The Mercedes Benz – B Grimm Thai Polo Open final last weekend was an eye opener on many levels. I saw that the RMPA International League has moved to The Next Level of play. It was very competitive amongst all the teams and the quality of polo was much higher than in previous years.
I posted photos on Zack’s Tack’s page on Facebook of four new saddles that Zack’s Tack had received. All were distinctive polo saddles - two were royal blue suede polo saddles, a pink suede polo saddle, and a flower seat polo saddle.
As a social networking tool, Facebook has no peers. Within two hours, all the saddles were sold out.
New Year’s is a time for resolutions. I’m not normally one for lots of resolutions. But, as I get older, I have less time on earth left to do the important things. So here are my top 20 resolutions for 2010:
The last couple of weeks has been really hectic, hence the lack of posts. I traveled to Argentina with a contingent from the Royal Malaysian Polo Association led by RMPA President HRH Tengku Mahkota Pahang to make a bid to host the FIP Polo World Cup Zone D playoffs in Malaysia in June 2011.
Steve Wyatt runs a super show at the Nine Dragons Hill Polo Club in Shanghai. The club that he founded was the first to reintroduce polo to China after many centuries. Their Royal Salute Polo Gold Cup is the biggest polo tournament held in China, and rivals the best tournaments in Asia.
I recently went to a horse show dressed in breeches, dy’on chaps and saumur jodphur boots, looking the part of the jumper again. I even had my trusty silver hammerheads on as I schooled Harry Potter in the warm-up ring at 3Q Equestrian. It got a lot of people talking and asking if I was making a comeback to showjumping. All I was doing was schooling a horse for a friend.
The Malaysian Open Polo Tournament this year was a very good tournament and a good season-ender to the RMPA International League. The eight teams were very well matched and while there had to be winners and losers, the matches were always quite close and there were surprise results, like III Lounge beating Jogo Polo for their first win of the season.
I have a new and healthy respect for umpires.
Yesterday I got called to stand in for one of the professional umpires Campbell MacNab, who could not get a flight in to Malaysia till today.
I course designed the Thailand Championships at Thai Polo & Equestrian Club at the start of May. It was the sixth time in sixteen years that I have been given the honour of designing this championship. While general standards have improved in that time, particularly the quality of horses, the quality of riding is not much better than back then.
The 67th FIP Ambassadors Cup polo tournament was a great success. It featured Malaysia’s polo heritage and love for this wonderful sport. Malaysians love their polo. This was apparent to the FIP Ambassadors throughout the tour.
