The stars of tomorrow

In 2009, the Pony Club celebrated its 80th birthday and Pony Club Polo its 50th. The Club is testament to the power of long-term volunteering in the U K and it is the passion of its many helpers that has helped Pony Club Polo grow into what it is today: a training organisation for young players that is the envy of many other polo-playing nations (except, perhaps, A rgentina).

The contribution the Pony Club makes to U K polo and, indeed, what the great game brings to the Pony Club is worth exploring. Its aim was simple: to offer dedicated equestrian training for every child with their own pony. Today, that extends to any youngster without a pony who would like to ride. The structure of the Club was originally based around hunt areas. There are now 345 branches across the country and the organisation is represented in no fewer than 27 countries, with a membership of more than 110,000, making it the largest association of young riders in the world. There are more than 31,000 members in the U K alone, of whom around 15,000 have their own ponies, the balance coming from centre membership of linked riding schools.

Of those 345 aforementioned branches, polo is played at only 30 or so – but why? The reason is mainly a lack of nearby facilities. Admittedly, players lucky to live near centres of excellence such as Cowdray, Cirencester and Guards have a great advantage, but polo happens everywhere where parental interest is keen – the most northerly grounds in the UK (perhaps the world?) have just opened in Inverness, and a game can even take place on a beach.

Previous pages, from left The opening parade of the 2011 Polo Championships at Cowdray Park; the first Pony Club Polo Championships at Aldershot, in 1959. This page, from top Old Berkeley (East) Branch at Aldershot Polo Club, 1959; Charlie Scott playing for Cowdray Hunt at 2012 Polo Championships, Cowdray Park. Opposite, from top Cayman Riding School, Cayman Islands; Sam Boreham, playing for the Vine Hunt, at the 2010 Pony Club Polo Championships

It is significant that most of the England players in the past 40 years began playing polo in the Pony Club, as did many of the 3,000 registered players in the UK. It currently has around 400 aspiring players and offers a social and professional network of fun and friendship akin to that on which adult clubs are based, while contributing to raising standards of play and pony welfare through comprehensive training, coaching and testing.

There are two schools of thought on whether it is better for a child to begin playing polo on a ‘fluffy’ at around six years of age or to start instead at 10, when tall enough to ride a polo pony. A fluffy is a regular pony, under 14.2hh, with a mane (ie, not hogged, like a traditional polo pony) that does everything from Pony Club rallies to hunting, jumping, dressage, games, endurance and pony racing. However, fluffies have a mind of their own and can be troublesome to ride. There are no right or wrong answers and many roads lead to playing in the Gold Cup – although more of them if you live in Argentina! The pros for starting early on a fluffy are that they teach you to ride and you learn the set moves at a safe speed and how to fight for the ball in the melée. The cons are that it is easier to learn on a polo pony and very young players may not

have enough strength to hold the polo stick. Whenever young players go to Argentina, the feedback is often that they cannot ride due to not having an independent seat and that, instead, they use the reins and horse’s mouth for balance. It is all too common to see players at every level bumping around on the horse’s kidneys, making it more difficult for the horse to accelerate and turn. As a team sport, polo keeps boys riding, and helps everyone to ride naturally because they want to get to the ball before their opponents do. My personal vote therefore goes to learning to play as young as you can, as slowly as you can and then making the progression to a polo pony when the rudiments of the game are instilled.

There are some concerns as to whether up-and-coming British polo players can achieve both the depth and the breadth of experience needed in order to succeed at the highest levels internationally. Depth is about the standard of play, while breadth is the total number of players. Think of a graph whereby the majority have a low handicap (-2 to +1) and the line tapers, with very few players obtaining handicaps above 5. The aim is to keep more people coming into polo and for more players to reach higher handicaps, thus lessening the steepness of the curve.

You can play polo in the Pony Club from the age of six to 21 on one pony, which improves the accessibility of polo in the UK, as well as providing good interfaces with clubs and the Schools and Universities Polo Association (SUPA). The more people who love polo the better – whatever age you develop your passion for polo, it is never too late – and everyone contributes to our success. Through the passion generated by the Pony Club and SUPA, players and their connections go on to produce professionals, amateurs, umpires, patrons, sponsors, managers, timekeepers and goal judges. In short, the breadth of polo in this country has never been more impressive – but what of the depth?

It was no accident that the average age of the South Africans playing on International Day 2012 was about 10 years younger than that

of the England players. In the past decade, that country’s development agenda in Plettenberg Bay, based on good grounds, a supply of excellent ponies off the track, four-man polo, and time spent in Argentina, plus excellent leadership and training, has led the way outside of Argentina. In the same time period, the UK has not served a generation of young players as well as it might have done, however, because there was no continuity in the development and handicap process between the Pony Club and the upper echelons. To remedy this situation, in 2008, the HPA and the Club worked together to enhance the ability of players as young as 11 to play four-chukka four-man polo on the best grounds and to enhance and track their development, training and coaching both within the UK and overseas. This integrated

Opposite, from top Theresa Hodges, far left, presenting the Jambo Trophy, 2012; the 2010 Pony Club Polo Championships. This page Will Hawthorne (left, playing for the Berkeley Hunt) and Henry Frisby (Newmarket & Thurlow Hunt) at the 2012 Pony Club Polo Championships, Cowdray Park

programme is led by the HPA’s development committee, which now encourages and helps young players to be the best they can be, as early as possible. Great care has to be taken, however, so that they and their parents are not taken on a journey that is not aligned with their game plan for life or their financial means – there is more to life than polo, after all!

Working with the HPA, we are just about getting the depth and breadth of polo in the UK balanced, but it is constantly evolving. Young players, like young ponies, show what they can do quite quickly. A natural horsemaster is evident as soon as they are off the leading rein, and a player with a natural swing and an eye for the ball is evident by age six. What only becomes evident later is a brain for strategy and a sense of playing in a team. Great players are made, not born, but that process is one of multiple variables. Where Argentina scores is in encouraging riding without saddles very young, in high-goal family members to emulate, and a proven, relatively economical process to make high-goal ponies. If UK, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa work together, one day we can perhaps take on Argentina at an Olympian level. Our junior development programme is world-class. But it would not be possible without the generosity of our tack sponsors, SATS, Polo Splice and Roxtons, and, in particular, Audi’s generous sponsorship of Pony Club Polo, the England Team and International Day.