COTSWOLD Feature Giddy up
As sports go, polo is probably viewed more as aspirational, rather than accessible. But amongst the carefully manicured, billiard table pitches of the Beaufort Polo Club, that is not how they view it writes William Loram.
Ponies
THE Beaufort at Down Farm, Westonbirt, is a twig’s throw from the Arboretum, and is the club of princes. Prince Charles,Prince William and
Prince Harry are members but is also home to the current England polo team captain, Luke Tomlinson, his polo playing siblings, and his mother the legendary Claire Tomlinson – who was the highest handicapped woman player in the world. But it doesn’t matter if you are not a
prince, a plutocrat, celebrity or one of the pukka peeps dripping with designer labels. All you need is a sense of balance learnt from a bicycle or the ski slopes, and you’re in. That’s the theory, anyway. The
practice comes when the family of Lorams arrive on a miserably cold and wet morning, to be introduced to the delights of hockey on horseback. Beaufort polo manager, Caspar West,
enthusiastically showed us around the stables – the older parts having being built in 1920 to house the Indian
national polo side. Caspar seems to be enthusiastic about everything, which makes him an excellent teacher, as we learn to hold and swing the polo mallets. In fact, Caspar is very keen to
encourage anyone to have a go at polo. “All that is needed to get the ball
rolling is an email or a phone call and we will take it from there. There is no distinction of person – ridden or not ridden. We can teach from scratch from the polo scenario. In fact it is almost better not be a rider.” First of all we try out half size sticks,
to get into the swing, before being let loose on the full size 51” sticks, and even then we are nowhere near a horse. A wooden structure that vaguely resembles something equine is used to get the posture right, and practice the motion needed to connect the mallet head and the ball. The natural assumption is to want to
swing the mallet with gumption to welly the ball into the net with gusto, but Caspar coaches us in holding the stick as if it is light as a feather, and then trying to imagine that it is just a long extension of our arm, to make contact with the ball with the flat of the mallet. All gee-ed up with our
new found skills, we wander across to the stables to meet our mounts for a session out of the rain in the arena, and find out a bit of how big-boy polo is played. Polo is the oldest ball
Leila Loram with Beaufort polo manager, Caspar West
58 COTSWOLDESSENCE | September - November 2013
sport in the world dating back to 600 BC. The sport spread through Asia to India, where it was introduced to tea planters and British soldiers, who brought the game to England. The first match was played in the UK in
The umpires
Under the neck shot
1871 between the 9th lancers and 10th Hussars. One of the players in this match was Captain Frank Henry who started the original Beaufort Polo Club in 1872. The game is played at its highest level on a 300
yard pitch, with two teams of four players, all of which have handicaps. Handicaps range from -2 at the bottom to 10 at the top. A top team will be referred to as being ‘high goal’ because of the high aggregate handicap. The teams mix professionals and amateurs, so top teams generally have a handicap of the 22 mark. If the maths is confusing, don’t worry, it does not interfere in enjoying the game. A full game allows for 8 chukkas of 7 minutes,
with 3 minutes rest between chukkas and 5 minutes for half time. If you think that sounds like a game with as much exertion as croquet, think again. Grand National jump jockeys who have volunteered for charity matches, have finished the game completely flaked. Back to the polo ponies, and we were introduced
to our mounts of Rizzo, Chippy and Pilo. We clambered on top, and into the arena to start trying
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