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!