Polo Ponies 73 



and an Indian newspaper. Some subalterns of that regiment 

 were whiling away the tedium of a dull afternoon over the 

 papers when one of them came across an account of a match 

 at polo, which had been played by the Munnipoories. The 

 possibilities of the game were talked over, and, having nothing 

 else to do, the subalterns determined on trying it then and 

 there. So they got their chargers, some crooked sticks, and a 

 billiard ball, and engaged in the first game at polo played in Eng- 

 land — or indeed, for the matter of that, out of India. The game 

 was talked over with their brother officers and with the officers 

 of the 9th Lancers, and then, as a result of the conversation, a 

 match was played in June, 1870, between the loth Hussars 

 and 9th Lancers and the ist Life Guards and Royal Horse 

 Guards, which was the first public polo match played in this 

 country. 



The game caught on from the first, but it was a very different 

 game from the polo that is played at Hurlingham and Ranelagh 

 to-day. The ponies were from 13 to 14 hands high, and they 

 never went out of the "regulation canter". This kind of thing 

 could not last long. Gradually the game got faster and faster; 

 instead of dribbling the ball men drove it along merrily; and 

 a natural consequence of a faster game was that a taller pony 

 was introduced into it. 



It is difficult to realize in these days the trouble there was 

 in getting Polo ponies at all approaching the right sort, or the 

 many long and fruitless journeys which were undertaken in the 

 search for them. With many, a pony was a pony and there 

 was an end, just as a primrose was a primrose to Peter Bell 

 in the ballad. How difficult it was to make people realize 

 what you wanted may be shown by a personal experience. I 

 was told about a Polo pony which was " just what I wanted ". 

 Fortunately, as I thought, I met the owner soon afterwards. 

 I asked him about his pony, telling him I wanted one with 

 good deep shoulders, and a galloper. Again he told me he 

 had just what I wanted. So I went to see it — a distance of 

 sixty miles by train — and found a Hackney pony with upright 

 withers, short on the neck, and hitting his curb chain with his 

 knees. Of course I did not look at him twice, and went away 

 without saying a word to the owner. But I verily believe 

 that he thought the pony could have been made to do, so ignorant 

 was he of the correct type. 



This was in or about 1890 — twenty years after the game was 

 introduced into England. It was spreading over the country 



