Polo team gallops into the new season

On Thursday nights the Bob Miller Pavilion is alive with activity. Not with bucking bulls or barrel racers but with wooden mallets that bob high in the air. MSU is home to the only collegiate polo team in Montana and when they take to the arena the game is precise and fast paced.

At the collegiate level, two teams consisting of three players compete to score points at goals on each end of the arena. “It’s kind of like hockey on horseback, is what we tell people,” said club President Aimee Walsh.

The games are divided up into chukkers which are seven and a half minute periods. A match can be made up of either six or eight chukkers. During that time each team competes to hit a ball, about the size of a softball, with a mallet into the goal.

The club is coached by Thea Johnson and Rob Brooks, people who Walsh and the entire club are extremely appreciative of. Brooks started the club 17 years ago and it has been growing ever since. “This year is actually the largest population of members we’ve had in the history of the club,” Walsh said. “We currently have 23 committed players.”

Aside from the game itself, the most important part of the club is the horses. The club has between eight and twelve horses to use, three of which board at the facility on a hay lease from the university. Coaches Brooks and Johnson take care of the remaining horses. “[They] trailer them from Amsterdam for every practice, which is such a commitment on their part and it’s amazing that they’re willing to do that,” said Walsh.

“It’s a lot of work, but it’s something we care about,” Brooks said. Practices last three hours and when all is said and done the coaches have put in around nine hours of work to make it possible.

“Polo ponies are top athletes of the horse world aside from race horses. They’re playing seven-and -a-half minute chukkers and pushing themselves really hard,” Walsh said. “Nutrition is also a top priority and training wise you have to make sure they are super broke.”

In the off season the coaches help condition their horses and train them. A testament to the care of their horses is the fact that their oldest horse is 25 years old and is one of their top competitors.

“Our mission is to teach horsemanship to whoever is willing to participate and make polo accessible,” Walsh said. “It's significantly cheaper to play polo in college than it is as an adult.” If the club can make the sport accessible at the university level it gives the players a taste for it and a good foundation. Then once they grow beyond MSU they can help to grow the sport.

The game is fast and fun to watch, it is easy to tell the players deeply care about their sport.

If you want to learn more you can visit the team's instagram @montanastatepolo.