Circling is also a great way to calm a nervous horse. You let them trot or canter in a circle. They will begin to settle as they realize they are not really going anywhere, but there are at least able to move. If you are heading across an open field….it is a whole different story, as the horse sees the option of taking off. Rarely, a horse will break into runaway mode. This is not normally applicable to a school horse, but under the right conditions, any horse is capable. Especially when a horse or group of horses come flying by you. Why? They are herd bound. They…by their very nature….run with the pack. So it is not so much that they are willfully disobeying you, if they tend to run with others, it is they are obeying what is built into them instinctively. Their prehistoric mode is what has helped them to survive until this modern day. That mode is “fright and flight”. They are not fighters unless cornered. They run from their perception of danger.

I’m not so sure why their fear of danger for some horses may be something as terrifying as a monarch butterfly launching off a leaf on a nearby bush, but maybe to them, that may be a possible signal of more to follow. You know…like birds flushing out of the trees right before the lion attacks. Of course…I don’t think these horses have seen any lions in these parts…ever….but they say….. old habits die hard.

Another potential problem is heading back to the barn. Always a sound idea to go back at a controlled pace. If you are a weak rider and they are strong willed (and possibly really hungry) you may not want to gallop towards the barns…they may plot a new flight plan without any consideration to the passenger….you.

In any event, horses are very perceptive and some of them are very skittish and nervous. Those kind of horses are not considered good trail riding kind of horses. Good trail horses are those who are pretty indifferent to what dangerous creatures may be lurking on the other side of those fences and hedgerows. The kind of horse that makes you want to start whistling zippety do dah….you know….like in splash mountain at Disneyland…but without the 60 foot drop. One of the reasons that some places are not crazy about loose dogs out on the trails is when fido starts to dart in and out of the bushes. Those horses that are a tad skiddish with a monarch butterfly could have major heart failure with fido. We had a guy once who always took his trusted fido. One day, fido jumped out in front of his horse and he fell off and broke his arm. I know there is a lesson in there somewhere.

If your horse were to take off unexpectedly and you are not able to stop them, circling is a great way of gaining leverage and therefore re-establishing control by turning them into smaller and smaller circles until they stop. If you happen to be on one of those rare runaways, you want to separate into two hands and begin to pull the horse’s head into one direction. In my forty years, I have had only one horse that kept running straight with its head pulled all the way to the right. If that happens….do what I did….pray……..except Im not sure oh sh_t is amongst the verses of scripture….but it was going across the ticker tape of my mind on that day.

I wish you safe passage through the forests of dangerous butterflies !!!!!

I thought that Prince Harry managed the fall quite well! He picked his spot, cleared his stirrups, dismounted to the side of the horse, and rolled when he landed. And most importantly, he was able to walk away when all was said and done.

I hope the rest of the team enjoyed the beer!

Ok, what could one possibly talk about? Undefended. Just take the shot. Hit it through, score and throw-in. Miss, knock-in. Short, knock-in from that spot. Defense, none, nada. As I type, there is discussion to again allow a defense to the open goal outdoor. For those of you new to the game, they use to allow defenders to jump over the back line and race across the front of the goal just as the shot was taken. The ongoing debate about bringing it back is all about safety. No defense, no chance of anyone getting hurt. The other side of the debate is that the whole game is a chance of getting hit, so why is it all of a sudden an issue on penalties?

Well, while the polo world continues the debate, this article will go with the present ruling, no defense.

Tip #1: Defense

If you are defending, stand both behind the end line and well wide of the goal posts. You are not allowed to stand between the goal posts, and why would you? Do you like being drilled by a hard plastic ball being fired at you? And if your answer is yes to the previous question, at least think of the horse. I always turned my horse away from the shot being attempted, to protect the horse’s head from the attempted shot. There is absolutely no reason to be anywhere near the goal posts. So stay behind the line and well to the side in case someone hits a hard shot wide of goal. If you do not stay behind the goal line and at least 30 yards from where they set the ball, you will wind up giving the hitting team another shot if they miss. So if they award a spot hit from 2 yards out, you are suppose to be 28 yards behind the back line.

Sometimes a team or team member that has committed the foul will canter back to the throw-in with the feeling that the penalty is a given. In my years, I have seen some shots missed from inches, not yards, inches away from goal. I certainly cant remember doing so myself, and if I did, I would have surely blocked that experience from memory, (please, no write ins). So if the goal is important to the outcome of the game, stay behind the goal line, you just never know.

Tip #2: Offense

The open goal allows us to focus on hitting straight. We are not forced to hit hard due to someone rushing out, trying to defend. So don’t hurry yourself. You are only allowed one approach, so start back a ways so you can get a good line to the ball. Some canter, some walk. Do whatever you are most comfortable with. Some horses will not steady at the walk, some won’t steady at the canter. You should take a full, steady swing with your focus on following through straight. Too many players shorten their swing and wind up getting tight, which usually winds up in a missed opportunity. Don’t swing hard, just swing through the ball and keep your focus on your mallet head facing the goal as you finish your swing. As you only get one pass outdoors, sometimes your horse may take a funny step just about when you are ready to hit. Try to maintain calm and adjust your swing to make the best of what you are left with. You should practice taking shots on the wrong lead, at a trot, and at various angles, so that at least you are familiar with hitting under various conditions. It would be wonderful to always get that great approach, but not very realistic. It’s not always all about a great shot, sometimes it is just the shot that works. You get a goal if the ball rolls through or if it sails through, so with no defense, straight is our focus. Happy Polo !!

So even though you are moving forward, you are adjusting the horse laterally at the same time. So why do you need to know anything about leg yielding when all you want to know is how to go fast, turn, and stop?

Being able to adjust a horse a few inches or a few feet from one side to the other is what allows the better riders to adjust to a bouncing outdoor ball, to win more ride-offs, and to get their horse closer to the boards in the arena than you seem to be able to do. Not to mention getting a better balanced frame on your horse while moving around the field.

Frame is referencing your horse’s positioning. Are they aligned straight down through their neck and back as they should be when moving straight, or is their some arc or curviture to that same neck and back line as it would be if you were bending to the right or to the left while you circle for example.

It gets a little more complicated when the curve of that frame is actually bent in an arc to seemingly be going to the right, but in fact you are asking for the horse to move their body to the left. Hmmmmm?? What is this guy talking about and why is this taking up the space of a decent tip on polo ?? Ok, fair question, but stay with me, it is a very good tip.

If you pull your right rein just a tad or shorten them when holding all your reins in one hand, but you apply strong right leg pressure at the same time, your horse should move or yield to your leg and actually move to the left as you are moving forward. This is exactly what you can use to aid in your ride-offs, moving off the ball a tad, or getting closer to the wall. With the opposite cues, the horse would move to the right as they move forward.

A good drill to teach your horse to respond better to your leg, is the turn on the forehand. You stand alongside the arena wall or out in the open will work. You try to keep your horse’s front legs relatively still, as you ask for your horse to turn their haunches around in a circle by squeezing or kicking with your appropriate lower leg. So if you want their haunches or rear quarters to turn to the left, you use your right leg. You must be patient and carefully hold and release with your hands, while you ask with your leg. You want the front legs to stay in a fairly small circle, while the hindquarters move around. This is the opposite of the rollback. A rollback is when the horse pivots on their hindquarters and turns into a new direction. A turn on the forehand is used for training purposes at a standstill. To teach your horse to yield or move away from your leg pressure.

If you are having a lot of trouble, you can assist your horse by turning a little with your hands, but keep using a lot of leg. Eventually, they should just move off your leg without asking them to turn with your hand. But BE PATIENT !!

So as you are hitting the ball and your horse drifts either a little too far away or too close, guess what will allow you to make that adjustment, if you and your horse have been working on leg yielding or lateral movement.

You are trying to win that ride-off. What do you think is more effective? Using your hands only and steering towards your opponent, or using your hands and outside leg together to get your horse’s body into that ride-off.
When you and your horses are communicating well through the combination of your hands and legs, you are able to get to many more plays, more effectively.

You are turning to the right and your horse is leaning too much into the turn and too close to the ball. You steady with your reins and squeeze with your right leg and the horse adjusts their frame more around your leg and off the ball a tad. That allows a safer more balanced turn and a better opportunity to make a play on the ball.

I will admit, we have entered the world of brussel sprouts and tedious detail when we go deeper into equitation like this, but it is what separates those that move around the field as part of their horse to those who ride around simply on top of their horse.

And there is nothing wrong with riding on top of a horse, you are not alone, or rather, they are not alone. However, you must also accept the fact that simply riding on top of one’s horse increases your odds of winding up underneath your horse more often. There are other factors at work, such as gravity, but that is another subject that you can find additional info on if you just do a google search-type in Sir Isaac Newton.
Happy Polo !!

Polo also resumes play with a throw-in after every out of bounds and some whistles where no foul is the determination. Some infractions of procedure also are resolved with a throw-in, so it is rather obvious that throw-ins are a key factor in the play of the game. At the very least, it is a necessary evil.

1) The first piece of advice is to get to your position in the throw-in quickly. This may sound simple, but it is amazing how many times players are slow getting back to the throw-in. Save the victory celebrations for after the game, get back to the throw-in following goals. When balls go out of bounds, get to that area quickly so that you are ready. Instead of big long arcs back to the throw-in, plot a more direct course from where you are to your position in the throw-in. I know, it sounds pretty darn obvious, but…….direct line, less strides, less time, less wear and tear. One good example where less is more.

2) Get to your man in the throw-in. You may be forced to your nearside, but putting your opponent in your pocket and having a free side to stroke the ball is more effective than getting hooked. There are some cases where the abilities of the two opponents are not evenly matched, so at times, if you truly do have the quicker mallet and horse, you may choose to try to beat your opponent to the ball.

3) Watch your swings-You are not allowed full swings in close quarters, but it is usually just the more reckless ones that actually get called. Faces are down looking for the ball and players are in close quarters. A full hard swing in this situation screams potential trouble. So be aware-be very aware of your face, your opponents, and all of the horses.

Generally, the number ones are supposed to try to turn down field for a pass and at the same time hold the opposing number one from getting loose to quickly. If you do get the ball, you should probably bring it to the boards or sidelines first, get your momentum going and then either release the pass or take it yourself. A quick neck shot out of the throw-in is usually a turnover to the other team.

The number four players outdoors and the number three players in the arena usually line up a little more defensively. They sit out to the side about five to twenty feet and at a slight angle to stop any fast breaks. The angle also allows them to turn back to the ball quicker if the ball goes all the way through.

If the umpire is following the book to the letter, they will not throw-in the ball unless both teams are on their proper sides. However, there can be a lot of grey matter here. Some umpires improvise a bit and will throw the ball in quickly, catching unprepared players off balance. They may wait too long and put the teams into an endless exercise of turning back around. And when you do turn back around-big tip here-keep your eyes on the umpire while you turn around. If you need to talk to your teammate while in the throw-in, talk to them with your eyes focused on the umpire.

Some umpire may be a little slack on allowing contact before the umpire bowls it in, and in those cases, you have to try to get the advantage on your opponent before they get it on you.

4) Umpire’ style. If the umpire is insisting on the lane and throwing in hard, expect more of the plays to be all the way through or out the back. If the umpire is allowing a little contact and not demanding the clearance, most of the plays will start off near the front of the throw-ins. If the throw-n is from the sidelines outdoors, you will often see players turned around facing the middle of the field so they even go with the direction of the ball on a better line to goal, whereas defensively, the better play may be back to the boards or sidelines in an effort not to give your opponents a good look at goal.

5) Strategy -You need to talk to your team to find out what your most effective strategy may be for the throw-ins for your team with consideration to who you are up against. Some teams insist their number ones to move out of the throw-ins. Some teams don’t want the number one player to do anything but hold the opposing #1, others just want you to get down field for a pass. Some teams mandate that their team members not turn back defensively if the ball bounces to your defensive side, allowing for your three to get to the ball and then they will decide whether to get a pass to the offense or go the other end to the #4.

6) A quick jump to the ball out of the throw-in can often result in a costly fouls shot. One second your opponents are 150 yards from goal and the next second, with an anxious play and the sound of a whistle, they are only 60 yards away. And they didn’t even have to hit the ball. Your enthusiasm just hit it for them, 90 yards, not a bad shot. Just the wrong direction.

The line changes quickly in the throw-in as it is deflecting off of horses and mallets. The other challenging factor is that at center field, the line may be from sideline to sideline, but we want to go end line to end line. If the opponent is near, you only have one option, and that is to follow the line of the ball. It may be a more difficult shot, but it is the only shot they have. Even if you can’t make it, at least make them hit the ball those 90 yards, don’t do it for them.

I think one of the most complicating issues of throw-ins is that you are not properly aligned with the man you are covering on the field. Outdoors you are lined up against the opposing #1, yet your proper opponent is their #4 player. This often times makes it a little confusing for amateur players. You are almost doomed from the start.

But if you think of polo in the more traditional sense of the number one and two players breaking out of the throw-in and the opposing Number three and four players jumping out to pick them up, the line up makes sense. However, there are a lot of times when there is a good deal of contact in the throw-in and no one is jumping out away from anyone and the twosomes in the throw-in wind up paired up until a time when you have the option of getting back to your opponent and your position.

I have had teams actually place our number one player against their #4 right in the throw-in. It may be a little unorthodox, but when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense to just line up against the players you are marking as opposed to the normal throw-in assembly. Remember, we once were convinced that the world was flat. In the world of polo fields, we wish it were.

Novice: “What’s the plan for this knock-in?”
Pro: “I want you over there [points with mallet]. When you’re over there, try to get open.”
Novice: “OK, why do you want me over there?”
Pro: “So I can hit it to you!”

From there, we’re left to imagine what the overall strategy for the play may or may not be. I thought it would be helpful to write a few articles about basic strategy to take the guesswork out of it. With these basics in mind, you should be able to determine what your team needs of you in common situations, without having to ask. This will make your pro’s job a lot easier, will make the game even more fun, and may net you a few extra trophies this season!

Let’s start with the knock-in. I want to start with this situation because in low-goal polo your opponents will likely have only a single knock-in strategy, making proper positioning for the play a snap. In other words, learning the proper strategy for this play is not difficult and has a high payout — it can set the tone for the chukker or even the game. Blowing through your opponents’ defense, or conversely, presenting a solid and consistent defense of your own during the knock-in can be a major psychological victory for your team, which can continue to pay dividends throughout the entire game.

The knock-in starts from the end line, on either side of the goal posts. Typically the Number 4 (offense) will hit the ball in, with the opposing Number 1 (defense) challenging him. The Number 2s mark each other, as do the Number 3s, leaving the opposing Number 4 (defense) to mark the Number 1 (offense). Take a look at the image below for a visual.

A successful knock-in can set the tone for the entire game.

Offense

Typically the 4 (offense) will hit the ball toward the boards in the knock-in. This gives his team a chance to get open, helps protect his offside from hooks, and prevents a potential turnover in mid-field. However, if the 3 (offense) can beat his man, the 4 (offense) may consider a pass to 3 rather than going to the boards. In this way he can circumvent the defense’s positioning and potentially even get a breakaway to goal. This only works if the 3 (defense) is caught napping or is severely over-matched by his opponent. In most cases though, so long as the defense is observant, this is not a good play as it can result in a turnover right in front of the goal. Taking the ball toward the boards is almost always the safer play.

The 4 (offense) will usually take two hits. The first hit, toward the sideboards, is designed to achieve two things. First, the 4 (offense) wants to draw in the opposing 1 (defense) in as close as possible. In this way he ensures that the 1 (defense) can’t assist his team mates when the ball is passed. Second, this first small hit is many times uncontested. I’m not exactly sure why this happens, but I suspect it’s because in practice this first hit is kind of a “gimme” and players get in the habit of letting the offense have the uncontested hit. Regardless of the reason, the 4 (offense) will usually try to start the knock-in with a tap toward the boards to gain some momentum and eat up a few extra yards on the way toward his goal. This first hit should be just far enough so the 4 has time to look up and pass to his teammates, but not so long as to give the 1 (defense) a play on the ball.

Meanwhile, the 3 (offense) should be doing his best to get open in the middle of the field, about 30 yards from the end line. The 3 (offense) should try to stay near the middle of the field to give his team mates (1 and 2) room to maneuver. This sets him up as a kind of saftey for the 4 (offense). The 4 (offense) will pass it to him if he can’t make a pass to the 2 (offense) or the 1 (offense).

Similarly, the 2 (offense) will be doing his best to get open near the sideboards. The 2 (offense) and 3 (offense) should be near parallel to each other but at least 20-40 yards apart. They should remain apart until one of them has possession of the ball, once that happens the player without the ball can fall in behind as a backup.

The 1 (offense) should be between the 2 (offense) and 3 (offense) and around 10-20 yards ahead of them. His goal is to beat the opposing Number 4 (defense) as early as possible in order to be open to receive a pass. Typically the 4 (offense) won’t pass directly to the 1 (offense) unless he absolutely must. A long pass from the 4 (offense) to the 1 (offense) has a high chance of being turned over to the opposing team.

Defense

Notice that the Number 1 (defense) is well over toward the sideboards. This is because the 4 (offense) will typically hit toward the sideboards first to prevent a turnover in mid-field, in front of his own goal. In other words, the 4 (offense) is going to try to get the ball as far away from his goal as possible while still ensuring that he maintains possession of the ball. The 1 predicts this and positions himself so that he can easily meet the line of the ball and perhaps take possession before the 4 (offense) can hit again. If he can harry the 4 (offense) enough to force him to make a long pass from the end line, rather than taking the ball toward the sideboards first, then the 1 (defense) has done his job. He has increased the likelihood that the offense will turn the ball over to his team by forcing them to hit a long pass, which is inherently inaccurate.

However, the 4 (offense) isn’t likely to opt for a long pass unless he knows that the 1 (defense) will take possession of the ball if he doesn’t. This means that when he knocks-in for the first time, he will almost certainly attempt a short tap toward the sidelines. He will continue to do this at each knock-in until or unless the opposing 1 (defense) rushes the ball and takes it from him, or threatens to, at least once. Therefore, as the 1 (defense) your goal is to attempt to take the ball from the 4 (offense) before he can pass it. It’s unlikely you’ll be able to do this in reality, but the threat can be all it takes to force the 4 (offense) into passing prematurely, which can be almost as good. If the 1 (defense) attempts to take possession but can’t, then he will need to immediately turn his horse and mark the 4 (offense) in order to at least take him out of the rest of the play.

It’s important that the Number 3 (defense) pays attention. If the 3 (defense) doesn’t properly mark his man, the 4 (offense) may hit there instead of taking the ball to the boards, upsetting the defensive strategy and potentially gaining a breakaway. The closer the 3 (defense) can stay to his counterpart, the less likely it will be that the 4 (offense) will be able to pass there. And if the pass does come, he will be in prime position to push the 3 (offense) out of the play and take possession for himself.

The 2 (defense) and 4 (defense) will do much the same thing. Their goal is to prevent their man from receiving a pass, simple as that.

Obviously these positions will need to be moved around sometimes to accomodate the team’s strengths and weaknesses, but this general strategy serves as a template for most variations on the knock-in that I’ve seen. Once you understand what the opposing team hopes to accomplish in the short-term, you can better situate yourself to prevent him from achieving his long-term aim (scoring a goal). Good luck!

Sometimes it’s helpful just to watch a pro swing over and over again. However, it’s a luxury that’s hard to come by — sure, you can watch a pro stick and ball, but most of the time they’ll be so far away from you that you can’t really see the stroke in enough detail to gain much benefit. Likewise, when you’re out practicing or playing a match you often don’t have time to analyze the swings of the other players. Trying to get into position for the next play, marking your man, or taking a swipe at the ball yourself is a higher priority.

That’s where these videos come in. Here you have the opportunity to watch a pro perform the four foundational swings of polo as many times as you like, in slow motion, from the comfort of your computer desk! These videos cover the offside forehand, offside backhand, nearside forehand, and nearside backhand. The more specialized swings like the neck shot, the tail shot, or the infamous belly shot are really just variations of the four foundational swings. If you take the time to master these four basic swings — not an easy task! — the more specialized swings shouldn’t give you much trouble. Easier said than done of course but hopefully these videos will help!

So, turning a horse? Oh that’s easy. There is an old Indian saying “Put hand left-horse go left-put hand right-horse go right”. (I’m kidding on the old Indian saying, as they were the masters of riding a horse through their legs). So reining may seem like pretty simple stuff initially…but there is a lot more to it.

The beginner rider starts out pretty much all hand, while more advanced riding is all about the combination of seat, legs, eyes, voice, hands, and position. Hands or reining is only a piece of the puzzle, but certainly an important one.

There are two ways to hold your reins. What we call argentine style and English style. There are players representing both styles who have achieved the ten goal handicap, so the choice on how to hold them is really personal preference. The argentine style has your two snaffle reins running on top of your index finger and the two curb reins running underneath between the index and your middle finger. The English style is left to right starting inside of your hand and then inbetween each set of finger. The rein on the far right should be between your middle and index fingers. You start with your left snaffle rein through the heel of your hand and then out between index and thumb, then left curb rein through your little finger and the third finger, then right curb rein, then right snaffle rein. Your snaffle reins are the higher reins coming from the bit. All of the slack of your rein with the English style, should come out between your index finger and thumb. The English style is better suited for taking advantage of various reining techniques that may help you in slower polo and those of you that may be somewhat limited in the level of horse that you can afford. The great amateur horses pretty much do it for us. In the show world, that horse is called a great “packer”. In polo they are called “sponsor horses”. You probably know them better as the best horses in your string or strand depending on your budget. Polo with pretty much any horse is fun, but the great horses are what make polo the ultimate high.

There are many less than great horse out there that may require a little more direction or encouragement to get to the play. That is where a little more knowledge on the basics may help. The basic neck reining we do would be referred to as indirect reining with the method of two handing. That is laying the rein across their neck and hoping that they turn away from that pressure. That is one of the reasons four reins are better than two as you have more leather against their neck for direction. You should hold your hand down close to the horse’s neck as that will allow you to take better advantage of the horse’s neck as the majority of your reins will be on the neck. If you raise your hand, you will get the narrower portion of the horse’s upper neck, which is not the desired area.

When holding your reins in two hands, the most basic rein aid is your direct rein. You pull on the right reins to go right and the left reins to turn left. If you are turning right, your right reins are your direct reins and your left reins are your indirect or neck reining reins. If you were to use two hands, you would use both your direct rein, which is pulling back slightly on the right reins to turn right. And you would support them with your left reins or indirect reins across your horse’s left side of the neck. The reason that this is important to know, is that when you are holding all four reins in your left hand, you should learn how to utilize both the direct reins and the indirect reins while neck reining. Why? Because you are giving added signals to the horse which will produce better results. The easiest way to explain how is to remind you to pull up your reins evenly on both sides. Then if you are going to turn right, move your rein hand right, holding the two right reins steady and letting the left reins slide out a little looser. You will get to the point that you will have both your direct reins and your indirect reins working together. Once you come out of your right turn, you will need to re-adjust all four reins so that they are even lengths on both sides.

The easiest way to shorten your reins is to use your fingers off your mallet hand and grab the slack of your reins directly behind your left hand, and then slide your left hand forward. Learn to shorten and lengthen your reins turning both directions.

If you choose to hold argentine style, it is a little trickier to work right and left reins independently of each other. You need to use your fingers from your mallet hand to pull the desired reins shorter.

You always support the request with your hands with pressure from your “outside leg”. When turning right you either squeeze or kick with your left leg to drive the horse’s body into the turn. You should also be turning your upper torso into the direction of your turn. All of these things working together is what helps the horse into the turn correctly.

There are also a few tricks to using your reins for better lateral movement, but we will leave that to another article, such as indirect reins over the withers. That is the reining technique that will help you in ride-offs and getting your horse closer to the boards in the arena.

In the meantime, start working on the combination of your direct and indirect reins. But easy with your hands. Our motto should always be “guide with your hands, drive with your legs”. Happy Polo !!

Now we are actually rising up in our leg, out of our seat, very similar to the two-point position that riders use when jumping fences. We are not standing in our stirrups; we are up in our leg so to speak. If you were to first stand in your stirrups, you would then sink as low in your heels as possible, and then lower yourself through your leg to as close as you can get to the saddle without sitting. To do this, you must let your lower leg angle go back some. If you straighten your lower leg, you will fall back into your seat. If you bring your lower leg back further, you should be able to stay up in your hitting position with relative ease. You will see some players who do not have a good lower leg angle (thigh to calf) will bend the upper body more forward at the hip. If you do not get a good lower leg angle, the only other way is to bend further forward and produce a similar angle with your upper body. Instead of the thigh/calf angle, a rider may duplicate a similar angle with their thigh and upper body through their hip. The problem with too much upper body angle is that you are not in a good hitting position and you are not very well balanced, as you are too forward. Unless you enjoy executing multiple “bug on the windshield” kind of dismounts, I suggest you put more focus on lower leg angle and less on your upper body angle.

Now being up in your leg will not feel very secure until you practice some, but once you develop your lower leg, you will have found the key to riding and hitting. To review a former article, your weight is driven past your ball of your foot into your heels. You then turn your sole of your entire foot out to the side which will also draw your knee in tighter to the saddle. This is more effective than telling a rider to squeeze with their knees. Try it yourself. If you squeeze with your knees your weight comes out of the stirrups, not a good thing. If you pressure first into your heels and then turn the soul of your foot out, your knees will automatically come against the saddle. However, your weight is also down into your heels, that is a good thing. Your lower leg should drop back to where the back side of your thigh and calf produce an angle somewhere close to a 90 degree angle. Your upper body should be fairly erect with just a slight angle forward. You are right to the front of the saddle. This position is the secured position that you need to feel more comfortable at speed both in your riding and your hitting. You should practice controlling and directing your horse while remaining up in the hitting position for as long as you are able to tolerate it. Once you build yourself up to a point where you can remain in that hitting position through your lower leg angle for extended periods of time, you will have found that “one thing” that Curly references in the movie “City Slickers”. Of course, they were talking about life, whereas we are talking polo. But if we had a life, would we be playing polo ?? So until you find that one thing in your life ( and I hope you have or do), the “one thing” in polo is lower leg angle. Happy Polo !!

Regardless of who the camera is mounted on though, I think it’s interesting because we can watch the the player do many of the things our own pros and coaches have been trying to drill into us since we first started playing.

Some things to note while watching:

• Notice that throughout the practice, our player glances at the ball frequently but briefly. He doesn’t stare at the ball. He looks back, finds the ball, and then continues looking all around, not focusing on the ball.
• Our player is constantly swiveling his head, keeping a constantly updated vision of the layout of the field as the line of the ball changes and player formations change in response.
• Our player doesn’t chase the ball. He watches as the play unfolds and rides to meet the play, not the ball. The ball eventually finds its way to him, he doesn’t go hunting for it.
• He turns as soon as the opposing team takes possession of the ball. He doesn’t wait until the opposing team actually hits the ball, but rather he begins to turn as soon as it’s obvious that the opposing team will take possession. He turns in anticipation of the opposing team hitting the ball, not in reaction to them hitting the ball.
• He prepares the ball prior to big hits. Notice that he doesn’t ride up to the ball and take a monster swing. Instead he places the ball with a couple of taps and then hits big.