Comments on: How to Play Polo Without Much Money http://pologringo.com/how-to-play-polo-without-much-money/ Polo tips, tricks, and techniques for all levels of play Fri, 28 Oct 2011 02:17:16 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Caleb http://pologringo.com/how-to-play-polo-without-much-money/#comment-14 Caleb Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:31:05 +0000 http://pologringo.com/?p=110#comment-14 Great advice, Swagstar. The wooden horse is much underused and most regular clubs, if not university clubs, seem to have one. They key to getting something out of the wooden horse is to make each swing deliberate and controlled. Focus on every aspect of the swing: standing up in the saddle, leaning out over the ball, extending your arm, making a slow controlled swing at the ball, hitting the bottom of the ball, and hitting the spot on the backboard you should have picked out beforehand. Just hoping on and knocking the daylights out of the ball for a few minutes won't do you much good. But if you use the wooden horse properly, you can get a A LOT out of it, almost any level of player can I think. Great advice, Swagstar. The wooden horse is much underused and most regular clubs, if not university clubs, seem to have one. They key to getting something out of the wooden horse is to make each swing deliberate and controlled. Focus on every aspect of the swing: standing up in the saddle, leaning out over the ball, extending your arm, making a slow controlled swing at the ball, hitting the bottom of the ball, and hitting the spot on the backboard you should have picked out beforehand.

Just hoping on and knocking the daylights out of the ball for a few minutes won’t do you much good. But if you use the wooden horse properly, you can get a A LOT out of it, almost any level of player can I think.

]]> By: swagstar http://pologringo.com/how-to-play-polo-without-much-money/#comment-13 swagstar Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:23:28 +0000 http://pologringo.com/?p=110#comment-13 Just to add, if you are a beginner to both horses and polo, here are a few things you can do: 1) Supplement your polo lessons with riding lessons, which tend to run at half the cost. One of the most important aspects in polo is horsemanship, and time on the saddle, no matter what kind, helps. 2) Get a foot mallet and practice your swings with friends. 3) Make use of the wooden horse. 4) Once you get more comfortable on the horse, see if a nearby club will let you exercise the horses...worth a shot, and again, more saddle time. 5) Read pologringo, Tom Goodspeed, and Christian Moon 6) No need for expensive gear, a set of brown suede half-chaps will do until you find a pair of boots on e-bay. Ask club manager if they, or any of their members, are unloading gear for cheap. School clubs too... My notes above won't allow you to play polo on a shoestring, but will allow you to get the most out of the lessons you do end up having! Just to add, if you are a beginner to both horses and polo, here are a few things you can do:

1) Supplement your polo lessons with riding lessons, which tend to run at half the cost. One of the most important aspects in polo is horsemanship, and time on the saddle, no matter what kind, helps.
2) Get a foot mallet and practice your swings with friends.
3) Make use of the wooden horse.
4) Once you get more comfortable on the horse, see if a nearby club will let you exercise the horses…worth a shot, and again, more saddle time.
5) Read pologringo, Tom Goodspeed, and Christian Moon
6) No need for expensive gear, a set of brown suede half-chaps will do until you find a pair of boots on e-bay. Ask club manager if they, or any of their members, are unloading gear for cheap. School clubs too…

My notes above won’t allow you to play polo on a shoestring, but will allow you to get the most out of the lessons you do end up having!

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