Vale Of York Polo Club, Doncaster, UK
Visited: June 2011
The Vale of York Polo Club is located just outside Doncaster amongst the vast acreage of a former dairy farm and near the River Idle, however idle is about as far from what you will be if you decide to give polo a go. I bought a voucher from groupon as it seemed too good an offer to miss out on, and the club seems to regularly put the deals online.
On arriving we were greeted by the very tall and ruddy faced Polo Coach, Paul, who would also be our instructor, umpire, leg-upper and bartender for the day. He was an extremely cheerful and approachable chap who had everyone in stitches from the beginning of the day. After giving us a tour of the clubhouse, stables and polo pitches as well as a potted history of his career with horses we were given a polo stick, a polo helmet and taken to a wooden practice horse, which had a worrying number of chips in its legs. Here we were shown how to hold ourselves and the stick to achieve maximum power when hitting the ball. Paul then climbed aboard and gave the ball a solid whack which was to act as our rather ambitious benchmark. Each of the group, which ranged from novice to experienced cross-country riders, then attempted to match this distance which finished with an almost fall, a wayward ball that managed to go backwards and a few new chips to the static horse's battered limbs.
Paul then decided to up the stakes and so off we went to get acquainted with the poor beasties who were to be our polo ponies. Mine was an unusually coloured magnificent red roan mare called Pinky.
After mounting and being told how to hold all the reins and the stick we went down to the pitch to start getting a feel for how the ponies move. I have to say this was one of the best parts of the day, the highlight being when all ten of us lined up and cantered up and down the field holding our polo sticks high as if riding into battle with Paul's encouraging words of wisdom "If you fall off you owe me a bottle of champagne!" ringing in our ears alongside the thundering of forty hooves. We were then moved into three's so we could practice hitting the ball down a line, supposedly continuously, and the less said about my accuracy at this the better. Moving on swiftly we played three chukkas which last seven minutes each and for us newbies these were our mini-competitions between the four teams. Incredibly, and solely down the talented polo ponies themselves following the ball (even with the hindrance of riders), we won!
After a celebratory couple of pints of mighty home brewed cider and perry we were invited to stay the afternoon and watch the regular club members play a much more adept and fast-paced game. It is an absolutely thrilling and enticing experience that is guaranteed to get you hooked.
On arriving we were greeted by the very tall and ruddy faced Polo Coach, Paul, who would also be our instructor, umpire, leg-upper and bartender for the day. He was an extremely cheerful and approachable chap who had everyone in stitches from the beginning of the day. After giving us a tour of the clubhouse, stables and polo pitches as well as a potted history of his career with horses we were given a polo stick, a polo helmet and taken to a wooden practice horse, which had a worrying number of chips in its legs. Here we were shown how to hold ourselves and the stick to achieve maximum power when hitting the ball. Paul then climbed aboard and gave the ball a solid whack which was to act as our rather ambitious benchmark. Each of the group, which ranged from novice to experienced cross-country riders, then attempted to match this distance which finished with an almost fall, a wayward ball that managed to go backwards and a few new chips to the static horse's battered limbs.
Paul then decided to up the stakes and so off we went to get acquainted with the poor beasties who were to be our polo ponies. Mine was an unusually coloured magnificent red roan mare called Pinky.
After mounting and being told how to hold all the reins and the stick we went down to the pitch to start getting a feel for how the ponies move. I have to say this was one of the best parts of the day, the highlight being when all ten of us lined up and cantered up and down the field holding our polo sticks high as if riding into battle with Paul's encouraging words of wisdom "If you fall off you owe me a bottle of champagne!" ringing in our ears alongside the thundering of forty hooves. We were then moved into three's so we could practice hitting the ball down a line, supposedly continuously, and the less said about my accuracy at this the better. Moving on swiftly we played three chukkas which last seven minutes each and for us newbies these were our mini-competitions between the four teams. Incredibly, and solely down the talented polo ponies themselves following the ball (even with the hindrance of riders), we won!
After a celebratory couple of pints of mighty home brewed cider and perry we were invited to stay the afternoon and watch the regular club members play a much more adept and fast-paced game. It is an absolutely thrilling and enticing experience that is guaranteed to get you hooked.
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