Rules

There are four players to each team. The captain, who leads the team’s tactics, usually wears number 3. Number 4, also known as back, is in charge of the defence. The other two players are attackers.

Each polo player is rated on a scale from -2 to 10. A handicap of -2 denotes a novice player, while just a handful of players in the world hold the maximum handicap of +10. The handicap of a team is the sum of the handicaps of all four team members.

Tournaments are played at three levels—low, medium, or high goal. The team’s handicap, being the sum of the handicaps of all four team members, must meet the level played at. When two teams compete in a match, any difference in their handicaps is levelled out by allocating the corresponding number of goals to the team with the lower handicap.

Depending on the tournament, a polo match will consist of four, five or six time periods known as chukkas. In high goal snow polo, a match will normally consist of four chukkas lasting 7½ minutes each except for the last one which is 7 minutes. In any one match, a pony may only be played in a maximum of two, non-consecutive chukkas. 

The direction of play changes every time a goal is scored. 

The right of way is the primary rule of the sport. Whenever the ball is in play, the player right on, or at the smallest angle to, the line of the ball will have the right of way, with the line of the ball being the path along which the ball is or has been travelling. No player is allowed to position himself and his pony on the line of the ball if this poses the slightest risk of collision with the player currently holding the right of way.

A player can only lose his right of way by being ridden off or hooked by another player. When hooking, a player will be using his stick to prevent the player holding the right of way from retrieving or striking the ball. He will to do so by attempting to block the opponent’s stick during a swing or while he is tapping or dribbling the ball. It is not allowed to hook above the body of the opponent’s pony. A player trying to ride off the player with the right of way will be attempting to bring him off his course. This may only be done by riding in parallel to the player holding the right of way and not at an angle.

The stick (or mallet) is always held in the player’s right hand. The ball will generally be hit on the right side of the pony known as the offside. Tapping may be either forwards (offside forehand) or backwards (offside backhand). In order to hit on the pony’s left side, doing a so called nearside play, a player must loop over his right hand holding the mallet over to the pony’s left side requiring him to twist in his saddle. Under the neck refers to strokes performed in front of, or under, the neck of the pony. One of the trickiest manoeuvres is a tail stroke, carried out to the rear of the horse.