Some polo players like mallets with many “knots” or “notches” on the cane on their mallets. Some believe this makes their mallets stiffer. Others think it makes them whippier at the ends where there are less knots. “Manau” cane is the type we are always led to believe is the best, but some suppliers have been making their canes out of “batu”, which they say is “better”.
I have been doing quite a bit of travelling in the last couple of weeks. First I went to Queensland to measure the horses for the saddlery that Zack’s Tack is supplying for the Youth Olympic Games. Now I am in North America.
Apocalypse eventually went out of the Pahang Merdeka League tournament losing to home favourites Royal Pahang, who ended up picking up maximum league points from the tournament, although Royal Johor won it. We forfeited the last two chukkas of our match against T Satrias when it got postponed from Friday till Sunday. David could not have played Sunday, and the tear in my bicep meant I didn’t have good control of my mallet.
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:
Zack’s Tack moved from the first floor to the ground floor of our Sri Hartamas location yesterday. (For Singaporeans, that means we are on the first floor, not second anymore.)
What a difference it makes to be on the ground floor! Lots more natural light and a much bigger area are the immediate benefits.
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.
We opened Zack’s Tack’s second store on Tuesday and it rained all day. It rained at my wedding to Natasha nine years ago and rained at the opening of our first Zack’s Tack store in December. We associate rain with good luck, or good fortune, so we were very happy that it rained so much today.
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.
The last few weeks has been hectic, with polo tournaments and the start of the equestrian shows. Probably not the best time to move house. I’d lived in Taman Tun Dr Ismail for the last 13 years, and though I love it here, the old house was telling us it was time to go. We looked nearer Ampang, to be closer to the horses and Zack’s Tack but in the end found a lovely place with a bit of a garden, still in Taman Tun.
