22 Polo Terms You Need to Know
Ready to attend your first polo match? Want to be able to talk the talk?
Here are the top 22 polo terms you need to know!
Polo is an exciting, thrilling, elite sport that is almost as much fun to watch as to play!
This ancient sport is physical, brutal, elite, fast-paced and a thrill to watch!
But if this is your first time going to watch a game, you want to be able to at least talk the talk, even if you can’t yet walk the walk.
In another post, I’ll detail what you can expect when you attend your first polo match, but for now let’s focus on the polo terms you need to know.
Polo Terms You Need to Know
- Ball hog/hawk: a player who plays for his personal glory, disregarding his team
2. bump – when a player directs his pony into the side of an opponent’s pony
3. calkins – projections on the mtal shoes worn by horses, sometimes called calks
4. check and turn – to slow the horse and turn him
5. chukker – term used for a period of play in polo
6. flag boy – an unoffcial goal observer appointed to signal a score by waving a flag over his head; under the knees if no goal
7. flat out – when a pony races as fast as he can he appears to flatten out
8. irons – common term for stirrup
9. knock-in – the drive made by the defending team to put the ball back in play when it has been hit over the back line by the attackers
10. line of the ball – the line produced by the ball when it is hit or deflected
11. made pony – a seasoned pony that is well trained for polo
12. mallet head – the part of a mallet which is used to strike the ball
13. safety – penalty 6
14. side boards – boards that are placed along the side of the polo field
15. stick – another name for the mallet
16. stick work – the action of hitting the ball with the mallet or the basic strokes
17. sudden death – a period of play in overtime when the game is tied at the end of the regular final chukker. Play ends when the first goal is made to break the tie
18. polos – short for “polo wraps” or the bandages the horses wear around their legs for protection against other horses’ legs, mallets or the ball
19. pony goal – a goal scoared when the pony causes the ball to go voer the goal line
20. tack – all of the equipment used on a horse
21. throw-in – when the umpire starts or resumes the game, be bowls the ball between the plays; thus, the throw-in
22. up-rights – the goal posts
For more, check out the rules of polo from the US Polo Assn.