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Team games on horseback
Polo is a team game on horseback in which riders use long mallets to drive a ball across a huge grass field and hit it through the other team's goal.
| Group | Team games on horseback |
|---|---|
| Also called | chovgan, chogan, arena polo, snow polo |
| Olympic | no |
| Governing body | Federation of International Polo (FIP) |
| Where it is popular | Argentina is the heart of the polo world, and the game is also widely played in the UK, the USA, India, Pakistan and Australia. Professional polo is played in about 16 countries. |
Outdoor polo is played by two teams of four riders, while arena polo uses teams of three. The field is about 300 by 160 yards (274 by 146 m), the largest playing field of any modern sport. A match is split into seven-minute periods called chukkas, usually four to eight of them, and players normally switch to a fresh horse for each chukka. Every player has a handicap from -2 to 10 goals, and if the team totals differ, the lower-rated team starts with a head start on the scoreboard. The team that scores more goals wins.
Polo horses are traditionally called "ponies", but most are horse-sized, typically around 15.1 hands. They are usually Thoroughbreds or Thoroughbred crosses, or Argentine polo horses, chosen for speed, agility and calmness around the ball and mallets.
Players use a mallet with a cane shaft about 127-134 cm long and must wear a helmet with a chinstrap; in the UK, knee guards are also compulsory in official play. The horse's legs are protected with polo wraps from below the knee to the fetlock.
The best-known tournament is the Argentine Open in Palermo, Buenos Aires, first held in 1893. Other famous events are the British Open for the Cowdray Gold Cup at Cowdray Park and the Snow Polo World Cup in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
First learn to ride confidently at all paces, then go to a polo club that offers lessons and provides horses. Beginners learn under a coach's supervision and always wear a helmet.
Polo was an Olympic sport between 1900 and 1936, and Argentina won Olympic gold in 1924 and 1936.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org, en.wikipedia.org, en.wikipedia.org, en.wikipedia.org