Spectator’s Guide

Polo is one of the only sports in the world in which men and women of all ages compete on the same teams and are rated on the same handicap scale. Teams are put together by the patron, who is the sponsor of the team.The patron will hire one or two pros to play on their team and develop both strategy and the team’s skills on the field. Each team has four players, each of whom brings a string of polo ponies (4–10 horses) to each game. Matches are divided into 7-1/2-minute periods of play, called chukkers. Low- and medium-goal games have four chukkers, and high-goal games have six.

Rules

The rules of polo focus on the safety of the players and ponies. The most important rule is “right of way,” as designated by the “line” of the ball. Players can hit the ball from either side of their mounts (though they can only use their right hand to hold the mallet), and once the ball is in play, the “line of the ball” is established by its trajectory. The player who is closest to the ball with the narrowest angle has the right of way. Opposing players cannot cross the line too close to the “on-line” player, nor can they approach the player at too sharp an angle, or they risk a foul and subsequent penalty. The severity of the penalty depends on how dangerous the infraction was to the horse or player.

On The Field

The players can use safe strategies to interfere with the opposite team’s handling of the ball. For example, a hook is a defensive technique in which a player uses their mallet to interfere with an opponent’s swing. A ride-off (also called a bump) is a defensive move in which a horse’s shoulder is pressed into the shoulder of an opposing player’s horse in an attempt to drive them off the line of the ball.