260 POLO 



ponies, too, on which the ganie is played, though not fast, 

 are wonderfully handy and quick at turning, more so than even 

 some of our best polo ponies, a result arrived at by the bits in 

 which these ponies are broken. The Mexican bit is a fearful 

 jaw-breaking engine of torture, consisting of a curb bit with a 

 large and broad port, having an iron ring attached to it that 

 encircles the pony's lower jaw, and a single rein. The slightest 

 touch of this is sufficient to bring a horse on to his haunches, 

 and the consequence is that the mouth of an animal which 

 has been broken in one of these bits is so sesitnive that sub- 

 sequently you can turn and twist him where you will with a 

 snaffle. 



There is now a capital polo club called The South California 

 Polo Club, who have their ground at Santa Monica, a watering- 

 place about eighteen miles from Los Angelos. Here in this 

 equable climate the game flourishes exceedingly, kept alive by 

 settlers from the old country, and the impetus lately given to 

 horse-breeding in the district has produced a class of pony 

 from which in the future even English players may recruit their 

 studs. 



By 1886 the game had become so popular in the States 

 that a Hurlingham team was invited to go over and try con- 

 clusions with a representative American team and play a series 

 of matches, our Transatlantic cousins giving a challenge cup 

 to be competed for. A Hurlingham team accordingly went over 

 captained by Mr. John Watson. But the series of matches fell 

 through, for England's team defeated the best that America 

 could produce in two consecutive matches at Newport, and no 

 other men would enter the lists against them. The Americans 

 made a plucky fight ; they worked hard and hit well, but they 

 had no system in their play. They were mounted on mustangs,, 

 which, though capital polo ponies, were not endowed with the 

 speed of those belonging to their adversaries. The ground 

 at Newport, though very level and beautifully kept, is small, 

 about 225 yards long by 130 broad, and surrounded by boards. 

 The cup, which was called the America Cup, and which is 



