me.

Now I’m looking up local clubs again…

[shiloh]

HA! You’re braver than I am. My idea of polo is to walk horse up to ball very slowly. Lean over. Try to hit ball. Watch ball. Get off. I need a margarita.

[Foxtrot_s]

BTW - You have to be right handed.

[Wanderosa]

@Foxtrot's

BTW - You have to be right handed.

I’ve got that covered!

[rockymouse]

I had a journalism fellowship at Stanford one year and got to ride sets and practice every week with the Stanford students’ polo team. It was the best part of the whole fellowship - super fun - and it’s easier if you’ve played some ball sport in your past, like softball. If you haven’t, though, do it anyway! Everyone starts out as terrible and you’ll be riding old polo mares that know their job way more than you. It’s likely they’ll tote you where you need to go and at the right speed as you get your skills up. It is genuinely a great time - though I’ll say that learning to lean over the side of your horse to hit the ball is the weirdest feeling at first. Good for you!

[pologirl27]

I work and ride at a club that is geared towards people who don’t own their own horses. So we can take people who hardly know how to ride and get them going on the super slow lazy horses, the riders who are just learning polo all the way up to the people with plenty of experience but no horse of their own. You can get functional pretty quickly, but it’s hard to get really good quickly unless you’re really good with the hand-eye coordination.

Our club has beginner coaching games where a coach hits the ball forward and keeps things moving and also does a beginner league with the other nearby clubs. Long story short, there’s a lot for a beginner to do if your club sets things up for you!

[pologirl27]

And PS, I have done both and think arena is much easier to get started with.

[Wanderosa]

@shiloh

HA! You’re braver than I am. My idea of polo is to walk horse up to ball very slowly. Lean over. Try to hit ball. Watch ball. Get off. I need a margarita.

Sort of mounted croquet? With drinks? There’s a market for that. You just invented a new equestrian sport!

[Wanderosa]

@Cat Tap

Many years ago we had an introduction polo clinic at my barn. Some of the members of our local hunt club were interested. Though my horse was well schooled and balanced from showing dressage polo was not for him. He ran backwards every time I swung the mallet and when someone hit the ball he jumped up on all four. Everybody had a good laugh.

The question is whether or not your horse would like it.

Fortunately, the club provides the horse and all equipment as part of the cost for a beginner lesson. Which is great because my horse is too tall!

[4LeafCloverFarm]

@Wanderosa

Sort of mounted croquet? With drinks? There’s a market for that. You just invented a new equestrian sport!

I’d even get in on that. :winkgrin: Think they make a mallet for a 17.2 hand draft horse cross? Cause I’m old and after one drink, that’s a lllooooonnngggg way down!

[shiloh]

Hey! I think we’re onto something…mounted croquet is about my speed. Is it cheating if you ride a pony? lol

[Bluey]

I see double, is there a handicap for that?
Do they give me two strikes to one of others?

Or just put a ribbon on my helmet and warn others about my swing not always after the real ball?

[RMJacobs]

When I was first learning to drive my ponies, I wanted to establish the sport of driving polo. But then I realized I would probably fall out of the cart if I leaned over to hit a ball, and sanity prevailed.

Rebecca

[pologirl27]

@4LeafCloverFarm

I’d even get in on that. :winkgrin: Think they make a mallet for a 17.2 hand draft horse cross? Cause I’m old and after one drink, that’s a lllooooonnngggg way down!

I recently played an easily 17 hand horse and it required a custom made 56 mallet (normal size is 50-53).