Experienced: Polo

Many spectator sports I'd love to partake in are just too inaccessible: Formula One racing; sumo wrestling; caber tossing; you get the picture.

Liton Ali

The fast moving, highly-skilled society-game of polo is no longer one of these: I’ve been there, done that and got the polo shirt.

I took up the challenge of Red Letter Days’ Introduction to polo experience, a day of tuition at the Ascot Park Polo Club in Surrey. Knowing that the course was taking place at one of the most famous polo schools in the world, I was expecting half a day of boredom with a bunch of those irritating horsey-toffs in ill-fitting jodphurs. I was pleasantly surprised, in fact it was a very exciting day.

Polo is not as dangerous as it looks. There are several rules that stop the players from killing each other. When the average galloping speed of a horse is 38mph, you need a great deal of control to be forced upon players. The day started with a theory session, with a talk from Peter Grace, founder of the school, which involved toy horses and a strategy board. We quickly covered the rules, safety considerations, different ways to defend and winning tactics.

The Swing: getting it right

With the theory in my head (theoretically, at least. I was a little confused), it was time to learn the most important part of polo; hitting the ball. The polo swing is initially taught with a short stick with the player standing on an upturned crate. This game is all about technique and a powerful shot in polo only comes with a well formed swing rather than raw power. With professional polo players teaching, I found the swing easy to pick up and was coached into directing the ball using a slight turn of the hand and developing more power through a tiny flick of the wrist. There is a limited number of shots in polo due to the horse getting in the way and I had time to practise three, enough for a first game.

The Horse: getting it to turn right

In polo, they call their horses ponies. Don't be fooled by this term, polo horses are thoroughbreds, highly trained to meet the demands of the game. Commands are a little different to normal horseriding and one reason a novice can play with minimal training. Drop the reins forward to move forward and pull the reins back to stop. Pull the reins to the left or right to steer and kick to move faster. It's as easy as a joystick, as long as you're kicking hard enough and pulling on the right reins. The tricky bit is following the ball. Novices are given small (soft) footballs about twice the size of a regular (and hard) polo ball.

My first few minutes on the horse were spent trying to get her to go faster. We had direction control down to a tee and turning in a complete circle (very important in polo) was easy. Going from a trot to a canter was a different matter. Luckily, pro-coach Danny showed me I was kicking in the wrong place. One kick in the right place and we were off.

Getting to the ball was made easy by the horse, which knew exactly where to go but wasn't going to wait for this clumsy oaf to count himself down to taking a swing. She wanted to hit the ball and keep running, as if she was playing polo or something. Initial nerves soon dissipated as I realised that leaning down to swing for a ball didn't mean falling off the horse. Using the stirrups, I found that I could lean quite far from the horse without fear of falling.

Hitting the ball became easier with a few swings under my belt, but I was never too sure which way it was going. I wasn't too concerned because polo was proving to be a lot of fun, even if I was playing alone.

The Game: getting a right thrashing

The last exercise of the day was a real chukka against another novice group. As the horn blew to kick off the seven-minute game, it was clear that most of the theory had gone out of the window, with a mad rush for the ball. It was like playground football with six times the legs. Somehow our team managed to pass the ball from one player to another, someone else managed to hook another player's stick to stop them hitting the ball and a few goals were scored.

This was the best part of the day, and considerably more exciting than I had hoped. Instead of relying on my shoddy riding skills, my horse charged along with the other horses to make me look like I knew what I was doing. I even got to hit the ball a few times as a result, until I lost my stick between another horse's legs. The experience of a real polo game was extremely exciting and I was surprised by how quickly everybody around me had picked up the skills needed. This was definitely the most fun I have had on a horse and I am sorely tempted to return for another go. 

The Introduction to Polo Experience costs £149 and is available from experience specialists Red Letter Days. To book, call 0845 640 8000 or visit www.redletterdays.co.uk

EXPERIENCE RATING: INTRODUCTION TO POLO
Fun Level	High
Fear Factor	Unless you are scared of horses, nothing scary here
Achievement	Very satisfying, especially if you score a goal
Supervision	Excellent teachers, all pro and ex-pro players
Host Venue	Lovely country park in Chobham
Repeatability	The club invites you back to events and lessons
Value	Extremely good at £149 for a full day with professionals
OVERALL SCORE	8/10