Simply the Best World No 1 Polo Player Hazel Jackson | Talk Horse with Pippa Funnell &Tristan Phipps

In Polo Position!

Pippa and Tristan are joined by the world number one women’s polo player, Hazel Jackson. From her grounding in the New Forest Pony Club to bossing it on the fields of Argentina, Hazel’s story is one of grit, determination, and serious talent. She also gives Tristan and Pippa the lowdown on the complicated rules of this ancient sport—plus a few tips to help Tristan avoid falling off again.

PLUS – Keep an eye on our socials for a fabulous Harry Hall competition, where you and a friend could each win £50 worth of goodies! Launching Wednesday, 14th May.

Also – a massive thank you to Harry Hall our fabulous sponsors. They have given us an exclusive discount code. TH-HARRYHALL-10 – for 10% Off at HarryHall.com (when you spend £20+)

Tina Cook. So, not your husband. You’ve obviously met. Oh, yeah. I forgot about him. So, not your husband, William. Uh, [Music] you know, whatever jobs I could get through polo, like training the young horses, grooming, whatever I could do to get in the sport, I was I was there. Feel like the gildings in general sometimes have a bit of a this can be a little bit lazy. They can the MS are a little bit more consistent as well. We talking about horses. Welcome to Talk Course, our gallop through the highs and lows of the equestrian world. I’m Pippa Funnel. I’ve been aventing for most of my life and I’m also an author of a series of children’s books and I love everything to do with horses. And I’m Tristan Fipps. You may recognize me from Maiden Chelsea. However, there’s a very different side to me. I am a qualified trained safari guide. I love all things nature. I’m an ambassador for many wildlife conservation charities. and I love all things horses now as well and I’m learning from the best every single week. Today’s guest is from an area of the equin world that we actually haven’t spoken about at all apart from one of the earlier series when Justin had rather nasty experience with it. So I’ll be fascinated to find out more about this world. Absolutely. I will say that you know the dances polo was how I probably end up here. So as much as it was maybe a low is also a high. So whether you’re a seasoned rider, a horse lover, or like me wanting to know more, this is the podcast for you. Please also do like and subscribe our pod as we want loads more people to hear about us and we’ve got so much more talk horse to share with you. So saddle up, join our equestri community and let’s talk horse. Hello Tristan. Hello Pipper. We’ve got a very exciting podcast ahead of us today. But before we dive into that, a big thank you to Harry Hall One Club for being our sponsors today. And do check out the discount code in the pod description. Thank you, Harry Hall. And we also have a very exciting competition from Harry Hall today and I’m need a bit of participation from you, Pipper. Um, so my question to you is, who is your favorite riding companion? Oh, human. Companion. Human. Well, probably throughout my venting career, it would have to be Tina Cook. So, not your husband. Obviously. Oh, yeah. I forgot about him. So, not your husband, William. Uh, Tina and William. I tell you what, it’s nice to ride with your husband. Yeah, but I don’t really ride with my husband that often, whereas actually Tina and I have ridden alongside each other at events and and we’re like, you like an episode of Made in Chie. Exactly. When Tina and I get together, we we put the worlds to right. We invent another world. We we Yeah. full of chat. I think it’s important to have that that riding companion. I like that’s a good answer. Well, Harry Hall have a special 50 pound voucher for you and your riding companion at home. So, keep an eye out for our socials and also the Harry Hall socials on how you can win that 50 voucher for you and your companion. In Pippa’s case, Tina, not William. Do you think I should change it? I think any answer is a perfect answer. Okay. Now, this week William is my favorite husband. Yes, he’s my Yeah, he’s my favorite of your husband. Now, this is a very exciting one because this week is Babmonson. It will be very, very strange for me and having just spoken about Tina. Tina, William and myself, William Fox, not my husband, but the three of us obviously have gone through the sport together for many years and I think between the three of us, we’ve done 99 badminton. 99. Yeah. Wow. And it will be the first Babon, I guess probably since 1988 when I first went to Babon that the three of us have aren’t aren’t riding. So, we’re gonna have I think a lot of fun. Got all sorts of things going on there. Um and I know you’re going to be coming up. Absolutely. I’m coming up on Thursday to walk the course with you, which I’m very excited about. We would always walk the course probably three, four, well, four times I would say. So, you really know exactly where you’re going. And at that point, are you assessing the best route that you want to take on this course and how Well, you’re looking at the course. The first walk we normally walk, I always like to walk walk the course on my own the first time because to me the first walk is very important because you’re seeing the course for the first time. And even though we walk the course over and over again four times, we have to remember that when the horse comes out on Saturday and you’re riding the horse, he’s seeing the course, he only gets one chance. He sees it for the first time. So that first walk that we do as competitors, you’re looking at it from a point of view, this is what the horse is going to see. I’m it’s only going to see it once. So we can walk to see what’s the other side of each fence or what tricks around the corner sort of thing. But the horse doesn’t know that. So, we need to know that we know those lines inside out so that when we turn onto a a fence with a difficult angle over a big ditch, you know, you need to be on the correct line or to an arrow. Yes, you have your visual points and on top of that you have a lot of options at certain the more technical fences there’s normally options and so you need to know all the options because even though you can walk it with a brave head on thinking this is where I’m going to go this is the direct route which most of us want to walk that sort of way but you also have to walk the options because sometimes a horse might stumble in the middle of a combination and you can’t jump the next element. So suddenly you have to swing out, pull out and jump an alternative. So you have to know all the options for backup plan. Yeah. So you need an A, B, and a C plan so that when you’re riding round, if your horse is maybe struggling or it’s lost a bit of confidence or it’s not going as well as you think, you might want to think, actually, I’m going to play safe or a particular fence might be causing more problems than you thought. So, you need to have have all those options. Have the options. It’s fascinating. But I think you should bring Jules because I think the trade stands are brilliant. If you want to treat her, there’s some very good trade stands there and um so you can do shopping. Hopefully, you’ll meet some of my mates. Yeah, please. And as I said, where the whether we hide me away, get time. I miss that. You know, hide me away in the corner. This is my co-host Tristan. We don’t need Oh, I don’t know whether I’ll be hiding away. I won’t be flaunting you. Please. So, I think it’s time to bring on today’s guest. Our guest today is Hazel Jackson, the world’s number one woman polo player. So, to learn about polo, we’ve gone straight to the very, very top as we have a tendency to do on this podcast, which is amazing. possibly she can teach me how to not fall off a horse whilst playing polo because that is the only experience I have at the moment. I possibly don’t think she will be able to do that but possibly not in the studio but possibly not. But I am really really fascinated because it’s a world I know nothing about and I’m really really interested to hear more about it. So let’s talk horse with Hazel. Hazel, thank you so so much for taking time to come and join us on Talk Horse. I think what’s fascinating about the this podcast, we have people from all areas of the equestrian world and it’s one area that we haven’t touched on. I know I have to say Tristan, you’re you probably know more than I do. That is a bizarre thing. So, I am dying to know more about the polo world. So let’s start from the very beginning exactly as we always like to on talk horse. Um obviously you know successful careers as a polar player. Where did that love and passion for horses start? So so originally um well I’ve sort of my parents always had horses at home. We lived down in the New Forest. So literally home sort of backs out onto the New Forest. So we always went hacking and mom did point to point racing and um hunting and stuff. But we had a few horses at at home sort of I’ve got a brother and sister hand me down horses and so I got to 9 10 years old and we were doing all the pony club which I’m sure you guys know about. I have an honorary pony club badge now literally. No. So it was brilliant. We tried every single discipline and it was awesome. But as soon as I tried polo like my whole family were just absolutely addicted. I didn’t go with job. And were you very good at ball games? I’ve was quite sporty always as such. So yeah, all played a lot of net ball and stuff, but when when when I started polar it was just there was no looking back and most people who come to the sport and try it, they say it’s really addictive. So and exhilarating. Yeah, literally it’s a serious sport I have to say. I mean it’s amazing to watch but yeah and there’s a lot to it. There’s a lot of factors which not many people would understand as such but there’s so so much which goes on behind the scenes and so how does how does your a career as a polo player work then? So you you’ve got this passion for horses. You say 9 or 10 you started Yeah. playing polo literally. And that was in the pony club. That was in the pony club. Yeah. So finished school, finished um college. I stayed at college for an extra two years just to do um sports massage and personal training because I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. Um however, I’d always sports massage. Yeah. I don’t think I’ve ever given one in my entire life. I was going to say, can you do something off? I know what was a good one though bit specific. No, so we always had I had like two or three horses at home which with with Polute the more horses you have the better ideally. Um so we always had a few which means I could sort of start playing locally amateur super relaxed. There’s a little club in the New Forest where I live and very low key. So as soon as I finished that um I got on a plane when I was 19 years old to New Zealand and I was there for six months and they I said literally they said to me, “Well, okay, here’s your seven or eight horses. They’re like 6 years old, which is quite young. They needed finishing. They needed training. They’re like, “Right, take them, train them, play them, and that’s it. That’s for you for 6 months.” So, straight from there, like I was always, you know, whatever jobs I could get through polo, like training the young horses, grooming. Um, shortly after that, when I came back to England, I got my HTV driving uh license for the trucks. Exactly. That so I could drive like a 12 horse lorry. Um, whatever I could do to get in the sport, I was I was there. um trying to learn, trying to get better. Um and then slowly it started taking off. Um after after I went to New Zealand, I came back to England, got a job for the summer up in Cheshire and that was grooming and trucking. Grooming. Exactly. That play playing whenever I could. Oh, so they g they said they gave me a few horses I needed to finish. So I had like my three and then they topped me up. So um doing everything I could and then I went out to Argentina that winter and so I’m 34 now and I’ve been to Argentina ever since. So Argentina is the holy grail of polo, right? It’s like the magnet literally. Yeah. They’re ahead of the game. Yeah. Yeah. They’re very very good. Um so yeah, now I’m finally there quite a lot of dashing good-looking men, aren’t there, in Argentina? Is that an attraction? I can’t imagine. Um yes, a lot of fun. Argentinian blades as well. I’ve had a few beers and some You’re being very modest. You’re a 10 goal handicap player, which is the highest possible you can be. Now that’s something talking about. I mean that is and and you are am I correct in saying you’re the leading lady in the world or? Yeah, there’s there’s three of us who are all sort of up there. I mean we’ve all you know uh yeah there’s only a handful of us who’ve got that tangle ladies handicap and obviously there’s actually there’s two different handicaps. You’ve got the men’s mixed handicaps and you got the ladies handicaps apart. So at the moment I think there’s only about literally three of us who have got the 10 girl handicap. So, I’m now going to be really naive and and I’m sure there are a few listeners out there that like me might not know too much about the polo world. So, just explain the hand handicapping system. So, it so over here it starts um minus two up to 10 goals. So, minus two is the worst clear minus is worse. Exactly that. So, I would proud minus two. Are you proud of it? I think it’s the beginning. I think I’d come in. Maybe I might might change to I think your horsemanship might might just carry. Yeah, but my ball hitting. It would be great together. We would be great because I’m great. We all have to if you if they can get a big polo pony, I can be on the front, you can be on the back. I’ll steer it and you wet the ball. I reckon we make a dream team. A banging combination. There you go. I’m not sure that’s allowed, but we’ll give it. So anyway, minus two to 10. So 10 being the highest. Exactly that. So um let’s go. So basically the highest uh male English player right now, Tommy Barisford, he is seven goals. Um and the highest lady um in a men’s handicap. So I’ve got I’m two girls. There’s one more girl called Nina Clark who’s three girls in men’s handicap. She’s a little she’s a little bit older now. She still plays like an absolute machine. She’s got three children. She’s unreal. Anyway, so yeah, so you got the men’s handicap. So every tournament um you take your four players, four players on a team. you can only play right-handed. Um, you add up those four handicaps and that is that sort of um that decides what level of of tournament you’re playing. So the low goal levels, say you’ll be playing like a six goal tournament, so you have maybe three two goalers and a zero goaler. Anyway, so the highest level polo we play in England in the mixed and the men’s in polo is 22 goal polo. So So you’re allowed do the math now. Yeah. Any combination any any combination up to 22 and and ideally you want to make it up to 22. Exactly that. So what’s a good base then in terms of choosing a team? So do you want like an average kind of level of one good I would say probably one good what would you do? I definitely wouldn’t have you on a team at minus two. I might you might have Hazel on the team in which case she can play because if I was higher she maybe wouldn’t be able to but I think you probably get preferential treatment. Yes, it’s quite an interesting kind of way of, you know, structuring a team. Well, exactly that. And the the next thing is is majority of the polo is run by sort of pat. You’ll have a patron or a sponsor on your team. So, they’re the guys who are paying the bills. They are the sponsor of the team. So, they’ll employ the three pros. Of course, in a lower level, you can go like amateurs and and make up a team yourself and and that’s great. You play two goal, four goal, six goal. Uh the medium goal goes to like 12 goal and 15 goal tournaments and 18 goal. And then there’s just the high goal which is 22 22 gold tournaments. And so there’s a few well it’s few. So does that mean they’re going to score that sort of many goals? No, it’s purely on the but do you get so the handicap system is that done because you’ve you’ve scored x amount of goals. Again, nothing to do with that. It’s actually just a committee who rate you on how your season’s been, how you know if you’ve won how many tournaments. um if they see that you’re you’re playing really well off of your handicap, then they’ll put you up at the end of the season. We have mid-season handicap changes and end of season handicap changes. So, the the ideal thing is is to grab a ringer. Like, you want to get the best two goaler who’s who’s playing more like a three-goaler, but still got their handicap down. So, teams are made and sack them off at the end of the year. So, literally or before, some are some are. So, it’s quite like some teams are reactive. Great. And how does it work being part of the team then? So you can play for different teams depends on your contract. So yeah um this year for example I’m based with a team they’re called Dubai Polo team. Um there’s some sponsors who’ve come from from Dubai. They’re here for the whole season and I haven’t got a written contract but that’ll be based with them for the whole summer but I’m allowed to play maybe three extra tournaments with other people. Okay. But in general you seem to like if in the big organizations you stay with your team you’re the team for the whole whole summer as such. Amazing. So let’s let’s rewind it back a little bit. It’s kind of how did you become a professional polo player from that? So you decided at 9 and 10 years old this is something you’re really good at. You love it’s a passion. She was a groom drove the truck. But you you start you tried the sport once and you went wow this is amazing. This is a serious sport. How do you then become a 10 goal handicapper? Oh god it’s it’s taken away. Well not that long. Well um no I think I mean I’ve been very lucky with the opportunities which I’ve which I’ve had over the years. Uh like I said I went out to Argentina. was grooming my first year there. Now in Argentina, I’ve got a string of my I’ve got eight horses of my own over there. Um, and the seasons in general go from like you have England from May to September. You’ve got um Argentina which is sort of September to December and then Florida in in America from January to March. Wow. So you don’t have much of a break. There’s no breaks whatsoever. But so basically I was I was grooming in places literally doing all my all my work driving tracks D and every so often whenever there was an opportunity boom I’d play it I’d take the opportunity and when you say the opportunity was that because suddenly a player they were short of a player or exactly that and and I sort of I started um you know once I had my handicap and I started you know practicing and playing as much as I could then I was getting asked to play a few games which is brilliant but when you’re lower handicap you can’t charge anything and of course you it’s polar is 70% the horses. So the better mounted you are the better player you’re going to be. Um so that’s a tough one. So yeah and and going back to the actual the riding ability. I mean, surely if you come through the Pony Club, cuz I’m not saying my understanding because I don’t know enough about the polo world, but I would imagine there are quite a few people that do play polo that have just played polo and maybe haven’t been taught the basic riding skills. But surely you must have quite an edge if you have that education about knowing how to handle a horse. Tristan, you’ve tried it. Yeah. Yeah. I guess that’s maybe where you went wrong. I can only ride with one hand. I would never put wouldn’t put two hands on the R. This is bizarre. Oh gosh. No. Yeah. For me, like it’s fundamental to to be a good rider. All the horses are trained the same. They’re literally like a joystick. And the better the horse they are, the more agile they are, the easier they are to stop and turn. It all comes You ideally want to be riding the horse just with your legs as such. Um, but there’s so much to focus on when you’re above when you’re, you know, when you’re on the horse. But yeah, it’s for me that’s one of the well it is the most important thing. You got to be at one with the horse. Um partnership. Yeah, literally. And you know when we travel the world, we get given so many different horses. You get to try them. Some take longer to stop, some really struggle to the right. They’re better to the left. So you go into the checker thinking, okay, right, I’m on this one. Okay, my strong points. It’s got a really good ride off. We say that’s when you’re in defense. Or this one’s really quick off the mark. So if I get the ball, I can head off to goal nice and quickly. Some some of the really good players or great people have had favorite ponies that they’ve sort of cloned or I mean they really do I mean the future’s looking wild in this sport. Honestly, there’s some in Argentina um the amount of the the breeding programs which are going on. There’s people who are breeding hundreds and hundreds of horses per year and not only that they are cloning horses now. So you can imagine it’s like a Formula 1 race. The the better car you’ve got, the better opport like the better chance you’ve got. These guys are getting their best best horse and yes cloning them. Um so they can make Adolf Kambiaso who’s the best player in the world right now. Um he’s tango player from Argentina. He’s got about seven or eight of his own. He’s called which is one of his best horses. All clones. So he can l up to the field with eight of technically the same horses. And how do how would they perform on the field? Isn’t it? Are they very similar? I mean to look at. Yes. And apparently to make as well like when you’re training them they’re quite similar but not all of them are getting the the same results as as the original. So interesting because most of them are thoroughbred aren’t they? I mean they are breeding ponies especially for polo but a lot have come from the racing industry haven’t they? Or there has. Yeah exactly. the retraining of racehorse. Um, which actually I used to have one, she won many prizes and they’re they’re incredible. Obviously, they’ve got the speed and the agility. So, as long as they’re, you know, they’ve got a good mind, a strong head on them, uh, that they’re nice and calm, then they’re they do adapt to the sport really well to be honest, which is nice. I don’t so much. And I must admit when because I did do a charity polo match once and AP McCoy was on the other team and I was told to mark him or write ride him off ride him off. The ling well anyway no chance. Um but it was I just remember even those polaro ponies I mean obviously we weren’t given top polo ponies. They’re probably but they watch the ball. I mean they amazing animals. They watch the ball don’t they? Yeah they’re phenomenal. I mean, incredible. Literally, they are like true athletes, honestly. So, why why is there a cap on size for polo ponies? What’s the reason? I think more so due to agility and above certain hands, it’s harder to Yeah, the ball, isn’t it? Yeah, that as well. That’s a very good um that’s a very good comment. But you’re looking at I do like a 152 153 tops. Okay. But so with with them I mean obviously the top guys do they produce their own ponies or and I mean you know so here here you have your young horse on the whole do you like to produce them from the beginning or do you get as you say horses that come out of racing or I would love to if I had all the money in the world I would have the most amazing breeding um program however unfortunately don’t come from a massive um polar background. So this is why the Argentines are producing so many good players and so many good horses because obviously Argentina is huge. You’ve got you got old old school families who have got massive estiaas big farms. Um they’ve got the breeding down to a tea and they can just they can breed in in such quantities that they’re always producing some seriously good um good horses. Of course I would love it because you then you can choose the person who’s going to break in your horse. You can choose the person who’s then we call them pilots. the guys who will finish making the horses as such and then usually the the horse is in its prime when they’re about eight or nine years old. That’s when they’re going to be performing their best. And so do you break them as three four year olds or foury olds? Three I would say or three and yeah at four they’ll be they you might even be playing some slow checkers at four. They they do a lot of they’ll bring them in to work for like two months. Work them very relaxed with the you know really important about the head because we ask so much from them. It’s a lot for them. So the horses really got to have a really strong calm head on it and and take it. Some of them even get a little bit they struggle with their breathing cuz literally it’s like yes this all comes together. Something I taught him early on everything she’s taught me. So, how does the the making of a horse uh change for a polo um for a polo horse or a polo pony versus, you know, a horse that’s going to go into venting? At what time would you kind of start changing that? So, you say around 3 or four years old? Three or four years old. You’ll be breaking them in and then in a different way than you would a horse who’s going for probably not really. Sorry, I shouldn’t say that. We go straight into like the one rain neck raining as such. But you’d still do the slow I would imagine lunging and getting them used to saddle and a bridal. I don’t know if I’ve seen an Argentine lunge a horse to be fair. They use the round pens a lot to be fair. Oh, so they lose school them in exactly that. Yeah. And yeah, back in the day there were some other forms of breaking them in which weren’t so great. We won’t go into that. Yeah. But I think that’s where times times have changed. You know, you’re not going but we actually discussed it with my husband because you know many years ago and I think that’s that is a positive thing within the horse world in all all areas of it that times have changed. People have over years found better ways to do things. Yeah. And when we talk about breaking a horse, even that we were saying is the wrong term to use because breaking horse sounds like you’re actually sort of breaking to get it riding. But actually times have changed and it is it’s much kind of the system now used to getting horses used to having saddles on and having riders on. Yeah. Exactly that. Yeah. So no, it’s a really it’s a long slow process and and some of them make you know you can see like the freaks at a young age. You can see the ones which are going to make it. You they’ve got to have attitude. They got to have everything. And in general, we only ride mares. So, it’s very rare that we of course there’s a few gelings which which play as well. Even stallions sometimes play. Cool. You wouldn’t want to be a stallion with the mallet in the wrong place, would you? I have that. I have had that issue when I’m playing. Is that is that based because we said there’s not too much differential on size between a mare and a gilding. No. Or is that why would why is a mare a better polo? Clever. like women like women just women. Yeah. No, I think the it’s a good question. But in general, they’re just they’re easier to make. They they’re just I don’t know more athletics. I feel like the gildings in general sometimes have a bit of a this can be a little bit lazy. They can the MS are a little bit more consistent as we talking about horses. No, I can. Sure. Similar though. Similar. Yeah. So, so at what stage would you would you want to get hold of them? I mean, I would ideally probably six years old. So, they’ve done their their slower. Exactly. That you got the naughtiness out of them. You don’t have to ride the bugs. Um six years old, they should be playing chuckers and they’re they’re ready to be pushed like to see how see how you know how far they’re going to they’re going to reach. So, yeah. Then you can finish them off exactly how you like. You can put your sort of final touches in and that. So, how how it work? So, you’ve just signed with Divide Polo team. Do you would you have the same sponsors in terms of the horses that you so you’d bring them into the organization and then you’d be based in a certain place with the Dubai polo team? Exactly that. You just nailed it on the head. So uh over here in England I’ve sort of I’ve got eight of my own horses. I have t they’ve said to me bring your best six. So I’ve actually left two actually with a friend of mine who I trust in Argentina. In no here in in England. So I’ve got my I’ve got my we call it a string. It’s like your your base base your string here and my string in Argentina. I actually did just fly one from Argentina recently. She arrived about a month ago. Business class. Yeah, of course. They’re all flowing business. They’re all flowing business. Literally. No. And then so she’s just settling in now and and I bring her back into work slowly. Um but it’s quite like they’ll come off the plane a few days in the field and and then Dubai party team will then kind of facilitate how does it work with the owners? Dubai team have about probably over 100 horses in their organization and they will dish them out. But so each player sort of has their set Yeah. eight nine maybe and then the rest of the teams get sort of dished out. They ideally want you to playing the high go in England we play six checkers so that’s like um the checker is seven and a half minutes long um usually in the lower polo it’s four checkers so it’s just like quarters we’ll definitely play two horses per checker so two horses per check yeah so we share the workload it’s a bit like basketball like change go use it for two two and a half three minutes boom go change you run off we jump from one horse to the other so we don’t even get off the horse we put them parallel the other we hop from one saddle to the other and within a chucker. Yeah. I thought I feel sorry that itself is I thought a chucker a horse played seven minutes it can do but it’s going to be tired. Well I was thinking how fit they have to be cuz I know galloping round across country you know. Okay, that’s really 11 and 1/2 minutes and ours are super spoiled. He’s we we you know we get the best we get the best out of them three and a half minutes and usually they’ll come back later on in the game to play another three and a half minutes, right? So you I’d say yeah on average one horse would play two half checkers but but spread out during the game so they get time to to recover. Who makes the call on that? Is that as a rider you go? So it’s really really really important to know your horse well in those respects. Some horses will can keep going, play for four, five minutes if need be. Some you will literally get your best two and a half minutes and you need to go change them because they they they just get better. So how so the rest of the team do without you for 30, 40, 50 seconds while you pause. Yeah. So basically every time you score a goal that you’ve got 25 seconds to get back to the middle of the field to have a throw in, which is is a neutral play of how we restart. And then it swaps ends, doesn’t it? every time there’s a goal scored. So, yeah, we usually have I’d have a horse on each end of the field with a with a with someone holding it. So, I’ve I’ve got a horse at both ends. I’ve got an option. So, if if we score a goal at one end in in attack, I can literally hop off behind the goal, get back on and make my way back to the throw in. And if we’re in defense again, same thing. Have one on the other end. But you got to be super sharp, super on it, and choose the right time of the game that you can go and go and change them. Of course, between each chucker, you get about 3 minutes or so to go back, have a drink, change nice and slowly, and then come back on the field. So, this is seriously exhilarating. Three minutes isn’t very long for me to get off a horse, have a way. I’m sure you I’m sure you could jump from the saddle to saddle. No, I reckon I’d need a way. I I get so nervous. I’d need lots of ways. You do it in three and a half minutes. Have a little portaloo. Cars will do it. Yeah, literally. No, some places I think my bottom’s too big to go behind a car door. That’s the beauty of being a man. I hate to say it anywhere, anytime. Yeah, you guys are prepared. We are prepared. Let’s let’s go back to your personal success because you’ve had some serious career highlights. You’ve won the US Open. Yes. The Argentine Open. Yeah. And the British Open. Yeah, that’s quite a lot of pretty those are like the big three as well, by the way. They’re like the exciting ones. What was the what was the proudest career moment for you? Obviously, I’ve just named a few of yours. Yeah, one massive highlight for me during my mixed um polo career um was I met the queen. She was at um in 2019 we won a tournament. It’s called the Royal Windsor. I was actually playing for the UAE polo team and the queen presented our trophy. So that was pretty When was that? Sorry. 2019. Fantastic. So that was what amazing opportunity. Yeah. So that that would be the that was that definitely that’s a really cool one. Queen she she was the most remarkable. I mean, I was very lucky to I know she was so she she was amazing. Amazing and just incredible for the horse world, but also she was so enthusiast enthusiastic, wasn’t she? Exactly. That she loved it. Well, and obviously her sons and grandsons and most of our family that I’ve played with with with and against Prince William a few times and he’s the nicest, most down to earth human being ever. What’s he like in the saddle? Good. Awesome. really and he doesn’t play much. He doesn’t play consistently and he literally just rocks up. He plays back so he’s like more of a defensive player. Um and he’s got a he hits the ball really beautifully and it’s quite impressive to be honest cuz the timing of hitting the ball is actually really difficult and I struggled in my brief diance with the sport. I know I brief being the octave word I is really hard because you know I play a bit of golf played hockey. I’m quite good with you know hand eye coordination. Yeah. But then you have factor in a horse galloping at top speeds, average speeds in my case. Um, and trying to hit trotting. My coach was like, get out of the trot. I’m like, I don’t want to get out of trot. It’s so impossible to hit the ball. This thing’s hurtling along the ground. The ball’s bouncing around. It’s not It’s not It’s not like an ice ring. It’s not a firm, flat, even ground. So, this thing’s kicking about. You’ve now got to hit the It’s It’s hard. It’s a really hard. And not only that, you got someone riding you off on this. You hold them there and Yeah. Yeah. So you with the ride off when you say so what’s what they have to ride you off from the left side. Uh they can ride you off from either side but it has to be parallel and you have to be at the same speed otherwise it can and it’s basically the main the main um rule of polo is like it’s a bit like being on a highway. Um the line of the ball is like you have to follow it. You can’t just cross it and such and you always so if I hit the ball Yeah. you no where the ball’s going. No one’s allowed to just cross directly across. Otherwise, the ponies will get smacked in the leg by the Yeah. And you can Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. That there could be a proper It’s really important that you got to you got to win those ride-offs. It’s all about angles and and speed and timing it correctly and a lot of confidence and a lot of cuz that is really I I came out the saddle and broke two ribs being ridden off by by a very good friend of mine and it was right in front of my ex-girlfriend as well which is really really irritating and also on on TV which is even more embarrassing but it’s like it’s it’s terrifying you know well I would be more terrified about hitting I that’s when I did play I was so scared of either smacking the horse in the face with the mallet or whack backing his legs. I just We have so much protection over them. Love your horse, but not the high costs? Say hello to the Harry Hall One Club. You’ll get public liability and personal accident insurance included in your membership from just £5724 per year, making horse ownership more affordable. And did you know they even offer horse box and travel insurance? How handy is that? Friendly, bus free, and full of shopping perks. Join the club that’s got your back in and out of the saddle. Harry Hall One Club making horse ownership more affordable. How many youngsters are coming into the sport of polo? Is there a shortage of top polo players? Is it growing in size or general sport is is I think it’s growing and there’s a lot of especially in the in the female department there’s a lot of younger girls who are playing. However, like obviously here in England, it’s just not as so accessible as it is in Argentina. So, Argentina are producing some incredible players at a seriously young age. I don’t know if you guys have seen now the like the e-ws or the one wheels. Yes, I’ve used them. Oh, they’re so fun. Literally. So, hard though. Yeah. Well, have you seen Do you know what I mean? How would you How would you describe it? It’s like a little um I’ve seen the cartoon animation at Wall-E. The little the little machine that kind of goes around. It’s basically one wheel and you depending on if Oh, I do know. Yes, I do know. Sorry. I have seen them. Yes. So, literally all the kids now grow up on those. You have like a short little stick um your hand stick and they literally stick them ball. They practice with and flat out like stop turn with these little machines. So, by the time they get on a horse, they’re absolute freaks and they’ve got the most incredible um hand eye um coordination. But yeah, basically in, you know, in England it’s it’s it’s expensive to have horses here, let’s be honest. Um, luckily there are these big organizations which can help out and there’s there are availabilities to help pilot or to help groom or to to some way to get involved which is brilliant and those the opportunities you need to be looking for. Um, however, if you go abroad to Argentina, there are hundreds of these organizations. So, it’s a lot more ex you know accessible over there. So, so how would you access it over here? Is is there a club or clubs that help you? Um so the Hurlingham Polo Association, the HBA, um they are now helping with a a younger performance pathway um scheme which will help the younger generation and give them opportunities to to improve in the sport. Um and they are also um funding a a grooming scheme as well to help groom the horses and because there’s plenty of grooming jobs in general, we’re always looking for people to help. Let’s face it, the grooms are the unsung heroes of any equestrian discipline. Um but we but when you see them with polo they they’re often riding one and they’re leading two each side. Exactly. So they’re five of them at at the time the horses they’re so well behaved as such. Um so literally yeah they they call it they go on set. So it’s basically to do their cardio work. The horses would have the horses in general exercised it six days a week twice a day. Um, I’m a big fan of putting the horses out in in the paddic so they get to live like horses and, you know, have grass, get their head down, have a roll. However, in general, some of the big organizations will they they keep them in the stables for quite a long time and so they hold up all their energy and, you know, there’s no risk of getting injured. But, so yeah, in general, the horses will go out probably for an hour of exercise in the morning, which will consist of 20 minutes walk, 20 minutes truck, 20 minutes walk. And then usually in the afternoon, it would either on an off day, it would be the same. Otherwise, you we would single them, which is where we ride one by one. I’ve actually got to go back tonight. I’ve got about nine to ride after this. Um and and we have the the Argentine grooms who are phenomenal. They’ll tack them up. You hop on, give them 10, 12 minutes of working schooling a little before game days. We give them air. So, we try and put them into a fast caner, almost a gallop to open their lungs and get them nice and agile and fit so ready for the next day when they enter the field, they’re they’re feeling their best. But it’s very very specific when it comes down to to the feeding and the training and some horses need more work, some less nutrition and athletes and human. So I’m interested. Obviously polo as a sport has such a rich heritage. Um the polo association is turning 150 very soon. I believe a female CEO and a hall. What is the future of polo look like for you? How do you feel like the sport is growing? No, I think it’s um it’s heading in a great direction. Um and you know in in the modern world now in general there’s a lot more female there’s many more female sponsors coming through female patronons because you know in general the you know there’s many more women who are CEOs of companies and you know it’s not it’s not cheap to run a big organization but um I think within all the the breeding and the cloning and the and the all these futuristic parts of the sport and it’s only going to get quicker and faster and and more competitive as it goes on. But yeah, in general, you know, this year in England, the highest level play we’re playing is 22 goal and the first tournament there’s 19 teams in it, which is which is quite a lot to be fair. Um, but yeah, and where where’s that? So the that tournament the two main tournaments are the Queen’s Cup which is held at Guards Polaro Club in Windsor. Yeah, beautiful spot. Beautiful place. Exactly that. And the second is a Gold Cup which is held at Calry Polo Club at Midhurst. Yeah, they’re two incredible places. Those are the those are the you know the the hearts of of polo in in England and there it’s a great day out and then there’s always some great parties after I have to say being a spectator at at a polo tournament is a great day out. Do you ever get to enjoy that side of it? I’d love to a bit more. There’s not many off days. No, it doesn’t seem like there are any questions. Before Before it was so before back in the day it was so much more relaxed and you can drink alcohol and now it’s like now it’s like us venting. You don’t sneak a little tot out the hip flo Well, I do better. But it has it’s all got and more competitive. You know if if you’re not at the top of your game, there’s always going to be someone else just behind you. As you said, everything seems to be getting faster, fitter, stronger, bigger. Exactly. Sport is a very exciting place to be right now, I imagine. Yeah, exactly that. And you know, when we play in Argentina, it’s getting covered by ESPN. They show it live. And this is the women’s polo as well. In in America as well, it’s the same same thing. The hurling and polic forgive my ignorance. Is that to do with the hurling polo in the park or is that where is I guess London? I know. I know that’s I live in Parson and screen. I’m thinking is it that I do? Yeah. Is it? No, I mean I guess I think it’s that was the original club I guess. Um club. Yeah, exactly that. But now now they only they only hold hold um the polo in the park there which is a super fun day out. Great. I’ve been trying to convince Peppe to come this year. Well, I’m not sure with all those friends of yours from Maiden Chelsea. I’m going to quite fit in. I think you you’ve already insulted half of them on on the podcast. Might as well meet them. I haven’t I didn’t insult them at all. Neither is life. Just some facts. No. No, I didn’t. But there’s so there’s a potential you may be playing in the so because you got another tournament. Well, yeah. So, B won this contract this year with with Dubai team which is in for me it’s actually really exciting this year in England in the highest the highest level the well it’s the Queen the Queen’s Cup and the Gold Cup. Um I’m actually going to be the only female um professional playing as such. So there’s a few female sponsors who are who are funding the teams, but as a as a professional I’m I’m the only girl who’s going to be getting paid to play alongside the men. So this is my second year in a row which for me is like life goals literally. Well in honor of you Hazel being on the show we have a very special little giveaway prize opportunity here and I will be at this event actually. So we have Polo Chest’s Polo in the Park which is on the 6th 7th and 8th of June. Pipper you’re coming down with me as my plus one. Oh and you can get5 off tickets with the code talkhorse 5. Brilliant. There you go. It’s a great that can go towards a really fancy outfit. This is one of those one of those like suits. And is that our first date? You That will be our first date. This is me officially asking you out on tour. Run it by William. I run it past past Jules. So I believe that the polo in the park just pol the park is slightly different. Yes. What is the difference between the high goal polar rules and the adapted rules for this polar in the park? So polar in the park is is held in a much smaller field. Um so they they’ve even made it three against three. Um so the game is a little bit you know and they use a bigger ball. So, well, it sort of ends up in the crowd quite a few times. If you actually come out and watch, you know, a proper game of polo as such. Uh, the field is is huge. I think it’s four times the size of a football field and and it’s super fast, super open. The ball’s almost like a hockey ball. They’re really hard. Um, so it’s just a lot. I would love for you guys to come and watch sometime to come and watch the If that was an invite, I’m very glad watch. I’d love to. You know, it’s really Can you get it, sir? Of course. 100%. up 100%. I’d love to do that. That’s brilliant. What’s your best polo story? What’s one which sticks out to you? Well, it’s going to go back in the day a little bit when when when we were younger and I actually went over to we were I think I was captaining the English team actually over in Zambia. We’re playing against these Zambian girls who were they were wild and and they were tough. Um anyway, went over over there. There’s a whole group of us and I had a friend of mine called Lotty Lamcraft. Uh Ly unfortunately had a fall in in the game and ended up breaking her toe. So she got rushed off to hospital. Um and anyway, so we finished the game all good. My sister was luckily there so she actually filled in for her. We got back Lotty arrives on on crutches and they had given her ketamine in the that’s supposed to be for the horses in in the hospital in Zambia. You can imagine and literally lot is literally that’s where you get a hookup in Zambia. Honestly, you can imagine the hospital’s over there. What? No. Then that was an accident, was it? Or they they thought that accident. I think her horse tripped and she came down. No, no, I meant the kamine. Yeah, that was pretty much um I think that was cuz I’m not I’m not a I’m not a doctor, but aspirin probably do the job. The worst thing is Lotty literally you would give her like a can of Coke and she’s she’s most sensitive person to sugar to anything. So she rocked back up on on Get in. Anyway, so we were flying out the next day and we were we rock up to the airport and they they bring out a a wheelchair. Anyway, my my sister had such a big night the night before that we ended up losy didn’t get the wheelchair. She was still in crutches. We took my sister who was in a rather big hangover back in the wheelchair back to and made it back to England. Hazel, thank you so much. It’s been an absolute pleasure and a massive insight into this this world that we haven’t really delved into yet. I think it’s brilliant. Absolutely brilliant and I’m fascinated and I I really actually would like like to take you up on the offer and see it firstand 100% we’ll get you over to the Queen’s Cup or the Golds Cup. So you got to come and watch either of those. Sounds like you got a very exciting year ahead of you. I’m looking forward to that. Got to stay super success. I thought she was absolutely fabulous. I thought you might. She was a pretty girl. Gosh, she was lovely. Gorgeous. Very beautiful lady. Yes, very talented, a very exciting career ahead of her and also, you know, has achieved so much already. And also really interesting to learn about an element that maybe we neither of us know too much about, which is quite refreshing because you know everything about the question mark. I don’t know anything at all. I don’t know everything at all. I think I’m going to have to give Paul another go. You know, I think she’s inspired me. I think you should give it another go. and I’m not going to give it a go, but I actually might well take her up on her offer to go and watch one of the polo tournaments. Great day out. We should do that. We’ve got a really exciting summer ahead of us. If you’ve loved this talking horse, make sure you join our community by subscribing so you never miss an episode. Absolutely. And please do leave us a review. It definitely definitely helps us. And thanks again to Harry Hall One Club for being our sponsors today. And do check out their competition and discount code in the podcast description. As we always say, please do tell us your horse stories. Do let us know any guests that you want to suggest and um it does help. We do read and we do listen and pass on pass on the word. But if you do want to get in touch, you can by emailing [email protected]. And please do join us next time because we’ve got so much more horse talk to share with you. Bye.