The World's Polo Club
Evolution of the Polo Horse
In response to the call of one of our members for more stimulating discussion, perhaps we can start a dialog about the evolution of the polo horse--- past, present, and future.
If polo began in ancient Persia, what do we know about the horses of ancient Persia and how they evolved. Who first brought horses to Persia? Where did they come from? What were they like? Were they big or small, fast or slow, agile or clumsy? What color were they? Did they have multiple gaits? Etc. Much later, we know that Alexander and the Greeks brought horses with them from Macedonia. What sort of horses were they? Were the Persians impressed with them? Were they big or small, fast or slow, agile or clumsy? Were they good for polo, or not? Did they become part of the ancient Persian polo breed? And what about, Bucephalus, the horse of Alexander himself? We know he was a great war horse. Did he play polo? Did he breed with the Persian polo horses? Have the genes of Bucephalus been passed down to the modern polo horse of today?
And what about the highly evolved polo horses we are seeing today? How are they different from the polo horses of, say, ten years ago-- twenty years ago-- forty years ago-- sixty years ago? I have read that players at Palermo now change horses two or three times a chukker! They don't need a horse that can play for six minutes. They need a horse that can play very, very fast for two minutes. How is this affecting the polo breed? Are we moving to an era where the best polo horses lose speed after two minutes?
Who are the best breeders of today? What do they think? We know the Heguy family is legendary. Who else is really, really good? I have heard that Bautista Heguy will not sell his mares because he never wants to face one on the polo field. Does anyone else feel this way?
It is probably true that I always have many more questions than answers, so naturally I look forward to the responses of the many knowledgeable and thoughtful posters we have here. But I will say this, I think the evolved polo horse of today is the most exciting animal on the planet. For sheer speed, agility, intelligence, and beauty, nothing surpasses the polo horse.
So, may we always honor the work of the great players and breeders--- past, present, and future--- who bring us these fascinating creatures!
All the best,
GB
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by bruce cowley on -
That's a lot of questions... but first off - there is no such thing as the modern polo horse.
Most really high goal (and a lot of polo in general) is played on TBs so if you want to follow their evolution - it's very well documented. The most important stallions lines for polo are (to steal a fact from a previous post by Mauricio Sordelli) Northern Dancer lines, Candy Stripes, Mr. Prospector, Exactly Native, Southern Halo, Lode, Rainbow Corner - which are some of the most important stallions in racing as well. (Thank you Mauricio!)
The so-called argentine polo breed is another matter, but one simply cannot talk about the Modern Polo Horse.
Now, back to Persia: some of the oldest warmblood breeds come from the region modern day Iran. So it may be fair to assume that the Persians played on something along the lines of the early Turkoman Warmbloods - probably the Turanian (like the modern Akhal-Teke). They were approx the same size as the horses we use today for polo. And, legend has it that Alexander the Great's horse was Turkoman.
The interesting bit is that you may actually be right that the blood of the horses played by the Persians was is in the horses we play today. Some of the foundation horses for todays TB were in fact Turkomans - "Old Bold Peg", "Byerly Turk", "Darley Arabian" , "Lister Turk" were all Teke or Teke partbreds.
Thank you for helping me pass an otherwise uninteresting afternoon in the office.
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Permalink Reply by Anthea Boyle on -
Hi All,
I believe the ponies originally played on where Manipurie (not sure i spelt that correctly, so sorry in advance) ponies, they where very tiny and native to Persia, i believe they were no more than 13hh. They used to play with a ball made from the root of the paulo tree, hence the modern name "Polo", the game then spread down through China and along. The Hussars saw the game in India and took it home to "Hurlingham" where it was played on the heath by men and women alike. In those days there were sometimes 16 players on each team and it was so popular that it was even played at night, it didnt matter in those days which hand you held your stick in :-)
A man called James Gordon Bennet then took the game to America, where it has thrived ever since.
As to the ancient breeding of the modern ponies, bruce has hit the nail on the head.
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Permalink Reply by GB Polo on -
Great points, Anthea.
I wonder what the Chinese polo horses were like. Do you think they cross-bred with the Manipurie and came back to Persia?
Best,
GB
P.S. I definitely like the idea of playing at night. It's never seems reasonable that you should have to stop playing just because the sun goes down. What we need are lighted polo fields!
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Permalink Reply by bruce cowley on
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Sorry Anthea but... Persian cavalry were using the turkoman breeds several thousand years ago - and as polo is an excellent way to train cavalry horses for battle, I doubt if they had different horses for polo and for war.
The Manipuri horse is an indian breed (with absolutely no relation to Persia) - not dissimilar to the horses some of the tribesmen still play on in Northern Pakistan. I played a Baluchi pony (see my pics) there - tiny, tough as nails. They also play Badakshani - which are very similar to the Turkmans.
In Persia they played a game called 'chogan' - which is basically polo.
The origins of the word 'polo' are open to dispute - but ‘Pullo’ simply means ball in the Balti and Shanah languages of Northern Pakistan/India. Again, it's a fair assumption that this is how the British picked up the name.
A fair approximation of the original game is still played in the Northern Areas - 6 a side, no rules, no remounts, 2 X 30 minute chukkas. The ball is still made of bamboo, and the sticks they use are also rather more simple than ours.
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Permalink Reply by GB Polo on
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Bruce,
What do you know about the latest breeding trends in Argentina?
I think one of the Heguys was saying that the recent trend of changing horses two or three times a chukker could eventually lead us to faster horses, but with less endurance.
Should there be rules on how many horses can be used per chukker?
Best regards,
GB
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Permalink Reply by Tomas de Ezcurra on -
Some rules yes, but not everything with rules. By the way, our polo ponies where originally coming from our Criollos horses, later were imported from England. But in our times are a mix of many different origins, but for sure they are faster that those used in the 1980's. We have the best ponies in the world today.
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Permalink Reply by bruce cowley on
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GB, I don't know enough to comment, but I think embryo transfer will lead to a lot more great horses - all of them out of the price range of us mortals. as is changing horses 3 times a chukka :)
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Permalink Reply by GB Polo on
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Bruce, I think you're right. The future will be full of great horses, and embryo transfer will be a big part of it! Personally, I think one horse per chukker is enough, especially if we want to make polo an Olympic sport again.
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Permalink Reply by Luis Wetzler on -
GB I doubt that your idea of one horse per chukka will be accepted, today’s horses are running so fast that will be very dangerous for them to have just one, at least players will need to use two ponies in each chukka In summer time, horses suffer a lot and is quite cruel to force them to play a whole chukka. I saw once a horse having a stroke because with 36° Celsius played the whole chukka this is something that we cannot ignore.
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Permalink Reply by bruce cowley on
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Luis I agree with with - but again, we're only talking about the top fraction of players in the game.
GB, re Shandur (I'll actually be there this year) that is a different game. 6 players on a team means that they all play a more territorial game, with 1/6 & 2/5 seldom venturing out of the offensive/defensive sides of the field.
It's very interesting as there are no rules - but there is a panel of judges who decides on the fitness of the horses, to continue playing. If your horse is injured, you and your opposite number both retire. BUT if you horse is deemed exhausted, only your horse retires and you play on on foot.
Incidentally, the horses played at shandur go up several weeks before the tournament, to acclimatize. -
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