Polo

po'lo, a kind of hockey played on horseback. It appears to have been long a favorite pastime in Persia and Tartary and the frontiers of India, a country where good horses and open plains are common. In 1871 it was brought home to England by cavalrymen returning from the East. In playing, an oblong field, like a football ground, is marked off. A goal is established at each end. A ball three inches in diameter is laid down in the middle of the field. The players, from three to six on a side, are mounted on ponies of regulation size. Each rider is armed with a bat or stick, four feet in length, with a cross piece at the lower end with which to drive the ball. They draw up behind their respective goals. At a given signal they dash for the ball, each player trying to drive it through his opponents' goal. If a player breaks his stick, he is required to ride to the place where a supply is kept. If he drops his stick, he must dismount and pick it up. He is not allowed to strike the ball while out of the saddle. As in football, rules apply to almost every emergency that may arise. The players require skill in striking the ball as they pass by at full gallop. The regular game is confined to three periods of twenty minutes each, with five-minute intervals. The polo grounds of the United States are confined chiefly to the vicinities of New York and Philadelphia. An army polo club is maintained with headquarters at West Point. See Games And Sports