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Picking up the Reins
special report Picking up the
Can anything replace fox-hunting for the sheer thrill of the chase? Not really, says former master of foxhounds Rory Knight Bruce, but polo offers a gripping alternative and is ready to welcome newcomers
The bewilderment in the equestrian world which has arisen f rom the British government’s decision to ban fox-hunting has reverberated the length and breadth of the country. But such is the relationship between an Englishman – and woman – and his horse, that it will take more than a spiteful law to dampen its ardour.
While most hunts have now adapted to ‘line-hunting’, in other words hunting the drag of a fox, there is general agreement that this is not a satisfactory alternative to the ancient art of venery. At best, all it can off er is a fast gallop over open countryside. Yet what do hunters do now that the season has ended?
Certainly, some – those without farms needing attention – may use their hard-earned winter fi tness to do battle with the slopes of Gstaad, Meribel and St Anton. ‘I thought you should know that a mountain elk has just crossed the slope in f ront of me,’ the renowned skiing writer Alisdair Scott telephoned to tell me recently. ‘I thought you would appreciate that as a hunter.’
While the sound on his mobile of sleigh bells, an aperitif being
Picking up the reins
poured and gently falling snow briefl y questioned my devotion to hunting after another cold and wet day, there is no question that for its practitioners, it is the ultimate challenging sport. So it is for those who play polo.
‘I don’t know which brings more tears to me eyes, to jump a big hedge out hunting or to win a polo tournament,’ says Anthony Fanshawe, 40, whose father Brian was a noted master and amateur huntsman and who has played high goal polo since he was 20. ere is increasing evidence that foxhunters are joining the 3,000 or so who are now playing polo across Britain. And it can’t have been mere coincidence that one of the eight who dared to enter the House of Commons in protest against the hunting ban, a keen polo player, Luke Tomlinson, is a member of the England national team. e fact is that the hunting and polo seasons neatly dovetail into each other and there is evidence f rom the many polo grounds around the country that hunters, particularly younger ones, are prepared to give the summer and winter sport of polo a try. ‘Families have seen what might happen to hunting and are looking for similar thrills for
their children in polo,’ says David Cowley, organiser of Pony Club Polo.
He points out that children can play polo on their ‘fl uff y ponies’ and that events are organised so that you only need one horse up until the age of 18. ‘I found many likeminded parents when our children started. If I had seen a lot of smart horses it would have probably put me off ,’ adds Cowley.
‘Lots of people who play polo also take their ponies out hunting,’ says James Norman, polo manager at the West Somerset Polo Club at Dulverton. Some even play polo on hunter ponies. To encourage new members the club has organised an open day each May when club members lend their ponies to interested beginners.
‘I would get off my horse in March and then not get on again until October,’ admits bloodstock agent, Charlie Gordon-Watson, 42, joint master of the Cottesmore foxhounds. ‘I simply did not know what to do with myself in the summer.’
His answer came three years ago in a telephone call f rom Lady Lloyd-Webber at Sydmonton Court in Hampshire. Had he ever thought of joining her Watership Down polo club? Gordon-Watson now has six polo ponies at Watership Down and says: ‘I am addicted to it.’ He practices three evenings a week, driving down f rom London, and plays in tournaments at the weekend.
Although Gordon-Watson only took up polo again recently, and is an intermediate player, he had gone to train under Hector Barrantes in Argentina when he left school. ‘I have done hunting, point-to-pointing, eventing and race-riding. But polo is the most exciting and the most dangerous of all of these. My advice to anyone thinking about it is to start as soon as you can.’
It’s a sentiment echoed by Kim Richardson, 47, joint master of the Crawley and Horsham foxhounds who founded the Knepp Castle Polo club in 1990. Like Gordon-Watson, Richardson learned to play under a gifted tutor, Lord Patrick Beresford, when he was stationed at Windsor in the army and played at Guards Polo Club.
‘I started playing polo at 17, the same time as I started whipping in to the foxhounds,’ he says. ‘I kept a couple of old thoroughbreds on the farm, made a bit of a pitch and took it f rom there.’
Today, Knepp Castle Polo Club has 110 playing members and is actively encouraging teenagers to play with adults. ‘Perhaps it’s because I’ve got teenagers but I think it is a better and less dangerous way to learn,’ says Richardson. ‘We are not fl ashy at Knepp. We take the attitude that everyone has to work and we set most of our tournaments at weekends.’
Knepp has open days, along with many clubs across the country, and this year it’s hosting a charity day with a journalist in each team. Christopher Hanbury, chairman of the Hurlingham Polo Association, the sport’s ruling body, is keen that this should be encouraged. He owns the Longdole polo club at Birdlip in Gloucestershire, and has established a major polo training ground with a particular emphasis on teenagers. ‘As Churchill remarked, polo is a passport to the world,’ he says. At Longdole, where 85 schoolchildren a week come in the summer, pupils can rent a pony or bring their own. ey are also encouraging students to spend their gap year in a polo environment in Argentina.
Robert Cudmore is Longdole’s polo manager, who began teaching in 1988. He gives one-on-one lessons (f rom £60 for an hour and a half ) to groups of eight (£35 for
Getting into the swing at Christy’s Riding School, Hampstead, in 1937
an hour and a quarter). ‘Hunting gives our students balance and timing and both sports need to have guts,’ he says.
Not only is the Pony Club doing its bit to foster interest but so too is the Schools and Universities Polo Association (SUPA) under the chairmanship of Charles Betz, also a keen supporter of the Vale of Aylesbury foxhounds.
‘We are seeing a compound growth of 15 per cent a year in those under 22 taking up the sport,’ he says, citing the tremendous growth in polo among such schools as Eton, Harrow, Stowe and Roedean, and the standard of safety and teaching which has come into place. ‘ ere are now 500 children playing polo across the country each week of the academic year,” he says.
Claire Tomlinson, one of the three England team coaches, believes that polo is now enjoying a dramatic, worldwide surge in popularity. ‘But it is in England that I notice it most where anyone who has had a taste of polo wants to do more.’
She puts this down to the experience garnered at Pony Club and at army level, Take, for example, Captain Ian Farquhar, master and huntsman of the Beaufort foxhounds. ‘He once told me the only thing he would consider doing if he could not hunt hounds would be to play polo,’ she says.
And polo has never been more accessible. While a polo pony may cost £8,000 if it is to turn left and right and stop with reasonable effi ciency, there are plenty of places where you can rent an already trained pony. At the West Somerset Polo Club it is possible to enter into a syndicate to keep costs down and ponies fi t.
A lot of clubs are organising special training days. For example, three day courses at the Tidworth Polo Club, where several hunters have been to visit recently – including Tony Holdsworth, kennel huntsman to the Beaufort – cost f rom £510 for a non-residential course.
‘We aim to have everyone playing to a certain level by the end of the course,’ says Muriel Osborne for the club. ‘For those foxhunters who have worn their years lightly, there is no restriction in age for starting. ‘It’s how confi dent you feel on a horse.’
What all who hunt and play polo agree upon is that if you have hunted for several seasons it will give you a head start on the polo ground. is is certainly the view of Christine, Lady de la Rue, former master of the Berwickshire foxhounds in Scotland (and currently of the Border Bloodhounds) and owner of Ayton Castle and its two polo grounds.
Starting in her 40s f rom a hunting background, Lady de la Rue now takes part in as many as 12 tournaments a season. ‘You need the ability of a circus rider with a jumping seat,’ she says. ‘ e horses have got to be very athletic as have the riders. is shouldn’t be a problem for hunters.’ e relationship between hunting and polo has never been stronger. ‘All our local players hunt,’ says Claire Tomlinson, who with her husband Simon also runs the Beaufort Polo Club to which both Prince William and Prince Harry belong. ‘We still have inter-hunt polo matches with the nearby Bicester hunt and they are always great events.’
Me? I am a lifelong foxhunter. Now, as I embark on learning to play polo, I look forward to the day, if it ever comes, when I can say that winning a game or whacking the ball between the goalposts is every bit as eye-watering as jumping a big hedge – and living to tell the tale. ■
Above left: Prince Edward lends support to polo pony club.
Above: a gathering of the House of Commons protesters
