Answer to Poll Question

In Arena Polo, how many players are on each team?
The correct answer was 3.

Photo Credit goes to Brian Tyler
Haggis Farm, England

Cute Picture for Today

Our resident pony "SAGE" age 38+,
giving James a pony ride.

She Does Exist!!

Its time to introduce the $500 polo pony. Laura's Summer, fondly known as EVA. A Virginia bred TB foaled on June 2, 1992. Sire: Majesty's Prince whose career earnings were over 2 million dollars! We have owned Eva for 3 years, and she is a wonderful polo pony (esp. in the arena) and trail horse.

Hide and Seek

The "$500 polo pony" arrived home on a Wednesday. Christmas was on Saturday. On Thursday, we get a call from my son saying his plans had changed and he would be home earlier than planned. Instead of Christmas Eve, he would be home the night before. This threw myself and my husband into a panic. Our surprise would be ruined. What could we do. My friend suggested bringing the mare to her barn. Good idea, but the whole trailering thing seemed like such a hassle, especially since we'd be moving the mare in the wee hours of Christmas morning. Finally we came up with the great plan of hiding the mare behind the barn with the chickens. That way she would be out of sight, yet she could see the other horses and they could see her. Poor mare! I'm sure she was thinking "Newport to the Slums"! Early Christmas morning I put the mare in a stall with a big red bow around her neck. When my son woke up, I sent him out to the barn to give the horses their traditional Christmas Day treats. My husband and I stood in the window watching and waiting for his return to the house. How did he react you ask? Well, those of you that have children will know, there is nothing more touching than seeing tears of joy in your child's eyes! Or maybe those tears were because the only other gifts he got that Christmas were a hoof pick and pair of socks!!

Quick Read for the Polo Lover

The Maltese Cat by Rudyard Kipling
Short Story 48 pages
From the point of view of the Maltese Cat, a polo pony.
In the Maltese Cat, the reader is transported back in time to India, where thirty teams of the finest horses and their masters have gathered for the distinguished Upper India Free-For-All Cup.
A ragged band of twelve ponies, known as the Skidars' team, has worked up from the bottom of the ranks in the contest and now must face the Archangels, "the pink and pick of the polo ponies of Upper India."
The Maltese Cat (a polo pony), the captain of the Skidars' ponies, knows that what his team lacks in style they make up for in teamwork and heart. They are outnumbered two to one, and odds are against them. Even so, the brave Skidars and their masters ride on through injury and fatigue to victory.

How Not to Buy a Polo Pony

She was really a nice mare. And only $500. I told my son to call the owner back and offer the full price. Several calls were made by both myself and my son, and none of the calls were returned. A month had gone by. My son had given up on the mare. It was a couple weeks before Christmas. I wrote a letter , and followed it up by one last phone call. To my delight, the owner actually called back. He told me he had to leave the country, suddenly, to play polo in Argentina, and was surprised that after all this time I was still interested in the mare. Arrangements were made to pick-up the mare 3 days before Christmas. This was great timing, as my son will be away until Christmas Eve, so the mare will be a surprise. My husband and I drive the 2 hours to the farm, and wait another hour for the owner to arrive. He got "caught-up" at work. When he arrives, he brings us to the paddock where the mare is, and points to her. Now, I had only seen her for about an hour previously. She's pretty much a non-descript bay mare with a white star. I had written down the tattoo from her lip. The tattoo looked the same, though the letter seemed different. I didn't however, remember that she had a white spot on her eyeball. Maybe the sun had blinded me the first time I saw her? I asked the owner "are you sure this is her?" He, of course, after looking at me as if I had two heads, said "yes". Now at this point, the wise horse buyer says "thank you for your time" and goes home. We did not. We think : 1) Cheap polo horse. 2) Great Christmas gift. 3) We've taken the time off from work and driven all this way. SO,we load her onto our trailer after paying for her with cash. As we are driving out of the driveway I remember a bill of sale might be a good idea, so we stop and get something written on a scrap of paper. The mare trailers nicely, and is well behaved, though not very friendly. I'll have the vet check out that white spot on her eyeball as soon as possible! This is going to be the best Christmas present my son has ever received!

The $500 Polo Pony

Things progressed rapidly. My son took to polo like a bee to honey. He was asked to join an interscholastic team (high school age players). This was a great honor, commitment, and involved lots of travel. When it came time to apply to colleges, he applied to colleges that had polo teams (big surprise!) He was accepted to the one he had been playing at, and decided to go there. During his first semester at college, I was browsing the horse section of a local ad magazine, and there was an ad for a polo horse for $500. Now my first thought was that this had to be a typo. It must be $5000. After all, the horse was in Newport, RI and was currently being played. But what the heck, I'll call and embarrass myself and ask. Well, the horse really was $500 !!The owner assured me there was nothing wrong with the horse, he just had too many horses. OK, whats the harm in looking. I'm up for a field trip to a swanky polo farm in Newport! Now I know I haven't mentioned this yet, but we are just average folks. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall of our car during the ride to Newport--WE WERE SO EXCITED! I couldn't wait to see the white picket fences, beautiful barns,and beautifully groomed polo ponies. Two hours later we arrive, pull in the driveway, and "what to my wondering eyes does appear?" Run-in sheds, electric tape fences, mud, grain silos and the back of a tractor trailer truck for a tack room! There was an arena polo lesson in progress. We watched for a while and finally found the right person to ask about the horse for sale. She(the horse) was in the arena, which was great, as we got to see her in action. Everything seemed fine, no obvious lameness, and she definitely knew how to play the game;a lot better than the student riding her! After the lesson was over, we talked to her owner, a "big name" polo person whose name I would love to mention! He invited my son to play a few chukkers on the mare, with a few other "big name" polo players. Of course my son was thrilled! The mare was played, everything was fine, and we decided to buy the mare. Now remember, this is a $500 polo horse! My son walks up to the owner, and offers him $300. I almost died! The owner tells my son he needs to think about it. Yeah, I bet he needs to think about it. Like he can get more money at Crowley's Auction by the pound! Oh well, such is life. We get back in the car,and drive the 2 hours home. It was an interesting experience, and just the beginning.

The Polo Helmet

When you think of polo, you usually think of Prince Charles, Palm Beach, Newport, fancy cars, tailgate parties, the wealthy. If this is true, then it would make sense that polo must be an expensive sport. Of course, I didn't think about any of this logic, before agreeing to let my son play. I was too excited about the fact that finally one of my children was going to be involved with horses! I think the expense factor first "hit me" when my son asked if I would buy him a polo helmet. Up to that point he had been using one of the schools helmets, so I agreed to buy the helmet. Now, polo equipment isn't something that is carried at the local tack store. I got the name of the Tackeria in Florida. I told the woman on the phone what I needed, she told me the price, and the cost to ship. I told her I only wanted one helmet, I wasn't suppying the whole team! She said that was the price for one helmet! I said OMG, and gave her my credit card number. Several days later, the helmet arrived. My son took one look at it, and said "where's the face guard!" Now, maybe I should be feeling stupid at this point, but how was I to know that polo helmets didn't come with face guards? Then it hit me. What does a face guard cost? Another phone call is made, and eventually we had a lovely blue polo helmet with face guard, that only cost about what it costs me to feed a horse for 1 1/2 months!

You're Going To Die !!!

I was not always involved in polo, though I've owned horses my whole life. My oldest son attended a college that had a polo team. During Parents Weekend, I went to see a polo game with my youngest son, who was a sophomore in high school at the time. He had ridden our trail horses a few times, but had never shown much interest in horses or riding. After watching the polo game, he announced that he wanted to learn how to play polo. I turned to him and said "you're going to die!. Wouldn't you rather join the cross-country team at school?" But it was too late. He had been bitten by the "polo bug". I signed him up for polo lessons at the college and riding lessons at home. So began my life as a PoloMom.

Horsey Thoughts for Today

+The closeness of a horse is one of the sweetest smells in the world.
+A ride through the woods is more beneficial than 6 mon. of therapy.
+You can never have too many hoof picks.
+The worse a person rides, the more likely he is going to blame it on the horse.
+If you think you left the water on in the barn, you have. If you think you closed the gate, you haven't.
+If you are looking for the perfect horse, you will never own one.
+I've never warmed up to someone that didn't want to walk down to the barn.
+A clean stable and a sparkling horse are among life's great pleasures.
+A FREE horse is not a cheap horse.
+No matter how badly behaved you are, your horse always gives you a second chance.
+I can't stand to have an empty stable.
+Losing a horse can break your heart, but it will have been worth it.

Welcome to my favorite place, located

on 7 acres in Central MA.