Polo With Dolf Kahle

Dolf Kahle at the Polo Grounds in Vero Beach: “I can’t think of a more adrenaline-packed sport than polo.”

I’ve never really considered polo to be an “extreme sport.” That is, until I took Dolf Kahle’s advice and watched a live match or a few “chukkas.”
“People go to a game for the first time and they say ‘holy cow!’ because it’s a very physical game,” says Dolf. “The horses are running at full speed and crashing into each other. I’ve never driven a race car, but I can’t think of a more adrenaline-packed sport than polo.”

Dolf is absolutely correct. After watching my first polo match at the Polo Grounds behind Pointe West on Route 60, I was nothing short of amazed at the sheer speed and physicality of the sport.

Similar to hockey, but played on horses, polo consists of four players riding “polo ponies,” swinging long-handled mallets as they attempt to knock a small, white ball between a set of goals at the opposite end of a 300-foot by 150-foot field. Under the supervision of two horse-mounted referees, polo is played in seven-minute periods or chukkas, with a full game running between four and eight chukkas.

Read the entire article in the March 2008 issue