Horse Play: The game up close

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Kate Dalrymple (Oakdale High Class of 2005), graduates from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in June. She is studying agribusiness, concentrating on finance and appraisal, and recently played with the Mustangs in the college national tournament in Virginia:

THE GAME: Collegiate polo is played in an arena, usually 300 feet long by 150 feet wide, and on a sandy surface. Each team plays with three riders at a time. Grass polo is on a field that is 300 yards by 160 to 200 yards, three times the size of a football field. Each team plays with four riders.

HER HORSE: Her personal horse stands 15.2 hands, or 5 feet, 2 inches at the high point of the back. A quarterhorse, it weighs 1,200 pounds. "Given a few years, I think my horse would do well in a high-level game," she said. "If given the choice of riding him or an experienced polo pony in an important game, I would definitely choose the experienced polo pony." Collegians ride standard horses, but professionals are on animals valued at $100,000. That was the estimated value of the 21 polo ponies that died in Florida last week after receiving tainted vitamin shots.

HER FIRST TASTE: Mike O'Ferral, Dalrymple's farrier at the time, provided a clinic to her 4-H club. A high school freshman, she began playing twice a week to get her horse ready for barrel racing in the high school rodeo season.

TRAVEL: "Typically, if we travel to a game within a four-hour drive, we will take a string (six horses) with us if the opposing team doesn't have enough horses for us to play on," she said. "On our trip to Virginia, we used a string of horses provided by an all-girls high school in Maryland. It is too long of a drive to take a large number of horses across the country."

EQUIPMENT: An English saddle is used for polo. Unlike a western saddle, it doesn't have a horn to hold. The mallets range in size; players will change mallets depending on the height of the horse. Mallets are 49 inches to 53 inches. The ball weighs six ounces. The goals are 10 feet wide and 15 feet high, and ball must pass completely across the line to be considered a goal.

RISKS: People with a history of riding can acclimate to the intensity of the sport. Novices should brush up on their skills before trying to ride while leaning to one side and hitting a ball -- while getting hit on the other side by a 1,000-pound horse and rider. Spectators also should be alert: Balls can be hit out of the arena and into the stands.