£20,000 IN PONIES

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20464, 2 April 1938, Page 23 (Supplement)

£20,000 IN PONIES

MOUNTS AT POI.O TOURNEY FACTS AND COSTS OF STABLING UNUSUAL NUMBER OF INJURIES UNPRECEDENTED IN THE SPORT By “Chukka.” In every public attraction there is a backstage; a behind the scenes, where the public does not penetrate. In the sporting sphere there is the backstage too, but perhaps in no game is it so fascinating as at a major polo tournament. To feed, groom and stable the 300 ponies which were assembled at Claudelands for the Savile Cup tournament of the New Zealand Polo Association was a large undertaking, and one which contributes considerably to the high cost of polo. All of the 300 ponies which played in the tournament were stabled at the Claudelands Showgrounds in the sheds of the Waikato Agricultural and Pastoral Association. The value of the ponies playing in'the championship toumev would be somewhere in the vicinity of £20,000, for practically every nr.<> was a thoroughbred, specially trained for the exacting requirements of the fast game. The feeding of the assemblage involved an expenditure among the players of about £2OO. So that the thoroughbreds might give of their best they were fed in the same manner as racehorses, with hard feed. Caring for the Ponies. Several of the players had grooms to care for their mounts while others did their own grooming. The preparation of the steeds for a game involved careful bandaging of the legs • and other details concerning the Jpiuipmcnt. After the matches it was essential to hose the animals and groom them carefully before feeding them and stabling them for the night. Often during the tournament grooms were working on their charges until a fairly late hour at night. It was then that the esteem for his mounts of a true polo sportsman became really evident. There was a blacksmith shop at Claudelands Showground during the tournament and there was plenty of work for the smithy. Unless a pony was properly shod its ability on the field of play would be hampered. The cost of keeping the horses shod must have amounted to several pounds. £IOOO Worth of Sticks. Hiere were dozens of saddles and bridles at the tournament, but one of the biggest expenses for the players other than the cost of ponies would be the provision of polo sticks. Among the 80 players competing there would be somewhere in the vicinity of £BOO to £IOOO worth of polo sticks. Each rr.in had to have many for one might break at any moment during play, and furthermore a different length stick for different sizea in horses is essential. The balls for polo are usually made cf willow and are manufactured in England, but sometimes bamboo balls from India are use. At the Savile Cup tourney willow balls were played. These were supplied by the New Zealand Polo Association, of course, but they involved a considerable expense. The willows cost tthe Association Is 2d each, and during the tournament out 300 were used. Eleven Ponies Injured. It was unfortunate that the expenses to many of the players at the tourney were considerably increased by the loss of several excellent ponies. One died of heart failure on the field of play. It was an old pony and such an incident may have occurred at any time. The more unfortunate aspect, however, was the loss of several ponies because of broken legs. The phenomenal run of misfortune in this direction led to six ponies being destroyed and two others being placed in plaster as the fractures were not serious. A further two ponies are very lame and will be unable to play for at least a month. It is extremely to estimate the values of the lost but at least two were worth well over £IOO according to one experienced player. With a total of fll ponies either destroyed or injured it may be supposed that the losses would total somewhere in the vicinity of about £IOOO. Following the injuries to ponies which this year has been unusually heavy, there has been criticism of the tactics of polo levelled from some i probably mis-guided sources. Not only is it a fact that at no other tournament have the casualties been so heavy, but during the last decade at least the total number of ponies injured would not reach the number •for the past week. There ran be no blame attachable to any of the officials of the New. Zealand Polo Association for the accidents. In fact experienced players vary in their comment regarding the eause of the unusual number of casualties. Some think that the unusually hard nature of the ground was the sole cause. Others are of the opinion that a hard ground is the safest for the ponies. It has been suggested th%t there is an art in riding a pony on a hard surface and that some players have not developed that sufficiently. Possibly the real eause of the trouble is the fact that after a strenuous week of pounding the hard turf the ponies have become sore and when they play again they tend to nurse the sore leg and in turning probably twist the good leg and so fracture it. Whatever the cause might be the accidents are entirely strange to the sport of polo. No Cruelty to Steeds. it cannot be suggested that there is any cruelty to the ponies in the way they are turned at excessive *peed for .i good polo pony is specially 1 trained for turning in the shortest possible distance and a mount that tan be turned “on a threepenny bit” ns the players say. is claimed to be h good steed for the game. Ability to turn and pull up suddenly is a Quality which gives a polo pony much t>f its value. In any sport there are bound to be fome casualize* and considering the ilaring and brilliance of polo there | re usually very few accidents at all. |n no case at the recent tournament bras a broken leg of a pony due to a tollision. In view of past experiences the accidents last week, which caused A-toncem to the officials, cannot be w faken as a lever for criticism of the fame. They must be considered as

unprecedented and unfortunate incidents which would probably not occur again. The officials and teams were wise not to play the final of the Handicap Cup on Wednesday. The weather, which is unusually dry for this time of the year, caused the ground to be hard. ‘ Watering would have been dangerous as a slippery surface would have developed. Soreness among racehorses is common «» present ami the nature of polo cannot be blamed for making the ponies stiff. Compared with the number of accidents to horses in racing I the number in nolo is few.