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Your Polo Stick
Your polo stick is 49.5 to 62 inches, depending on how long your arms are and the height of the pony. In elephant polo it is anything from 97 to 105 inches. Both types of the sport use a normal polo ball. In arena polo, red bamboo sticks are preferred as they are easier to see. In your first match, start walking, never connecting to the ball -because even though the odds are your horse will get you to the ball, the chances of you actually hitting it are steep.

Stick Chicks & Grooms
Ponies can be changed before, during or after a chukka. You will gallop off the side rings and this is where polo groupies come into their own where they stand waiting. Attractive birds with sticks are all good, but you would rather have a groom as they are more efficient. So you will ride over crying “stick stick stick!” and they'll hand you a new stick as you mount your other pony. After the game you need to find the mallet head to the shattered shaft in the field to get it glued back together again as they're terribly expensive. They must be back ten feet from the line that delineates the edge of the polo ground, or if you’re lucky the grounds will have a wooden edging on it.

Your Pony
Your pony is an animal between thirteen and sixteen hands high depending on your height. The English have documented polo pony breeding since 1893. Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses cross breeds have been incredibly popular. Thoroughbreds and Criollo horses from Argentina are the best breeds for the sport. It should be fast, fearless, and not afraid of mallets flying around.

Tips on buying a Pony
As you get hooked on polo, you will find yourself encouraged to buy a pony. Never buy one without having it vetted! Polo pony dealers are not dissimilar to other horse dealers. The only thing that can stop an able bodied polo pony from playing is if it has only one working eye. So the first thing you do is flap your hand in front of their eyes. If they don't blink, do not even bother! Then run hand underneath the leg - if there is any heat in the leg, just walk away. In the hoof, if there is any heat or smell, leave it. You want an animal that has been at rest. Then feel the shin bones, and search for a bump - the splint. It means it has been hit, and hard enough to crack the bone. This can be dealt with through pinning, but forget it – it will be off duty and not playing polo that season as it takes time to heal. If the hoofs are clean, they should smell fine. If it does not smell right, it could be bursitis. Many problems in a pony can be overcome, but in all, you do not want to spend thousands of pounds on the mend whilst it is out of season.

Your Pony’s Health
Your main problem with them is that they can go lame. When ponies jar their legs, they get splints. There are vets who can keep them going come hell or high water. You really do not want play them too often on Phenylbutazone, known more widely as bute which numbs their pain. Occasional use of the chemical is only advised if you have a competition you really want to win, as over a prolonged period of time, it does the pony’s health no good. You cannot play a blind polo pony because it can't see in one of other eye.

Training your Pony
There are a lot of horses are that thoroughbred but they are not fast enough for flat racing or big enough for national hunt. With training, they can be perfect for polo. It is a great idea to buy a pony straight off a raise course, as they are used to being with lots of other animals, and are fast.

After acquiring a racehorse, you will want to break them into a bit as they are used to going, but not stopping. You can accomplish this with sugaring the bit or dipping it in honey - the horse will soon get used to it. A normal horse has one bit in its mouth, a polo pony has two. If its jaw is too tight, you will use a bridal without a bit. Neck reigning is a matter of laying the reigns across the neck to get the animal to turn, in appose to pulling the reigns left or right. When training, do not focus on trotting because it's a difficult speed to hit a ball. Instead, go from walk to canter which is not too difficult. Then get its back used to a heavier saddle and player as it is accustomed to lighter saddles and jockeys. After that, the horse must get used to having long legs riding it - they will find it surprising at first! And you can play polo with pony with a snaffle if it's a very light mouthed animal. But because they get very excited, you want to have control. So a pelhem, which is a bit with a longer leg on the outside with an extra reign will force the bit forward. Or you could do it with a double bridal which has two reigns and you may also loop the slightly longer reins underneath the girth to give playback so you can stop anything.

They get used to neck reigning through schooling. Then you teach them how to ride off which they love. Teaching the pony to ride against somebody is difficult. At this point of tough training you are well advised to wear not only chaps and knee protectors, but a helmet with face-guard too.

More Ponies
So you have a pony, you will soon need another. On Low grade polo, you can survive with two swapping each chukka. Then it goes wrong and you need three to four ponies. You will need your own groom, paying him and giving accommodation from £500 per week plus a car, box and accommodation. The current cost at livery is approximately £100 a week and that is with you doing the exercising.

Watch out for..
They are various people who are very good at lifting their knee when riding off. As a novice, you will want to look out for this. As you could be riding along, he will level with your knee on the saddle, he will lift his right knee and you will discover yourself on the ground. And this is legitimate

Rules
There are various rules, like crossing. You can't cross somebody when they are taking a goal, The rules are very basic. The Federation of International Polo produces the International Rules of Polo through a cooperative agreement with the Hurlingham Polo Association, the Asociación Argentina de Polo and the United States Polo Association. The HPA drew up the first set of formal British rules in 1874, many of which are still used today.

The British Polo Year | The season runs from March to September (with arena polo throughout the year):

March: Cowdray Park and the Guards’ club start the new season with practice games and matches.

April: Cirencester’s starting date depends on the date of the Badminton Horse Trials – no chukkas before Badminton is a rule.

May: The Queen’s Cup at Guards’, end of May to early June. The first major high-goal tournaments of the British season.

June: Ascot Week Tournament at the Guards’ during the Royal Ascot week.
Warwickshire Cup, at Cirencester, late June. Preliminary rounds are played at Cowdray and Windsor.

July: Peak polo month. British Open championship for the Gold Cup at Cowdray, in the first two weeks of July. International Day at Windsor on the last Sunday. This is the biggest event of the season.

September: Cowdray Park Tournament.