horse saved from slaughter house turns out to be one with great past ...

There are games like Cricket, Football, Tennis, Hockey, Kabbadi, Table Tennis – and some more like Golf, Billiards – and Polo ! – which has some variations too.  The modern game of polo, though formalised and popularised by the British, is derived from the Indian state of  Manipur where the game was known as 'Sagol Kangjei', 'Kanjai-bazee', or 'Pulu'. The first polo club was established in the town of Silchar in Assam,  in 1834. There is water polo, horse polo and elephant polo too.

Horse Polo is a team sport played on horseback in which the objective is to score goals against an opposing team. Players score by driving a small white plastic or wooden ball into the opposing team's goal using a long-handled mallet.  Polo is played professionally in 16 countries. It was formerly, but not currently, an Olympic sport. In horse polo, the mounts used are called 'polo ponies', although the term pony is purely traditional and the mount is actually a full-sized horse. Some say that an average rider with a brilliant horse can play better game than his actual skill level, while a best player cannot achieve much with the wrong type of horse.  Horse was domesticated hundreds of year ago and has been with man doing many chores.   The present day polo horse is the result of more than a century of careful genetic selection and breeding.  

As the game evolved, the needs of the polo player and their needs from their horses also increased. The best players started looking for the fastest horses so they could out-ride their opponents and get to the ball even quicker. They found it in the thoroughbred race horse, which turned out to be so fast that many high handicap polo horses share stallions with the horseracing world to inherit these racing traits.  Speed comes at a price and often manoeuvrability is sacrificed.  A modification in the rules about horses' height allowed the use of the thoroughbred racehorse in polo. In present day polo, the estimated ideal height of a polo horse is 156cm, which is more common height in thoroughbreds than in a crossbred.

A great majority of polo horses are in fact mares. Female horses are preferred for competitions over gelded males for several reasons. The polo pony is selected carefully for quick bursts of speed, stamina, agility and manoeuvrability. Temperament is critical; the horse must remain responsive under pressure and not become excited or difficult to control. A well trained horse will carry its rider smoothly and swiftly to the ball and can account for 60 to 75 percent of the player's skill and net worth to his team. Polo training generally begins at age three and lasts from about six months to two years. Each player must have more than one pony, so tired mounts can be exchanged for fresh mounts between or even during periods, called chukkers. 

Even as it is said that polo ponies are quite costly, a £450 horse saved from slaughterhouse turned out to be a world-class polo mount which belonged to Prince William and Harry's coach.  Going by this interesting report that appeared in Daily Mail in Sept 2013 – When Michelle Wrenn bought Nata from her former owner, she thought it was a gesture of compassion for an unremarkable animal. She had paid £450 for the beautiful 23-year-old chestnut horse, who could have been sent to the slaughterhouse, after her owner realised Nata was much older than previously thought. Though she thought she had 'seen something special' in the ageing animal, Mrs Wrenn, 54, never thought to look in to her past until her curiosity was stirred by the animal's exceptional grace when being ridden by a friend.

But after investigating Nata's pedigree, Mrs Wrenn was stunned to discover that Nata was one of the world's greatest polo horses, who moved in the same circles as the Royal Family. Calls to a vet who had formerly cared for Nata revealed that the chestnut mare was once the mount of polo legend Carlos Gracida, a man who was once considered the greatest player in the world. Mr Gracida is also a friend of Prince Charles, and his former coach, who also trained Prince William and Prince Harry.

Her former owner had bought Nata under the false impression that she was just 13, and resolved to sell her quickly or - if that wasn't possible - send her to slaughter.  Nata had been passed between dealers and didn’t have a proper home.  Mrs Wrenn said  ‘I had her passport and there was one stamp from an English vet. When I called him, he confirmed it was the well-known polo horse.' She also discovered that Nata had more recently been owned by socialite Royston Prisk, who had ridden her competitively as recently as this year. She managed to contact Mr Prisk, who was shocked to hear how close the 'extremely special' horse had come closer  to death.

Interesting to say the least.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

10^th Oct 2o14.