weekend of horses
Aug. 28th, 2003 11:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kirkcudbrightLast weekend, we went down to Newport RI for the Weekend of Coaching. There were 16 coaches and 64 horses, all moving with genteel precision through the lawns and boulevards and faded glory of this Olde Newe Englande resorte towne.
Francie's dad lives in a (butt-ugly) apartment building next door to (and probably on the former grounds of) The Elms, which was where they had the Driving Exhibition on Saturday morning.
At 5pm, we went to the Newport Polo Club, where USA were playing Argentina. We've got a pretty good team, but my sources tell me that polo originated in Argentina. In any case, we had a 3-goal handicap, but we still managed to lose 7-8 in a very exciting match - we scored our first goal literally at the bell for the third chukker (at the end of the first half).
More about the handicapping - each player is assigned a ranking - they start at -2 (minus two), and work their way up. Most players are 0, the better ones are 1, and the best are 10 (there are fewer than 100 10-goal players in the world). The captain of the Argentine team was a 4-goal player. Anyway, they add up the rankings of the 4 players on each team, and the difference is given to the lower-ranked team as their starting score. So USA started the match leading 3-0. And still managed to lose 7-8.
Polo (at least as played here) is an intimate sport. There are no assigned seats, or seats at all, just the grass around the pitch. The True Fans arrive early, park their vehicles right beside the field, and have tailgate parties. We arrived shortly before the match, but a family that had staked out their bit of half-line with lawn chairs graciously ceded us some of their ground, and we had a picnic with wine, cheese, and crackers. At half-time, the fans all go out on the field to replace the divots.
Anyway, here are some pictures...
Francie's dad lives in a (butt-ugly) apartment building next door to (and probably on the former grounds of) The Elms, which was where they had the Driving Exhibition on Saturday morning.
At 5pm, we went to the Newport Polo Club, where USA were playing Argentina. We've got a pretty good team, but my sources tell me that polo originated in Argentina. In any case, we had a 3-goal handicap, but we still managed to lose 7-8 in a very exciting match - we scored our first goal literally at the bell for the third chukker (at the end of the first half).
More about the handicapping - each player is assigned a ranking - they start at -2 (minus two), and work their way up. Most players are 0, the better ones are 1, and the best are 10 (there are fewer than 100 10-goal players in the world). The captain of the Argentine team was a 4-goal player. Anyway, they add up the rankings of the 4 players on each team, and the difference is given to the lower-ranked team as their starting score. So USA started the match leading 3-0. And still managed to lose 7-8.
Polo (at least as played here) is an intimate sport. There are no assigned seats, or seats at all, just the grass around the pitch. The True Fans arrive early, park their vehicles right beside the field, and have tailgate parties. We arrived shortly before the match, but a family that had staked out their bit of half-line with lawn chairs graciously ceded us some of their ground, and we had a picnic with wine, cheese, and crackers. At half-time, the fans all go out on the field to replace the divots.
Anyway, here are some pictures...
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