Polocrosse, King of the One Horse Sports, is a joyful mixture of polo, lacrosse and netball and is the most fun you can have on a horse.

It is played by both sex's, from the age of six, to spirited souls in their seventies, and is one of the few sports where females compete on an equal footing with their male counterparts. It is a true family sport, and it has been known for three generations of one family to play, not always in the same team though.

Polocrosse is a true team sport. No one player can take charge of the game and no player can canter prettily about on the outskirts of play and take no part.

The polo element is reflected by the fact that the game is played on horseback, with a ball which, instead of being made of wood, is sponge rubber with a rubber coating. There is a pair of goalposts at each end of the field and periods of play are called chukkas. Most of the rules are concerned with horse and rider safety. About there, the similarity between the two sports ends.

The lacrosse part comes from the racquet, a meter long reinforced bamboo stick with a squash racquet head and loose net.

The netball element is the field. It is divided into unequal thirds, and the attack player (number 1) and the opposing defense player (number 3) are the only ones allowed into the goal scoring thirds which are marked by a penalty line 27.5m from the end of the field. The ball must not be in the racquet when the rider is traveling over the penalty line and must be bounced or passed over the line. The number 2 player is restricted to the midfield.

A goal can be scored from within the 27.5m area and outside the 10m diameter half circle in front of the goal posts. The field is 145.5 m long making the game very easy, from a spectator point of view, to watch. All the action can be easily seen, and action there is aplenty!

There are six players to a team, which plays in two sections of three, playing in alternate chukkas. The game is divided into four to eight chukkas of six or eight minute’s duration.

Play commences with a line out, similar to that in rugby, but the referee throws in the ball. It is caught in the racquet or picked up from the ground. Once the ball is in the racquet it must be carried on the right side of the horse in the case of a right handed player, or on the left for a left handed player. The ball is not allowed to cross the center line of the horse while it is being carried. A player can attempt to knock the ball out of an opponent's racquet, or force a cross of the center line, by using his own racquet in an upward direction to dislodge the ball. Riding off is allowed but it must be shoulder to shoulder.

One of the appealing aspects of Polocrosse is that each player can use only one horse, substitution only being allowed in the event of an injury. Thus, a rider already equipped with a horse and gear only needs a racquet to start playing.

Polocrosse ponies come in all shapes and sizes, from true ponies for the youngsters to hacks up to 15.3 hh. All breeds are used for the sport, the thoroughbred the most popular, while the Quarter Horse and the Australian Stock Horse also feature strongly.

Well trained Polocrosse ponies are extremely responsive athletes, and of course need to be fit, as in all horse sports.

Polocrosse looks exciting and dangerous to the uninitiated. It is certainly exciting, but it is no more dangerous than any other sport and less so than some. Above all, it is fun! An ideal game, which helps build confidence and riding skills.