Polo. By T. B. Dryborough. Illustrated. (Vinton and Co. 15s.) — Polo
has now a kind of national importance. It is the school of horsemanship, and for Army men especially has a real use, in addition to its attraction as a pastime. Judging by reports from very different quarters, the increasing popularity of the game is also serviceable as a counterblast to the bicycle. Cycling- recently threatened to displace riding among the civilian class who merely ride for pleasure, and do not hunt ; and evidence of this was forthcoming in the heavy drop in the price of ponies and hacks, and the ruin of the small riding masters and jobbers- of horses. Hunting men will still continue to hunt ; but. polo appeals to a wider class. Regimental polo clubs offer a chance to young players who cannot afford to keep more than one pony, and these clubs are financed on sound business principles set out in a paper contributed by Captain F. Egerton Green. Mr. Dryborough's views on how the game should be played are given in detail, and with much spirit and enthusiasm, in several chapters, to which are added one on equipment and one on horse- manship on the polo-ground. As both pony and rider have more than enough to learn, these chapters are by no means superfluous. The cleverness of many of the ponies is remarkable, considering. that they have first to learn not to mind the flourishing of the polo-stick, which they naturally take to be a weapon of punish- ment, then have to understand. what their rider wants, and finally often end by learning to understand the game. Arabs are said to be more intelligent in this respect than other breeds ; but Montana, Argentina, Cairo, Barbary, India., and even Russia,. contribute the bulk of our polo-ponies.
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