REMARKS ON POLO IN INDIA. 223 



of our best English players began their polo education 

 in the East. 



The Indian game is a looser one than the English, 

 and there is much more riding off and hustling in 

 it. Indeed, Indian country-breds and Arabs would 

 have difficulty in standing up against the bumps of 

 which a strong English pony takes no notice, a 

 fact that explains why Arabs and country-breds are 

 unsuitable for English polo. A few authorities have 

 from time to time advocated the abolition of riding off, 

 but the riding off game requires more skill than one in 

 which riding off would be prohibited. It is self-evident 

 that it is easier to hit a goal when we are not 

 interfered with, than when we have a man pushing 

 against our side with all his strength. Again, if I was 

 playing Back and riding off was not permitted, I 

 should say to the No. i, " Don't touch me," and I 

 should hit a back-hander on the off side, if he came up 

 on my near side, and vice versa. As the game is now 

 played, the Back, if as well mounted as the No. i, has 

 the best of it ; but if riding off was abolished, 

 he would have very much more in his favour. 

 I once heard a distinguished general officer give 

 his opinion on riding off in a speech at an Indian 

 polo dinner as follows : " I think the man on the ball is 

 like a man after a pig : he should be left alone till he 

 misses it." If this gentleman's ideas were carried out, 

 the game would often degenerate into a tame pro- 

 cession up and down the ground ; for a clever dribbler 

 under such circumstances, if he avoided having his 

 stick crooked, would be able to carry the ball the 

 whole length of the ground, and our present dashing, 

 exciting pastime would become about as lively as a 



