Polo Pasión Photography: Polo Ponies

THE POLO PONY

• Polo ponies come in many sizes and colours: Bay, Chestnut (Alisan), Grey, Palomino, and as they say in Polo ‘coloured’ ponies or tobiano/pintado in Spanish.

  • Bay Polo Pony
  • Grey Polo Pony
  • Chestnut Polo Pony

• Usually polo ponies are mares, but geldings do play as well.

• Ponies that play Polo can be as small as 14’2”hh or up to 16’2”hh. No matter what size they are however, they are all called ‘polo ponies’, and not horses.
The length of the polo mallet a player uses depends on the height of the polo pony. The mallets are measured in inches.

For example:

  • A polo player riding a pony sized 14’2”hh would use a 49 or 50 polo mallet.
  • A polo player riding a pony sized 16’2”hh would use a 53 polo mallet.
Set of Polo Ponies

• Polo ponies come from all over the globe, for example: England, Argentina, New Zealand and USA. They are mainly Thoroughbreds with lots of energy, which, at the beginning of the Polo Season can be rather a handful, especially if the ponies are taken out in a set of 3 or 4.

‘A Set’ is basically a person riding a pony and leading 1 or 2 other polo ponies either side of them. It can be quite tricky when you first learn to lead more than one, but it's a lot easier once you know which ponies can be lead next to each other
Polo Pony Legs

• Just like race horses, polo ponies are highly strung, athletic animals, and they need to be looked after with the highest amount of care and attention. It is good practice every morning to feel down every pony’s legs. This enables you to keep a look out for any ‘lumps and bumps’ that may have appeared over night which may cause the pony pain allowing you to take the appropriate medical action.