My, what big bruises you have!

I had intended to write this post as we drove home from the Bucks County tournament, but I was a bit busy keeping my my chauffeur, Catherine, and her Jack Russell terrier, Pippy, entertained. So my post is late...AGAIN. I'll give myself a ton of penalty points, if that makes you guys happy!

(Spinner and Grady approve of their pen at Bucks County Polocrosse Tournament)

Well, since I'm able to write a post, I guess you've all figured out that I survived my first polocrosse tournament! I will say that I was a bit worried and nervous...Those of you who know me and see me compete at horse trials on a regular basis know that I'm very detail oriented and plan my competition weekends down to the minute, so the fact that I was going to my first polocrosse tournament with only a few practices under my belt and only a very rudimentary knowledge of the rules put me WAYYYYY out of my comfort zone! But I had Spinner, the Magical Golden Pony, and I knew she would take good care of me, and I had my Sugarloaf Mountain Polocrosse Club family to keep me from embarrassing myself too badly!
(Pippy and Grady help Catherine navigate Friday afternoon traffic)

Friday morning, I packed my duffel bag for the weekend and headed north to get everything ready. As usual, my life and stuff would be scattered in multiple places - my food was packed into the Cooks' RV, I would be sleeping in the living quarters of the Cooks' horse trailer, and my pony, her tack, and I would be traveling up with Catherine H., a B rated member of Seneca Valley Pony Club. Catherine started playing polocrosse last year, and has pretty much taken the sport by storm--she was selected to be one of the 7 individuals to represent USPC for an international polocrosse exchange that starts next week in the UK (coinciding with the Polocrosse World Cup). Two other Capital Region members - Peter B. and Nick B. - are also members of this exchange team - I am so lucky to have such really great players teach me how to play the game!

Anyway, me being me, I absolutely *had* to give Spinner a bath and clean her tack before we left. Spinner was not a fan of this idea until she realized that there were treats involved! Why is it that I seem to be cursed with light colored horses? We loaded all of the stuff into the trailer and finally headed off to Pennsylvania around 1:30 pm. When we pulled into Come Along Farm about 4.5 hours later, I knew that this would be a very different weekend for me...several competitors had already arrived, and their horses were comfy in their makeshift pens. Yes, I said pens! In fact, the first order of business once we parked was to stake out three pens for Spinner and her two buddies - Willow (Catherine's playing horse) and Belle (brought along to umpire). Spinner seemed very happy to have a new assortment of grass to chomp on. We filled up water buckets (clean manure tubs) for each of the horses and then worked on setting up camp. Did I mention that I don't *do* camping? (I was the worst Girl Scout!) Horses in pens and me camping...oh goodness, what on earth had I signed up for?!?!

Actual play started on Saturday, and that's when I started to get really nervous. Did I mention that I hadn't really read the rulebook? The tournament featured a "celebrity" A/B division that included USA World Cup team members, past and present, with other high-rated players, as well as a C and D grade. I will admit, I started to panic as I watched some of the morning matches...the game goes really quickly, especially at the higher levels, and I was afraid that I would really screw things up for my scramble team, The Sugar Bucks (Paul and Kelly from Bucks County Polocrosse, and me from Sugarloaf Mountain). More importantly, I was worried that my performance would be altered by the fact that I wouldn't be competing in my traditional red and black (did I mention that Sugarloaf's colors are red and black? Of COURSE I had to join!!!), as I would be wearing a yellow and green Bucks County jersey. As the time for my first game approached, I spent what seemed like an hour corralling Spinner's voluminous tail into a french braid so that it could be taped up and out of the way. Goodness, that pony has a lot of hair! I then applied her polo wraps and bell boots (gotta keep those precious pony legs protected!), tacked her up, and thought about starting to gallop home. Instead, I picked up my racket and headed to the field to warm up with my teammates.

(Spinner's "Battle Tail") (Zebra gear!)

I'm pretty sure Spinner was the smallest pony in D grade, but she was always sure to make her presence known on the field. Okay, maybe the fact I insisted on dressing her in zebra print (even the tape securing her tail was zebra) had something to do with it. But if I was going to do this sport, I was going to do it my way, and hey, animal prints are totally in this season! So much for trying to blend in...We lined up for our first chukka, and I just focused on trying to remember all the lessons John, Liz, Catherine and the rest of the Sugarloaf crew had been trying to pummel into my brain during our practices. Instead, I reverted to thinking like a Labrador Retriever:

--Ball! Get Ball!

--Keep Other Players from Getting Ball!

Prior to this tournament, I'd never really played in too much contact, so it took me a play or two to get used to the concept of having another rider try to shove me out of the way with their knee. Luckily, Spinner is a pushing machine! She only looks cute and innocent, but she is a BEAST! And since she is an experienced games pony, we were really able to move around the field whenever I had the ball (I'd lean over for the pick-up, and once I had the ball in my racket, Spinny would kick it into high gear and smoke her way across the field, leaving my defenders a bit confused! :)

Saturday night, I learned that polocrosse riders try to one-up eachother by comparing bruises or claiming bruises that they've put on other riders. After one day of play, I had one sizable bruise on my left thigh (my leg is usually under the rider I'm defending because of Spinner's height). I was determined to get more bruises on the second day of play! (For the record, I acquired two additional bruises - one just above my ankle, and another on the outer portion of my knee after Sunday).

As distant as polocrosse seemed from my comfort zone of eventing when we pulled in on Friday, I left this tournament seeing so many similarities. When it comes down to it, polocrosse is really dressage on steroids. I watched USPC Polocrosse Committee Chair Jessie Reed play quite a bit, and was impressed by how nimble and responsive her mare Maggie was as she set up to score a goal. Turn on the haunches? Check. Lightness to the aids? Check. At the gallop? Check. It was impressive to watch.

I also noticed that one end of the field became a mini vetbox as riders had breaks between chukkas. Each club had a little station where they had buckets, sponges, and scrapers to help cool horses down while they waited for the second chukka. It really reminded me of the 10 minute box in a full-format 3-day event.

The biggest thing I noticed, however, was the emphasis on camaraderie and respect for your competitors. At the beginning of each match, players shake hands and wish each other good luck. At the end of each game, we would shake hands / hug, and congratulate each other on a game well-played. Most importantly, we would thank the umpires. I think this is a great lesson that other disciplines could learn from polocrosse - how cool would it be to have Festival competitors in all disciplines actively wishing each other good luck and congratulating each other on a job well done? Maybe a few of you will help me get this trend started in 2011!!!

So I played polocrosse. And I had fun. I want to do it again. But I still hate camping.

20 days until Festival 2011 begins!