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Polo - Ponies and Players
by Saskia Mier
The polo pony ranges from 14.2-16 hands (147-163cm) in height and are usually Thoroughbreds or Thoroughbred crosses. They are selected carefully for quick bursts of speed, stamina, agility and manoeuvrability. It is vital the horse remains responsive under pressure and not become excited or difficult to control.
p>Polo Players
Polo must be played right-handed and each position assigned to a player has certain responsibilities. There are four players in a polo team.
Player Number One is the most offence-oriented position on the field.
Player Number Two either runs through and scores themselves, or passes to Number One, getting in behind them.
Player Number Three is the tactical leader and solid defence. They must feed balls to Number Two and Number One.
Player Number Four is the primary defence player, moving anywhere on the field but prevent scoring.
Each player is given a handicap, rated on a scale of -2 to 10 goals, with a -2 indicating a novice player and the highest 10 goal handicap, for professionals. It is actually very rare for a player to receive a 10 goal handicap, with there being only ten players in the world (all Argentine). Handicaps of 5 goals and above generally belong to professional players. It is important to note that referring to goals does not mean the number of goals a player scores in a game, but the players worth to their team based utterly on sportsmanship.