The polo seat: how coaches describe it.

A polo player spends much of a chukka standing slightly out of the saddle, steering with one hand and swinging a mallet with the other. The position that makes this possible is usually called the half seat. What follows is how named coaches and schools describe it. It is a summary of their teaching points, not a lesson, and the only safe way to learn it is on a suitable pony with a qualified instructor watching.

Five riding skills

Tim Ward, an English professional player and HPA Club Coach, was profiled by POLO+10 in August 2014. He breaks polo riding into five core skills:

1. The half seat
2. Stopping
3. Turning
4. Accelerating
5. Checking (a half halt that gathers the pony)

The half seat is first on his list. Stopping, turning, accelerating and checking are covered on the riding one-handed page.

The half seat as Tim Ward teaches it

Ward's teaching points, as POLO+10 reported them:

• Heels down. He gives this as the reason the rider's head does not tip down toward the pony's neck.
• Feet. Toes point forward, feet sit behind the girth for stability, and the weight rests on the inside of the foot. The toes stay just behind the knees.
• Legs. The legs form a pyramid, which lets the upper legs grip.
• Body shape. He describes the body as a "Z" with the centre of gravity running straight down, and contrasts it with a rounded "C" back, which he wants to avoid.

Short stirrups

Horse Network's Nina Fedrizzi described a first lesson at Palo Alto Polo Holiday in July 2015, with instructors Leo Rossolini and Emily Hordijk. The report says polo stirrups are much shorter than most English riders are used to, so the player can stand off the saddle at the canter for most of the game. It adds that this asks a lot of the fitness of both rider and pony (see fitness).

How to describe the seat: sources differ

The sources we read compare the polo seat with the seats of other disciplines, and they do not describe it the same way:

The two Argentina Polo School posts come from the same school a few weeks apart and use different words. We report each as written. What all three share is that they treat the polo seat as its own position, different from the seats of other disciplines.

Gripping and "locking in"

Ward's pyramid of the legs is there so the upper legs can grip. The Horse Network report goes further and says polo players grip with the knee, against the usual English instruction to use the lower leg; that point comes from one informal lesson account and we could not confirm it elsewhere. A Horse Nation account of a Houston Polo Club clinic in March 2015 describes instructors checking the rider's position on a dummy horse and teaching riders to "lock in" by turning the top of the thigh into the saddle; that is also a single account.

Why posture matters

Horse Nation's Amanda Uechi Ronan described the Houston Polo Club polo school in May 2015. Its instructors checked that riders kept their heels down and their toes turned in, and stressed that correct posture is what keeps a rider in the saddle when ponies collide. Note the small difference from Ward, who describes the toes as pointing forward. Each instructor's version is given here as reported.

Two sources tie the seat to the nearside shots. Dallas Burston Polo Club's guide says the nearside backhand requires the rider to lock the right knee into the saddle and rotate the upper body fully. Argentina Polo School says nearside shots need balance, an independent seat and trust in the pony. More on that on the nearside shots page.

Does riding have to come first?

Coaches and clubs disagree on how much riding a beginner needs before picking up a mallet:

• Riding first. Dani Wasty, a player and trainer at Shannon Hill Polo Club in New Jersey, told ABC7 in August 2019 that horsemanship comes first, and that without good riding the mallet is harder to use.
• Learn both together. Your Horse (April 2020) quoted club director Claudia Aylott as saying no riding ability is needed and that riding and polo skills can be learnt together, the key being not to be scared of sitting on a horse.

Club entry rules reflect the same split. Edinburgh University Polo Club requires a basic level of riding before polo training and sends complete non-riders to outside riding schools first. Tedworth Park Polo Club in the UK lets complete beginners take an introductory lesson with no riding experience, but its one-day courses require riders to feel safe and be competent at the canter. Ask the club you are joining what it expects, and see getting started for how people begin.