Hursley Branch
Polo/Polocrosse
POLOCROSSE
As the name itself implies, polocrosse is a combination of polo and lacrosse. It is a
team game played on horseback, each team consisting of three players (a full Branch
team for the Championships consists of six players). Each player has a stick made up
of a shaft like a polo stick with a loose twisted-thread net in which the ball is carried
and passed from player to player and the object is to score goals. The team that scores
the most goals in a match is the winner.
The ball is made of sponge rubber and is approximately 4" across and weighs 142g (5 oz).
Players are allowed only to play one pony, except in the case of injury. There is no
restriction on their height, although the ideal should not exceed 15.2 hands. Horses
of all breeds play polocrosse, so just use your favourite!
Like many other branches, the Hursley are not able to offer Polocrosse rallies to its members
but we are extremely fortunate that there is a very good Polocrosse Club locally that meets
at Quob Stables and welcomes Pony Club members. If you are interested in giving
Polocrosse a try then please call Emma Hill to discuss and to get the contact details of
the Solent Club.
POLO
The first polo rally was held at Braishfield Manor over the half term. Two groups of 4 and 5 members came and hit some lively orange inflated balls around the arena with John Lyczba. The littler ones had to get used to riding with one hand, steering, holding a mallet and hitting a ball! Not easy but all were happy at the end of the session. In the second group John soon had the group hitting nearside forehands and offside forehands up and down the arena, cracking into a canter at times. At the end of the lesson the group had a short ‘chukka’ which brought out the competiveness from the girls and some loud cheering from the parents! Watch out for more rallies.
MAY HALF TERM POLO RALLY: by Olivia Wood
The Polo rally was a great success. I had never done Polo before but the teacher taught us all what to do. The ponies had to be bandaged and their tails knotted. We started off with the basics, how to hold the mallet and the different ways to hit the ball. At first we tried it in walk around the school each with our own balls to hit, the ponies thought that it was really funny and it was a good job they had bandages on as the balls were out of control! Some found it hard steering with only one hand on the reins but in the end we got the hang of it. Then we tried trotting, this was a lot harder especially as we had to hit the ball forwards, backwards and even across the ponies bodies. This took a lot more practice and concentration. At the end we had a game where we could go as fast as we wanted hitting the ball to the back of the arena to score a point. The ball and ponies went everywhere. In the end the score was 2 points to 3 points but we all had a laugh and it was good fun.I would recommend everyone to have ago and I definitely will do it again.
Join Now
You can join The Pony Club now by downloading our Membership Form below
Branch Membership Application Form 2010 (2.14 MB)
Note that you should return the Membership form to the Branch and not The Pony Club HQ. It should be posted to the Membership Secretary (or, failing that, the Branch Secretary) at the address shown on the Contacts page for the Branch.