The polo stick – it’s all in the inches
By Victoria Elsbury-Legg
Most normally seen propped in their multitudes on the side of many a polo pitch (or grasped in the hands of a beautiful long haired girl) the polo player’s most essential piece of kit once astride his mount is most probably his stick. Usually these cane sticks (or mallets) with a wooden head range in length from 51 – 53 inches, with the favoured length classically being 52 inches, the extra increase or decrease is dependent on the size of the pony being played (with the average polo pony being 15.2hh, hence the 52” stick, a 15-15.2hh pony requires a 51”stick and a 15.3-16hh pony a stick of 53 inches).
Spectators of the sport will be all too familiar with the echoing cry across the pitch of ‘taco, taco’ (‘stick, stick’) from many a tall, tanned South American player clutching a broken (usually beheaded) stick as they hurtle at top speed back towards the players tents, assuming anyone in the vicinity will automatically know which numbered stick (they do conveniently have the players initials painted alongside the number on the head – useful only if the player is not known by a nickname!) to pass to the rapidly advancing player, keen only to retrace his steps back into the continuing game.
Nowadays, with the rainforest sadly rapidly disappearing, top quality cane is on the decline too, so the lighter Fibercane stick has begun to make more of an appearance pitch side next to its more time-honoured counterpart. Aside from the traditional image of polo played on a pony, there are also other versions including camel, bicycle and elephant polo, each requiring a similar stick, but with a much great variation in length. A 32, 34 and 36” ‘taco’ being the equipment of a bicycle polo player and an 80 – 88 inch stick for those whose favour an elephant as a polo mount.