Equestrian polo is one of the oldest games in the world, as it appeared more than 2,000 years ago. Equestrian polo was popular in Persia and India.
Officers of England’s army at the time learned about this sport just in India, after which it became known in Europe. The term “polo” is also of Indian origin, meaning “wood”. It is wooden sticks and used in the game. The interesting thing is that only in India, polo can be played on elephants, in other countries on horses.
The British have made a huge contribution to the development of equestrian polo, as they made the first push to promote it internationally. It is known and documented that in 1869 the first polo game was played in England, and it was called “horse hockey”.
England has made the game aristocrats world famous, and so in 1875 this game was already played in Argentina.
The length of the field for equestrian polo must be 275 meters and its width is 180 meters. Teams consist of 4 riders whose main goal is to defeat their opponent’s goal, which is 7.30 m wide. Each player has a stick. The size of the game ball is 8 cm. Each game is divided into 6 periods, which are called chukkers. One period lasts 7 minutes.
Despite the short duration of the halves, the horses knock out the turf on the playing field, so during the breaks the stadium workers together with the fans go out on the field and level it. The game involves horses polo-pony breed, which cost about 50 thousand dollars. Breed them mostly in Argentina. In the course of the match you can use several horses, which have each rider.
Interesting is the fact that the sport was previously included in the Olympic Games. However, after the war it was removed from the Olympic list, as the organizers felt that only the representatives of Argentina won there, so there was no point in holding the competition. Beginning in 1987, the Equestrian World Championships began to be held.
The Argentine Adolfo Cambiasso is the most titled equestrian polo player. He is a legend of the aristocratic game, but the game itself is not as popular in the world as, for example, soccer.
The trick of equestrian polo is that after each goal loss, the teams exchange goals. The reason is that one of the teams is bound to play against the sun, which obscures the players’ view, and swapping fields allows the teams to level the playing field.
The material for playing sticks is mostly considered bamboo. Willow or other combined materials are not often used. It is noteworthy that the stick in this game can be held only in the right hand. And even the left-handed must play with his right hand, it is the rule.
To date, equestrian polo is spread in more than 70 countries around the world. The main leaders of the sport are considered to be the Argentinians, the English, the Australians, the Americans, the Indians and the Pakistanis.