VISIT
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Correspondent for US Polo Players Edition.
Australian-born Chris Ashton was a contributing author to Profiles in Polo: The Players Who Changed the Game (MacFarland & Co., USA, 2008) and author of Geebung: The Story of Australian Polo (1993).
At the first glance, the notion of Manipur hosting an international low-goal polo tournament with teams mounted on diminutive Manipuri ponies is implausible. Manipur ? For centuries a sovereign kingdown, Manipur, in the northeastern corner of India, is one of the sub-continent’s smallest states, today with 2.3 million people.
There can't be too many family-run polo operations in Argentina
like this one. Chris Ashton visits a unique estancia, run entirely by
a family of four sisters whose surname sounds remarkably English.
By way of explanation of The World of Polo, which shows several polo paintings encased in one another, Sydney's Billich Gallery (named after the artist) invites viewers to "step inside the painting…" promising to "introduce you to the origins of polo from China 2000 years ago to the major society sporting event it is today."
Given that Argentina reigns supreme in the global polo community, it should come as no surprise that it boasts artists who excel in celebrating the sport of princes. Only one, however, has become a household name in the polo world, and not only on home turf, but worldwide.
Those of us in love with the English language, among whom I count myself, are indebted to English author L.P. Hartley for the celebrated opening sentence of his 1953 novel, The Go-Between: "The past is another country; they do things differently there,"
Hartley's aphorism came to mind as I read an interview with Juan Carlos Harriot in the Yearbook of the Argentine Polo Pony Breeders Association, founded 27 years ago to promote the breed, Polo Argentino, now bred by some 600 registered studs.