TWO BOOKS ON POLO.*
POLo is at once the most ancient and the most modern of games. The idea of hockey on horseback is at least two thousand years old, but the modern developments of that idea: date back hardly twenty years. It is of. the modern scientific game that Captain E. D. Miller writes. He is known to be a sound player, a good captain of a team, and an excellent organiser of a polo club. In this book he has compressed his experience of polo into five hundred pages. Since the first edition of Modern Polo appeared in 1896 the game has increased in interest and popularity with rapid strides. There are more polo clubs and the players reach a far higher standard. of excellence on the average than in 1891. Hurlingham bad. then practically the only polo ground for London players. Now there are twelve. There were but three tournaments of importance. Now from May to July in London, and in the provinces for two months longer, open cup and handicap tournaments succeed one another with bewildering rapidity. Nor is it only that polo is more in quantity; it has become a far better game, both to watch and to play. So far as it is possible to teach a game which demands so much mental and bodily effort and skill as polo, this book gives the necessary instruction. Every beginner should read it, nor will more advanced players fail to gain benefit from its counsels. Not only are the practical precepts thoroughly sound, but the whole tone of the book is such as becomes a treatise on so chivalrous a game :—" There can be no greater feather in the cap of a team, than for the members of it to be able to say that they have won a good cup, without • (L) Modern Polo. By Captain E,, D. Miller. London : Hurst and Blackett. IN. net.; —(2.) The International Polo Club Guide for 1932. Sanford, Bristol: Josiah Newman. 1'53 net.?
having had a single Nil given against them." Polo is in fact one of the most unselfish of games. In few pastimes is the individual player of less account or the side so important.
Almost the whole secret of success at polo is to play for your side. That team wins the most matches which has the most perfect combination. In teams like those of the Durham Light Infantry, the 13th Hussars, and above all, Captain Miller's own team from Rugby, there are four men, but they play as though moved by a single will. Yet virtue is here its own reward, for the opportunities for brilliant play are much greater than in cases where one or more of the team is looking out for openings to play to the gallery. The chances come, but they are not sought for ; each is striving to pass the ball on and drive it by combined action ever nearer to the goal- posts. This is well set forth in the following passage :—
" The rough idea of the duties of the different players in the Combination game is that the main object of No. 1 is to interfere with the Back of the opposing side, to clear the way for No. 2, and to hit as many goals as possible. No. 2's first duty is to attack hard, stop the opposing No. 3, and hit goals. No. 3 should assist in the defence of his own goal, and serve up the ball to the forwards. Back must defend his own goal. In practice this rough idea is, of course, subject to endless modifications, for as the game changes all the players in turn will attack and defend."
Thus polo gives little scope for personal vanity. We seldom hear a player talking of his own prowess or the number of goals he has made. In fact, the man who actually strikes the ball through the posts has often done little more than take advantage of the good work of his fellows. But polo has a charm and an excitement all its own. The quick movement, the rapid changes of fortune, the thud of galloping hoofs, the crack of stick and ball as they meet, stir the blood of players and spectators as no other game can. There is another reason for the growth of polo in our time. The game fills a vacant place among our English sports. Of all pastimes it is most suited for busy men and for middle age. Polo takes up but a short time at the close of a hard-working man's day, and it lasts longer into life than do other pastimes. No man need
give up polo so long as he can ride. As Captain Miller puts it forcibly— "At football a man is as a rule at his best from twenty to twenty-five; and at cricket from twenty to thirty years of age ; yet there are few really first-class polo players in England under thirty. Men of mature years are in no way barred from polo. Although I have never heard of a first-class cricketer who did not learn to play as a boy, many fine polo players have begun com- paratively late in life. The into Mr. Kennedy, who was a remark- ably fine player, commenced polo when he was thirty-eight years of age, and continued to be in the first flight for at least ten years later."
Besides the practical counsels there is much that is useful in the book. We think that just now many people will turn with interest to read what the author, a soldier of distinction as well as a polo player, has to say on polo in the Army. All who have read thetiscussions on the education of our officers know that there are two opinions about polo in the Army. Some think polo leads young officers to waste their time and to squander their money. Others, again, believe that in an in- formal manner officers learn horsemanship, discipline, and the habit of quick decision at polo. Captain Miller holds with the latter opinion. He puts the case for the encouragement and regulation by the authorities of officers' polo temperately and with force. We may leave the argument to him, merely noting that those men in our time who have made the Army their profession in earnest have been just those to whom the game has proved most attractive. The careers of the late Colonels Le Gallais and Lord Airlie. of Colonel Rimington, Major Maclaren, and Colonel de Lisle, remind us how often the love of the profession of a soldier and a taste for polo are united in the same man.
Yet the player is only one in a partnership between horse and rider. In fact the pony comes in, as he deserves, for a good share of attention in Modern Polo. There are chapters at once useful and practical on "Bits and Bridles," on the "Training of Polo Ponies," and a careful discussion of the comparative merits of the various breeds that are used in the game. The conclusion that Captain Miller comes to is that the English and Irish ponies are the best in the world. We shall not dispute this, with the memory of the recent match with America fresh in our mind. The ponies of our American visitors were the best they had, but the English ponies
fairly galloped away from them in the last two matches. But these incomparable English ponies, where do they come from ? how are they bred ? It is evident that Captain Miller has asked himself these questions, and has found no satisfactory answer. Indeed, the part of his book which deals with pony breeding is far less clear and satisfactory than the rest. Yet these admirable little horses, which are useful for sport or war, and have the approval of Lord Kitchener
and other South African commanders, are important com- mercially and nationally. But Captain Miller only accounts for them by saying that they are "accidents," He means that they have for some reason or other never reached the full height of English horses. But surely to call our polo ponies " accidents " is only to label our ignorance. It does not account for their existence. These animals are fairly numerous, and whatever the cause that produced them, it was in operation before the rise of polo. The question is of importance, for if the polo pony is merely a dwarf or an accident, it is impossible to breed this useful class of horse for our national needs or pastimes. But we reflect that in Nature there are no accidents, and as we think out the matter carefully it seems that it is possible to account for the 14.2 polo pony in a reasonable and scientific way. There are, as every one knows, certain breeds of ponies in England which have lived in a half-wild state from time immemorial on the Welsh mountains, the fells of Cumberland, the moors of Devon and Somerset, or in the shades of the New Forest. These are hardy, enduring, intelligent, active little beasts, with every quality needed for a riding horse except size. Every year large numbers are sold and scattered over the country to grow and develop on richer pastures. It is a common belief that pony blood is valuable in a hunter, and there have no doubt been crosses of pony blood for generations. Our English saddle horses are thus full of pony strains of blood. What more natural than that they should cast back to their ancestors from time to time. These polo ponies, then, are not accidents but reversions. Thus to breed polo ponies is a matter of care- ful mating and judicious crossing between our ancient native stock and thoroughbred or Arab blood. But since the great size of the modern horse is artificial, the result of feeding and forcing, there is a constant tendency to revert to a smaller size. Thus when we try to breed these small horses we have natural and artificial selection working together in our favour.
If we wanted a witness to the importance of pony breeding or to the popularity of polo, we could not do better than call Mr. Josiah Newman, whose magnificent International Polo Club Guide lies before us. Mr. Newman has spent much time in collecting information. Thus we learn that there are four hundred and fifty polo clubs, of which more than four hundred are supported by England, her Colonies, and America. Polo is evidently a game for English-speaking people. It is the aim of the International Guide to draw together all these lovers of the game by telling them about the clubs of the world, and giving all kinds of useful information as to the polo grounds, the ponies used, the codes of rules in force, and so on. It is a most valuable book in every way,—well worked up, well printed, and well illustrated. In this respect, indeed, both books are excellent, and Captain Miller's has, in addition, a. useful index.
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