Maurtymer & Celtica at the Polo-Club of Apremont | © Agence Arcantide

On March 20th, taking advantage of the arrival of 3 more horses at the Henson Chantilly-Apremont Equestrian Center, a large part of the employees of the Henson Equestrian Spaces were invited by the Polo-Club d’Apremont to try out polo during an introductory session …

For a few months now, the Henson horses, in partnership with the Polo-Club d’Apremont, have been training in polo to allow the polo-club to propose to its members to discover this sport with calm, enduring and placid horses.

Because the horses used during the major sports events polo are not to put in all hands! Although their training is impressive, they remain nervous and sensitive horses that need to be ridden with a lot of finesse (that do not necessarily beginners)

Training on the wooden horses of the Polo-Club of Apremont | © Agence Arcantide

A little disconcerted at first by the use of the mallet, the employees of Equestrian Spaces Henson quickly took to the game! The first phase of the initiation is done on foot or on a wooden horse to assimilate the basic rules of the polo and its security.

Once this step is over, it is with a lot of excitement that our budding players went to get their mounts …

True to its reputation, the horses are already prepared, the bellboys wait by the side, help you climb on the saddle and adjust your stirrups. We feel that everything is done to give the player a feeling of very galvanizing importance but behind lies the search for perfection and the expression of the deep respect of the horse. A very beautiful riding school but also life!

After a few hundred meters through the uniformly green expanses of these gigantic polo fields, we arrive on the training ground which is sand.

Equipped with leather balls, Benoit Perrier stands in the center of it and asks for a warm up to go around the field at a gallop. Surprise for our players of the day, a touch of heels and their mounts immediately begin to move in a small rhythm perfectly gallop!

Maurtymer & Celtica at the Polo-Club of Apremont

It is now time to get back into the hard and start the first exercises in real conditions.

There it is a whole other pair of sleeve. Keeping your horse at a gallop is no problem (you can even put your hand on the neck without it does not mine to accelerate) but hit the ball (yet larger) with the mallet requires real dexterity!

We hear the laughter on one side, the grunt of frustration on the other, one thing is certain, our riders are caught in the game!

Once the rules already presented but repeated in the field and well understood (in theory), under the leadership of Philippe Perrier (the father of Benoit) a match between the two teams (black bands against blue bands) is launched!

In other words, what on paper was to look like a perfect choreography of horses galloping in the same direction, did not really have the form.

But in this pile of horses desperately trying to hit the ball in the direction of a goal, it was the laughter, the shouts of joy and the amusing teasing that dominated …

End of the match, 0-0, but smiles on the face and sparkling looks!

If you are interested in polo without ever daring to try it or if you are looking for a high-performance club with which you train and participate in championships, do not hesitate to contact the Polo-Club d’Apremont.

If you wish to discover Chantilly, its forest surrounding the Polo-Club or the castle park, you can contact the Henson Chantilly-Apremont Equestrian Center.

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See you soon in Henson Land!