The "Hurlingham Club Rules" and the "Gen eral and Field Rules of the U.S.A. Polo Association" are now practically identical, and except for minor differences, such as height of ponies and the duration of matches and periods of play, the Hurlingham rules are followed all over the world. The Hur lingham Polo Club committee consists of 38 members : ro nomi nated by the Hurlingham Club ; 5 by the Army Polo committee; 5 by the Indian Polo Association ; 5 by the County Polo Associa tion; 3 by the All-Ireland Polo Club; 2 by the South African Polo Association; 2 by the Egypt, Sudan and Palestine Polo Associa tion; 2 by the New Zealand Polo Association ; 2 by the Ranelagh Club; 2 by the Roehampton Club. There are two sub-committees : (r) general purposes, (2) handicapping. Five stewards are ap pointed annually, whose duties are similar to those of the "Stewards of the Jockey Club." The County Polo Association legislates for everything connected with county polo clubs in England, and to this body are affiliated practically every polo club in Great Britain. This organization was started in 1899.
For the purposes of organization, England and Scotland are divided into four divisions, each with an honorary divisional secretary, viz., Northern, 6 clubs; Midland, ro clubs; South Eastern, 7 clubs; South-Western, 7 clubs—total 3o. The Army Polo Association committee, consisting of five members, is respon sible as a sub-committee of the Hurlingham Club for the army organization. The Indian Polo Association, which sends five repre sentatives to serve on the Hurlingham committee, is the governing body of Indian polo. This body organized and despatched the Indian Army teams to America in 1927.
The interest of the breeding of polo ponies is supervised by the National Pony Society. This society edits a stud book for all kinds of riding ponies, and holds an annual show at the Agricultural Hall, Islington. The society gives prizes and medals at many shows for polo pony classes. It has done for 3 5 years, and is still doing, a great work for the en couragement of the breeding of the best class of riding pony.
Up to the year 1909 nearly all the best polo ponies used in the game were bred in Ireland, England and Australia. The latter were chiefly used in India. In India, until about 1888, country-breds were relied on chiefly, very good animals, not more than 13.2 in height. Then Arabs began to be bred in greater numbers, only to be superseded in their turn by walers from Australia, which were imported in large numbers by dealers to Calcutta and Bombay. When the height was raised to 14.1 in 1902, only the very best Arabs and a few country-breds produced on the Government and regimental farms could compete with the Australian pony in high class tournaments. Large numbers of easy, handy, rather com mon ponies were imported from 1892 to about 1909 from the Argentine to England. They were cheap and easy to play, but as a rule rather deficient in pace. Occasionally an absolutely first
class pony appeared, but they were few and far between. But in the last 20 years the class of pony bred in the Argentine has improved out of all recognition. Several generations of thorough bred stallions have been used to such an extent that as good ponies as can be obtained anywhere are produced and exported. Many quite thoroughbred ponies are bred in the Argentine, and the remainder of the best animals have only a far back strain of the native pony in their pedigree on the dam's side. The best ponies are, whatever their nationality, thoroughbred or very nearly so. Probably the ideal breeding is for the sire to be thoroughbred and the dam nearly if not quite thoroughbred of the hardy old Irish stock. The National Pony Society in England, and the polo breeding societies in America and the Argentine are doing a great work in proving that polo ponies can be bred to type.
The increase in the price of polo ponies is illustrated by the following figures. In 1890 when the 17th Lancers left India they sold their very large stud of polo ponies by auction at an average price of about rupees Boo, i.e., i6o. In 1891, Egyptian ponies were purchased in Cairo for an average of from £20 to £25. Some of these were sold at Tatter sall's in 1893 for from 15o to 25o guineas apiece. In 1897 at a sale at Spring Hill, Rugby, by the brothers Miller, 32 ponies fetched an average of £281, the then record price being reached by Sailor —75o guineas. In 1913, in America, the duke of West minster's best ponies were sold at from L600 to £700 apiece. In 1924 the first great rise in prices took place at an auction at Long Island when the English ponies fetched enormous prices. One pony sold for no less than $ro,000, i.e., £2,000. In 1925, the Argentine ponies belonging to an Argentine team which won the Champion Cup were sold on the same scale. In 1928 all records were broken when £4,400 was paid for a single first-rate pony.
be found in the following works: Persia: Firdousi's Shahnama; A. Shirley, Travels in Persia (1569) ; J. Chardin, Voyages en Perse (1686) ; W. Ouseley, Travels in various countries of the East, particu larly Persia (i8I0). There are many allusions to polo in the poets, notably Nizami, Jami and Omar Khayyam. Constantinople: Cin namus Joannes epitome rerum ab Joanne et Alexio Comnenis gest. (Bonn, 1836). India: Ain-i-Akbari (1555) ; G. F. Vigne, Travels in Kashmir, Ladakh and lskardo (1842) ; A. Durand, The Making of a Frontier (1899). Gilgit and Chitral: "Polo in Baltistan," The Field (1888). Manipur: W. McCulloch, Account of the valley of Manipore and the Hill Tribes (Calcutta, 1859). China and Japan: H. A. Giles, Adversaria Sinica (Shanghai, 1905) ; B. H. Chamberlain, Things Japanese (1898) ; the Ku Chin T'u Shu (Encyclopaedia).