Polo Tip #8: A Tail Shot? What Kind of Alcohol Do You Use For That?

By Tom Goodspeed

One of the most difficult shots to learn in polo is the tail shot, especially on the near-side. If you have been handicapped with short arms and long backed horses, a tail shot may not even exist in your inventory. There is no question that gorilla arms and short backed horses are two assets in executing tail shots effectively. But for those of you with ancestors that took to two feet several millennium ago, there is a technique to still accomplish the near impossible.

The main trick of a tail shot is four-fold:

1. You need to start your swing early, like the forehanders, so that you make contact just ahead of your stirrup. Too many people teach the novice to hit the ball behind their stirrup. The problem with doing so is that you lose the power of your horse and your own body rotation in the stroke.
2. You need to turn your mallet head across the ball as you are actually making contact. To get the ball to travel at an angle that extends behind the horse from either side, you will need to roll the mallet head towards your horse’s hindquarters at the very instant of contact. This will place a spin on the ball that will be turning counter-clockwise on your nearside tail and clockwise on your offside tail.
3. It is very important that you keep your horse moving through the ball, so that there will be a space for your ball to pass clear of the hind legs of the horse. The stride of the horse will also give you more power in your swing.
4. Focus on finishing your follow thru. You will discover that you will be able to follow thru with your upper body a little better if you actually bend forward toward the neck of your horse as you rotate your shoulders.

These difficult angle shots beg for a longer mallet. If there is no one riding alongside of you, you also have the option of just turning toward the rear of the horse and taking a half swing in the path of the desired angle of your tail shot. You literally stick your mallet back to the rear and the desired side and take a half swing in the direction you are hitting. Some players find this a little easier to accomplish angle. You will not get as much power, but if your teammate is relatively close, a short angled shot is all you need. However, if an opponent is alongside of you on the side you are attempting a swing, your swing must remain parallel to your horse.

As the under-the-neck stroke, the tail shots are tricky and should be practiced conservatively until you achieve enough competence to start swinging with more force. The tail shots are an excellent way to hit your horse by accident. A good reason to outfit your horse with protective boots and bandages, front and rear.

One last word of caution when practicing tail shots. Do not get your mallet stuck underneath your horse’s tail or any other horse’s tail for that matter. Horses do not like a mallet under the tail. And, most horses will retaliate if you do so. Generally, a horse will clamp their tail down tight with your mallet cane between their tail and their hindquarters. This may sound somewhat comical and it is if you are the one watching someone else having the problem. But if it happens to you, it won’t be quite as humorous. The best way out of this problem situation is to quickly push your mallet down, do not pull it back towards you, push it down and hope it releases. Letting go of it doesn’t always work very well. If the horse gets really startled, you may want to consider an emergency dismount and then retrieve both your mallet and your pride and re-mount. Happy Polo !!