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The Complete Guide to Polo
The real costs, the real gear, the real first sessions — and how to know if polo is worth it for you before you spend a cent.
by Alumigogo Books
Chapter 1: What Is Polo and Why People Love It
You've seen polo in movies — the thunder of hooves, the white-painted numbers on horses' hips, riders leaning off their mounts swinging mallets at a rolling white ball. It looks either impossibly posh or intimidatingly fast. But what does polo actually look like on a Wednesday afternoon before the crowd shows up? What do you do for the first three months, before you ever play a real game?
Let me walk you through it — the real, unfiltered version, the way your friend who's been playing for years would tell you about it over a beer.
The Building Blocks
First, the basics. Polo is played on a field the size of nine football pitches. You ride a horse and hit a plastic ball (today's balls are usually plastic — not wooden) with a long-handled mallet that has a flexible cane shaft, a rubber grip, and a wooden head. The goal is simple: hit the ball through the opponent's goal posts. But that simplicity hides a sport that's equal parts horsemanship, hand-eye coordination, and chess.
You play in on a team of four riders. Positions are numbered 1 through 4, and each has a role — but for the first year, your role is just staying in the saddle and making contact with the ball. Full stop.
Games are divided into periods called chukkas, each lasting seven minutes and thirty seconds. At the end of a chukka, you switch horses —