polo clinic!! with helmet cam + gifs!!!

So I can occasionally be a little impulsive. The flyer advertising a polo clinic at our farm has been hanging on the bulletin board for a couple weeks now, but I had initially expected my September calendar of events to look a little different and therefore dismissed it as a possibility.

But plans changed, lessons were cancelled, and suddenly I had a little more free time (and unspent cash). Meaning playing polo sounded more and more like the perfect idea.

Bordick, Caballo and Guinness scrimmaging in group 1

Plus we played in the evening - MUCH more desirable than my typical midday weekend schooling rides, given how hot it's been.

I got there in time to watch group 1 finish up learning the basics and move on to the scrimmage. OMG guys it looked like so much fun!

it's been so dry out tho, the ring was dussssssty

I seriously could not get over all the cute taped up tails. Not entirely convinced the horses appreciated it (it's been super buggy lately) but I thought it made them look a little more sproingy and polo-y somehow.

We started out with introductions to the basic swings. The trainer April showed us the proper form (demonstrated above for the full swing) and had us give it a try while all in the center. Then we were off to toodle around the arena chasing after all the balls to get the hang of it while April shouted out encouragement.  

The swings we covered: half and full swing, back shots, and near side shots (tho I also inadvertently tried a couple neck shots). We also 'dribbled' a little bit, which is exactly what it sounds like.

does she look like cute polo pony?

The whole purpose of learning the optimal form and swing techniques was to A) keep it as easy as possible on us and let the laws of physics help things along; and B) avoid whacking the horse with the mallet. I was only partially successful on both these counts haha.

Particularly, my wrist quickly became sore from trying to do too much with it, rather than letting the weight of the mallet and the arc of my swing dictate the impact with the ball. I also struggled with swinging straight forward, as opposed to diagonally under Izzy's face (and maybe once or twice INTO her face, sorry mare!) - which April attributed to me not reaching back far enough to begin the arc of my swing. 

maybe if the polos were brightly colored instead of black?

Perhaps the biggest difficulty for me was getting my shoulders squared completely over the ball. If you can imagine that April was sitting on a horse in that demo gif above, it's clear that she'd be leaning all the way over to one side, balancing on her right foot and left knee. I kinda lacked the commitment necessary to take my shoulders so far away from 'center' - and it led to a lot of missed or weak swings. 

ahh yess, i see it now! she totally looks the part!

But wow - it was super fun to try! We maybe spent the majority of the clinic off on our own trying out all the swings at various speeds (tho I never really connected at the canter bc I wouldn't lean far enough over the side of the horse...) while also trying not to run into each other (there were six riders in the clinic). Made for pretty excellent helmet camera footage lol.

video of learning the shots here

Isabel was mostly pretty game for it. I think she got a little flustered sometimes by all my shifting weight, and frequently drifted in the direction I was leaning so that the ball would end up right underneath her. And when I started trying to swing from her left side she got all irritated that I had changed the rules on her now that we were approaching the ball from a different side.

that tail wrap tho - too freakin adorable (even tho izzy hated it)

But really she was super good and obedient. (Tho to be honest, when I told trainer Dan that we tried polo he more or less disapproved, saying that I should probably ride a different horse to play with to avoid interfering with Isabel's training. Not entiiiiiiirely sure I agree... tho I guess he has a point. Meh, whatever, we don't have any competitions in the immediate future and one evening of polo isn't going to ruin Isabel).

Anyway, after everyone had more or less figured out how to hit the ball while remaining on the horse we moved on to the fun part: a scrimmage!!!! April went over some of the rules - like the 'line' of the ball - that I really only vaguely understand. Meaning I continuously fouled a couple riders, oops. And I'm still really unclear how defense works in this game.

BUT. Haha it was so much fun. Watching the video doesn't look like real polo at all bc most of the horses are wizened old lesson ponies with a distinct lack of 'zip.' That is, except for the two chestnut arabs haha (Isabel and my barn manager's dressage horse in the white bridle). 

video of scrimmage clips here

My team lost the scrimmage 2-1, sadly - but not for a lack of trying!! We'll get 'em next time. Presumably if April comes back again we'll be able to skip most of the 'learning the basics' bit and go right into more scrimmaging.

Have you ever played? Any desire to?