Play polo in Buenos Aires, Argentina
A fun day at an estancia playing polo through the family-run Argentina Polo Day. Beginner-friendly polo, horse-riding, estancia and assado.
Whenever I was looking for things to do in Argentina a few activities that kept popping up piqued my interest. These were: visit an estancia, horse riding and play polo.
How convenient! In Argentina, you can do all three at the same time. I’ve never played polo before, nor visited an estancia and horse riding is really fun. The sharpest of minds might point out that two overlap. But what better way to convince yourself into doing something than stacking the odds? Based on a recommendation I chose the family-run Argentina Polo Day (it’s a company, not a specific day) which has a polo field on its estancia close to Buenos Aires.
Estan-ciiiiia…
It just rolls right off the tongue.
Estancias are a huge part of Argentinian culture. They are large areas of land where traditional gauchos (expert horsemen) would raise livestock (including the cattle that produce the delicious Argentinian steaks). They are situated all over Argentina and there is no shortage in the fertile lowlands (aka Pampas region), where Buenos Aires resides.
Arrival at the estancia
The included car transport came to pick me up from my accommodation and after about 50 minutes I arrived at the estancia. I met a nice couple in the car on the way and met the remaining 4 other people at the estancia. 3 of them were retired friends just travelling the world, who reminded me of the 3 stooges. What a dream! I feel like it was sort of what I was doing but with no time limit (except for however long their wives would put up with), no expectations of having to work when getting home and travel budgets one can only dream of.
We were greeted warmly by the down to earth host Agustina with home-made empanadas and Argentinian wine. Oh my god, these empanadas were absolutely delicious. I ate dozens of them in South America and none come close to this one. Normally they are baked but this one was BBQ’ed. It wasn’t just that though. The dough, the filling – it was perfect. The wine was also nice. Having said that, if you’re visiting Argentina and you’re a wine lover you’re in for a treat. Red wine in Argentina is cheap and very nice indeed – you can’t go wrong with a Malbec from the Mendoza region. 🍷 Later during my trip, despite how nice and cheap it is, I would discover Argentinians my age don’t drink wine, but that’s a story for another time.
Lunch was already cooking on a massive BBQ that looked large enough to cook 40 steaks simultaneously. This brings me to another ‘thing to do’ in Argentina and that is trying an Argentinian Assado, aka BBQ.
The lunch to be provided was an Argentinian Assado which was neat as I wasn’t planning on going out of my way to try an Assado for 2 reasons. One, being from Australia I’ve had a lot of BBQs and how different could they really be around the world? Two, having said that, I was planning on trying a Brazilian Churrasco (Brazilian BBQ) later on in my trip. Without researching, I figured, being the next country over, whatever difference there would be, it would surely be even smaller. As I would later find out, turns out quite different, so this was a sweet little bonus packaged in nicely.
The demonstration
After we scoffed down our empanadas and a brief intro we headed off to watch a game they were putting on for us. As it was raining on and off that day it was going to be held in the wet weather arena. We had our wine with us so spirits were high despite the weather.
In front of us was a bucket of orange plastic balls and some white real polo balls. We all had a similar thought. The orange ones were the training balls for us noobs. Much to the relief of our egos, turns out it was the ball they use when it’s raining since the normal ones don’t work well in a mud-filled arena.
Fun fact: There was a period in history (prior to photographic proof) where people were unsure if a horse ever had all 4 legs off the ground at the same time during a gallop.
The match started with one of us throwing a ball into the arena between the two teams.
And it was on!
The 6 riders (normally 8) held no punches galloping from one end to the other endlessly for 7 minutes (the duration of a round aka chukka).
To our untrained eye, it looked chaotic at times as if there were no rules. However, there were a deep set of rules about lines of travel and how you can’t simply just run up to the ball from any direction and take it.
In between rounds, of which a total of 4 would be played for us, we practised trying to hit the ball on foot. Turns out you don’t hit the ball on the large side as you would a golf putter like we all thought, you have to hit it on the small circular side. Not only that but you must use your right hand. Now as I’m left-handed I felt retarded, to say the least.
“Fear not,” Agustina comforted.
Everyone’s left hand would be controlling the horse so I would theoretically have the advantage there while all the right-handers would have the advantage hitting the ball.
Theoretically…
Lunch intermission
After a short trip to the stables and watching the final round, we headed back to where lunch would be served.
As we neared we could smell the food and damn, it smelt good.
Normally on tours, food can be really hit or miss. Depending on where you are in the world, who the operator is and how much you’ve spent; the food can range from something really crummy like a dry sandwich so dry you can’t it eat without drinking water to something fit for a king.
The Argentinian Assado lunch provided by Argentina Polo Day was sooo mouth-watering. The food was plentiful (we couldn’t finish), well seasoned and with nice options for vegetarians. It tasted amazing and we even got more wine to wash it down. Ahhh…
Argentinian Assado? ✔
It’s probably worth mentioning at this stage that you’re not supposed to have phones/cameras for the riding portion of the tour (not too out of the ordinary for horse riding tours in general). While playing, you have 1 hand on the reigns and 1 hand on the mallet at all times leaving no hands for anything else.
They do have a camera (albeit an old one) and share the photos freely unlike some scummy tourist places. However, I wish they had taken more photos of me on the horse and in hindsight, I should have asked them to do so. There’s a bunch of me on the ground but where I’m actually riding, there’s only the one very tiny photo where we are practising. Sadface.
If you want to record video the best way to go for horse riding is helmet cam. Just note that some riding helmets have a fabric/textured outside so extra means of securing it may be required. On this occasion I didn’t have the appropriate attachments and everywhere I looked in South America, these attachments didn’t exist or they were very expensive.
Polo time
After we had enough food and wine to not be able to play polo properly, we did a quick tour of the very nice looking accommodation facilities. We weren’t going to be staying there on this occasion but it was available to rent and the 3 stooges were looking to rent it for when they bring their families over for a holiday someday in the future.
We tried on gear and they provided chaps (the covering below our knees in the photo) which were a nice surprise. Better control and protection for my already dying pants was very welcome. Once all the gear was on, off to the stables we went. The weather had changed and it was now sunny with the grass quite dry. One by one we all mounted our horses and set off through the mud field to the nice grassy one.
I was the only one in my group to have previous riding experience. A while back I did horse riding every weekend for 2 years but now only ride on occasion. I looked around at everyone getting used to their horses.
Victory would be swift and mine.
When we arrived at the grassy field we all got polo balls to hit around as practice. It started off terrible but after being told the secret, that is let it swing like a pendulum instead of using force, it all clicked. Hitting the ball, speeding up to it and hitting it again and again without missing. Right hand left hand? It was all the same. I was owning.
3-2-1 the match began.
In the complete opposite fashion of what we saw in the demonstration, our horses very slowly (very very slowly) bumbled towards to ball.
Oh my god, it was hilarious but it must have been a cringe to watch.
It was like a race of who could be the slowest to get to the ball. Then once we got to the ball it became a madhouse of trying to actually hit the damn thing where we wanted it to go.
Whatever star-aligning zen moment I had just before was now out the window.
“VAMOS!” I shouted foolishly. I was in bewilderment that Miffles understood Spanish – as if English was the language of all animals.
Nothing.
Miffles didn’t budge.
I’m using Miffles since I can’t remember my horse’s Argentinian name.
Just prior to the game beginning, I had actually swapped horses to faster Miffles thinking I could run circles around everyone (nothing of the sort happened).
On went the game. Whatever polo rules and regulations there were they didn’t exist here. We were all focusing on the basics so the rules were now well-trodden on. Several bouts of slowly running to the ball, stopping on the spot and people randomly scoring took place. Not having ridden in a while, my horse riding legs weren’t conditioned at all. So by now, my legs were sore and out of steam trying to get my horse to move faster.
After a bit longer the game ended and I’m pretty sure we lost. Victory wasn’t swift nor was it mine. Humility.
Reflecting on the match, I tried to figure out what went horribly wrong. The staff did intervene at times to make it a bit more fair for everyone thus ruining my plans for domination, but it couldn’t have been just that. My horse stopped/slowed a lot every time the ball was just ever so slightly out of reach. Supposedly they ride with a very loose rein as opposed to the English style I was used to but looking at the above demo game photos they don’t look loose at all. Maybe it was the laziness of all the other horses? Who knows?
In the end, although we didn’t win it was one of the most enjoyable things I’ve done in a while.
Wind in my hair
Maybe it’s because I don’t do it often but I find galloping on a horse one of the most thrilling experiences to be had. Cantering is up there too on the experience-o-meter but with a certain ‘relaxation at one with nature’ feel about it. It’s like instead of just a blast of pure adrenaline, you get a soothing wave of serotonin and a side of adrenaline with each of your horse’s rhythmic stride.
So whenever I’m on a riding tour no matter where in the world (far less often than it sounds), I always point out this desire and my riding experience to the operators. The reason is two-fold. Getting a faster horse (they usually give people a slow horse for safety reasons) plus knowing when and where I may use its high gear. The exchange usually goes something like this:
With the game now behind us, I was free to go fast. Well, I was free to go fast during the game but it only happened for some sparse moments. I was now able to go fast.
Whatever slow gear my horse was in before was now unstuck. It was now fast and responsive with some help from Agustina’s horse. With her in the lead, we swiftly cantered away leaving behind the others with the helper staff to slowly walk back to the stables. Peasants.
Riding at pace through the estancia was something else. The fresh air, the tall trees, the lush green grass…
Ice cream finale
Alas, gear off and Miffles stabled it was time to go, but not before the conclusion of the event – tea, coffee and ice cream! 🍦
Final thoughts:
Everything from the organisation, transportation, food, the demo, the game and to the staff was exceptional. The only improvement I can say is for them to get a new camera and take more photos of everyone. I recommend this to anyone looking for a fun day out in Buenos Aires.
Horse riding related tours typically don’t come cheap (unless you’re in Asia) and this one is no exception. If you’re hoping to cash in on the falling Argentine Peso you’re out of luck as although you can pay in Pesos it’s priced in USD like most large tour operators. However, you can still benefit on other related costs elsewhere like food and accommodation, etc. When I went the price was US$185 (Jan 2019) per person for the full day’s event but our whole group felt it was money well spent. 🤠🐴
Official website: https://argentinapoloday.com.ar
