Last evening, the Lehigh Valley Horse Council sponsored an Introduction to Polo demonstration at Edgewood Valley Farm just outside of Nazareth, PA.
The meeting started out with the guest speaker, Bob Brosious of the Tinicum Park Polo Club, explaining the game. I finally know what a chukker is.
Did you know that the polo pony comes from Argentina? Polo ponies are a Quarter Horse and a Thoroughbred cross. Thoroughbred's are used more now in the high level competitions than the crosses because they found that the Thoroughbreds are faster.
After the explanation, the speaker and a partner of his, hopped on their polo ponies to demonstrate the game. Wow, that looked like fun.
Once the demonstration was over, attendees were allowed to try their hand at the game. Many participated by trying to hit the ball from the ground. Others hopped on the horses to get the real feel of polo. Wow! These ponies are so responsive! Just a slight touch and they turn, stop and go! They even follow the ball. It's such a pleasure riding such responsive horses. You can tell these horses love the game. When they hear that ball being hit, the horses on the sidelines can't wait to get into the game.
After attending this demonstration, I find this game exciting and lots of fun. And, it's not really a rich mans sport.
I think I will attend a couple of the games at some point on a Saturday afternoon at Tinicum Park in Bucks County. It will be an exciting afternoon.
I was to one polo match in my life....it was quite awhile ago, when the guy I was dating in highschool and his family took me...memories....one of the jockeys came over and gave me a signed polo ball...
Kristin:
After attending this polo demonstration, I'm looking forward to going to my first match.
Brigita