Lifestyle blog - Polo and Travel
I have been trying to learn polo for almost three years now. My excuse for not being amazing yet is the inconsistency in my learning experience, so blaming my #crewlife and moving around all the time for that one. In no way my general capabilities on the horse ; ). I started on a big green field and that’s where I have been learning all over the world, but on this sunny and warm afternoon in Wellington, Florida, I had...
On my latest trip around the world with my #CrewLife I had luck on my side and was in Dubai exactly on the day the McLaren Cup started at Al Habtoor Polo Resort and Club. Watching Zedan play against UAE was very exciting as there was a clash of titans between 10-goalers Pablo MacDonough and Pablo Pieres. On the sidelines, I managed to catch up with Mechi Venancio, Pablo MacDonough’s wife and their three adorable kids. We had a little chat...
What happens when you take high-level equestrians from dressage, showjumping and polo and then put them on teams and make them compete in each others disciplines? Entertainment for spectators! 🙂 This past Sunday we witnessed some of the great stars in polo, such as Gonzalito Pieres, Nacho Figueras and Nic Roldan, show their horsemanship in dressage and showjumping. I met Nic as he arrived and he told me “I have jumped a bit before, just messing around, but I have...
Cañuelas, although a seemingly normal suburban and slightly rural area of Buenos Aires, it is very famous in the polo world, as this is where the top polo player Adolfo Cambiaso has his farm. Although a smaller polo Disneyland than Pilar, it does boast a few private polo clubs with tournaments and polo activities. One of the biggest polo clubs in the area is Puesto Viejo, with 6 polo fields, a large clubhouse, where events are often held and a...
On a glorious and sunny Thursday morning in December I was picked up from Pilar, Buenos Aires, by Jorge, who drove me to La Tarde Polo Club in Mercedes. On the way, he told me how he had once driven an Englishman to La Tarde from Buenos Aires and then every day for a week. That Englishman comes back every year and Jorge has now been driving La Tarde guests to the polo club for more than 10 years. Already...
Polo in Argentina is more than just A sport, it’s a national sport, a way of life and it has its own TV channel, ESPN Polo. I discovered polo when I did an exchange program in university and lived in Buenos Aires for a semester. Several of my classmates played polo, just as a hobby when they were with their families in the “campo”. For them, polo was a normal thing, you play it in the countryside, professional polo players...
On my recent Argentinian adventure, my days were packed with all things polo, from learning to play to watching the absolute best players in the world play the Argentine Open. I witnessed polo pony auctions, the national sport of Pato (absolute madness) and much more. I always like to know how things are made, so I dropped by the Cavalier Polo Ranch shop in Pilar to talk to Fefe about how Cavalier Polo Helmets were made, the idea behind the...
One of the main purposes of my trip to Argentina is, of course, to learn to play polo and share my experience (also one of the main purposes of PoloPeoplePlaces.com really). My calendar is full of plans to watch, learn and experience every side of the polo life here in Argentina. I had heard great things about El Venado Polo School, so it was high on my list of places to visit and experience myself. So I packed up my bag...
December the 2nd was a date marked in every polo fan’s calendar, as it was the final of the best and most important polo tournament in the world, the Argentine Open, or commonly known as the Palermo Open. It was also a very special day for women in polo as it marked the first final of the Argentine Women’s Polo Open. The day wasn’t as pretty and sunny as I had hoped for, but was definitely more comfortable for spectators...
Today we have a guest blogger telling us of her experience as captain in an annual USPA Women’s Challenge located on the largest Hawaiian Island, better known as the Big Island. Tyneski Quintel is a local Hapa girl (meaning mixed) of Hawaiian/Chinese/French decent and was born and raised on the Big Island, but currently resides on the most populated island of Oahu. She is a member of Hawaii Polo Club on the famous North Shore, better known for surfing. She...
There are regular horse auctions (called remate in Spanish) and then there is a spectacular show of horsemanship. Monday the 13th of November I had the absolute pleasure of witnessing this fantastic remate, held by Los Pingos Del Taita at the Lagunas Polo Club. My friend Cuyi had invited me to sit at her table, front row seats! When we arrived there were lots of snacks and beer to enjoy whilst checking out the ponies and socializing. Then it was...
The second weekend of the best polo in the world, Palermo Open, was as big as the first. Nation favourites La Dolfina and Ellerstina (the two teams that are most often seen in the finals) had their debuts in the tournament on either day. Saturday the 11th featured two matches, the first one was La Dolfina against La Esquina. With a handicap difference of 11 goals, it was no surprise that La Dolfina took the lead and kept it all...
It is no mystery why the majority of the polo greats are from Argentina, they can ride a horse before they can walk and are playing polo whilst they still have their baby teeth. Yesterday I witnessed some little machines, who will most definitely continue to impress us all as they grow. The Merlos family opened up their La Mariana Polo farm to kids and parents for a fun day of polo. The tournament had two different age groups, the...
The Argentine Open, or also commonly called Palermo Open is the highest rated polo tournament in the world. The title of winners of this tournament carries a lot of weight behind it, being an “Open” team handicaps go up to 40 goals, meaning that on some teams all 4 players are at 10 goals (for more polo lingo read here, and for handicaps read here). Polo fans from everywhere, and I mean literally everywhere, come to this melting pot of...
Polo is a complex sport, with its own vast vocabulary – between the polo lingo, the mixture of languages and traditional Persian words it can be difficult to understand what is actually being said. So here is a little helping hand in the form of an A to Z glossary of polo. Enjoy! A– Argentina has become the motherland of polo, although polo is originally from ancient Persia and it was the Brits who spread the sport far and wide,...
Hey there! I'm Diana, a Danish/Brazilian traveler of the world and I love polo. I fell in love with polo in Argentina and I started to learn to play in April 2015. Explore the site and join in on my polo passion or read more about me right here
