And, what’s the activity for the day? Why, polo, the sport of kings, or the king of sports, whichever you want to call it. There are several polo clubs in Palm Springs and the Empire Polo Club holds 2 matches on Sundays, at 12:00 and at 2:00 with free admission. And that’s our destination for the day. Ooh, how should we dress? Do I need a white dress, spike heels and a hat? Well, I don’t have those so, if they want to toss me out, they can. But we DID wear our best hiking shorts and shirts. No sluffs, we.
But, it was Hat Day today and there were many dressed to the nines.
We got there about 1:00 and pulled into the tailgating area. Did you ever imagine that there would be tailgating at a polo match? We lined up with everyone else and got out to watch our first ever polo match. We’ve seen it on TV but this was for real.
Here are some facts that I sure didn’t know about polo:
the field is 300 yds. by 160 yds. or as big a 7 1/2 football fields.
there are 4 players per team.
there are NO left-handed players. There used to be left-handed players but a ban on left-handed players was instituted in 1974 because it was dangerous to have left handed and right handed players on the same field. Imagine your horse is running at top speed and you're going to hit the ball with your mallet on your right side. Opposing you is a horse running at top speed and the rider is going to hit the ball with his left hand. You're both on the same side of the ball running at top speed at each other. Sounds like a demolition derby.
It is an expensive sport since you’ll need 8 horses to play a match, One for each of the 6 chukkers and 2 extras in case one gets injured. Each horse will run about 1 or 2 miles during a single 7 1/2 minute chukker so they must be rested frequently. Sometimes a good player might use 2 horses during one chukker. Here’s a player re-entering a chukker with a new horse to finish it.
Thus not only do you need 8 horses, you’ll need the tack for them, and the hay, and the trainers, and the stable crew and the stable and the grounds and … well, you get the idea, it goes on and on. It is truly the sport of kings, who else could afford it?
Polo ponies are thoroughbreds and most have been race horses in their past. Originally they could be no taler than 13 hands and were called ponies but now there is no limitation and most are between 14 and 16 hands.
Manes are clipped and tails are tied up so they don’t present a danger to either the horse or the rider. They could get entangled with the reins or the riders’ mallets. The horses also wear protective padding on their legs much like other athletes.
The sport started in Persia (Iran) in the 5th C BC. It was first played as training for the king’s cavalry. There are mentions of women playing polo in the past. However, just as women have struggled getting recognition in other sports, so too in polo. In the 1930’s, Pansy Ireland registered as P. Ireland and played for several years before her gender was discovered and she was removed from the rolls. Sue Sally (Sunny) Hale was thought to have disguised herself in the 1950’s and 1960’s to play before becoming the first woman in the US Polo Assoc. The match we saw today had a woman playing.
We walked around the field trying to get a view of every aspect of the game.
How many of you have seen Pretty Woman with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere? Remember the scene where they all go out to replace the divots in the field during one of the breaks? Well, sure enough, that really happens. We all trooped out to do what is called the ‘divot stomp.’ Here’s Gary getting in on the action.
We all went out to do this when the announcer told us to. At the International Polo Club in Florida, they often entice the audience out to the stomp by offering free glasses of champagne poured from the beds of brand new pick-ups in the middle of the field. Boy, were we cheap.
A fun day and we learned a lot. We even got our usual walk in by walking around the polo fields there.
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