The game begins when a small white ball is bowled onto the playing field. Then for the next, oh, seven minutes or so, riders and horses bump and push and race about in a game described as playing "golf on the back of a horse at 30 miles per hour."
But this is polo, a sophisticated sport combining horse racing, hockey and soccer. It is a game born in Persia, made nobel in Europe and introduced to the United States in 1883. It was, however, only a few years ago that polo ponies first broke turf here in Utah.Local attorneys Wes Harris and Geoff Butler recall that they talked of horses and polo back in 1975. It wasn't until just two years ago that the first pounding of horses hoofs and the crack of the mallet was heard.
The first matches, recalls Harris, were played "in a cut alfalfa field in Heber." The regulation ball was substituted for a slightly larger, soccer-like ball to: 1. Make it easier for new players to hit, sometimes, and 2. To keep the smaller ball from falling between the cut stems of hay and getting lost.
Last summer, riders trailered horses to the white salt beds east of Wendover, Nev., to play. "There," recalls Harris, "you hit the ball and it would roll forever . . . aside from that it wasn't that bad."
The Salt Flats certainly didn't fit the polo image, however. That is, green grass, white barns, ice-cooled drinks, elm trees bending in the breeze and men walking about in their "tails" and top hats and ladies in their finest.
Then last fall, Howard and Debra Ingle gave Utah polo its image. They offered used of a grass-covered field, a full 300 yards by 200 yards, as required, with stables, trees and, for the inaugural match, men in their top hats and ladies in their finest.
Invited to the event were long-established clubs from Jackson Hole, Wyo., and Sun Valley, Idaho. The Utah Polo Club surprised everyone, including its own players, by winning the event. There were some still struggling with an offside, or rightside, forehand, not to mention the more athletic nearside, or leftside, backhand. (All polo players, no matter their strength, are required to swing the mallet in their right hands.)
Currently, Utah's small contingent of players is meeting for training and weekend matches through June at the Ingle's Pheasant Hollow Farm in South Jordan (9800 S. 575 West). Mid-summer the group will visit Wyoming and Idaho clubs, then return home for a fall weekend schedule.
The game itself is easy to follow. Two teams, of four horsemen each, move a ball around the field, similar to a soccer game, with a long mallet until one team scores by hitting the ball through upright posts . . . Score one, switch goals and begin again.
What escapes people, sometimes even other riders, is the speed of the game. The horses, most of them predominantly grade Thoroughbreds, are intended to be fast - faster, preferably, than an opponent's mount.
Once on a chase, a horse will hit full speed in a couple of strides and stay there until reigned in. It then becomes the rider's job to swing the mallet and hit the ball . . . All this while an opponent is hooking, bumping or trying to push a horse and rider off course and out of reach of the ball.
"We've had good riders come out," notes Harris, "try it and never come back. It's the speed. It scares them. It's not dangerous, but you do need to know what you're doing."
And that doesn't simply mean staying with the horse. There are shots to be made on the field - offside and nearside, forehand and backhand, under the neck and behind the tail.
This, says Steve Wayda, club member, takes training. Obviously, he points out, an offside forehand is the easiest shot, "but the shot isn't always there. You make whatever shot you need to and some aren't easy. For an nearside backhand you twist the body around, raise the mallet up and follow straight through, making sure you hit the ball and not the horse."
To protect themselves, riders wear boots, spurs, not sharp ones, helmet and optional knee pads. Horses, aside from lower leg wraps, trust their riders.
A match usually runs for six chukkers (an Indian word meaning the full turn of a wheel), each lasting from seven to nine minutes. At the end of each chukker, riders rest and change mounts. Seldom does a horse run for two consecutive periods. Estimates are that a horse will run up to three miles in a seven-minute stretch.
In most cases, points out Wayda, a player will have three to four horses . . . "Made (polo trained) horses, preferable. It makes a difference. A well trained horse can anticipate and will move to the ball. A `green' horse you must lead. Watch the horses on the field and you can tell the difference."
There are obvious differences in players, too. Under an international handicapping system players are rated from a minus-2 to 10 - the minus-2 being a beginner and a 10 a world-class player, of which there are very few in the world. Prince Charles of England, for example, a long-time polo player, carries only a 4 rating. Utah players, with their limited time in the game, are working to get out of the minus classes.
Prior to a match, players' handicaps are added and the spread between the two teams is figured and the difference goes to the weaker team in points.
Then the game begins . . . eight ponies, eight riders, one ball and one objective - race faster and hit the ball harder than the other guy.
POLO
Number of Players: Two teams with four players on each
Playing Field: 200 by 300 yards with two goals posts 8 feet wide and 10 feet high
Umpire: One on horseback
Play: A match consists of six or eight period (chukkers) that are 7.5 minute long with a 3-minute time out between periods to change horses. No substitutions are allowed except for injuries or penalties, which result in automatic goals, free hits and disqualification. Play begins with the umpire throwing the ball in center court between two lines of opposing players. (Same procedure after each goal).