Escape: Polo in Berlin

This weekend I went out to explore what's usually not on my list of sunday to-dos. We drove far east to watch the finals of the Bucherer Polo Trophy Berlin on the grounds of Galopprennbahn Hoppegarten. Means I spend my sunday in a crowd dressed in white jeans, riding boots and polo shirts with huge logos, and I am not talking about the actual players. Nevertheless, the game itself is exciting to watch: eight horses and their riders competing on what is not much larger than a soccer field for a ball that is a lot smaller than a soccer ball. If played well, the game is very quick and dirty, with players screaming and horses racing over the field, quickly changing stopping and changing directions.
That said, Berlin is not a mecca for the elite of (mostly Argentinian) polo players, many of the participants are ranked in the lower handicaps with an overall team handicap of 6 (out of 10). The reason is probably that Polo is a game for an elite with money. One game usually lasts from four to six chukkers (phases), each being 7 minutes long and players are using up to six ponies a game. And the teams were sponsored by Bentley and Bucherer, with the winning team being "Tom Tailor". The game of course provokes a lot of rightful criticism about animal cruelty, since the risk of injury is obviously high for riders and horses. As does all equestrian sport. And beware of their "parties".
Luckily nothing happened during this game and it surely is an amusing sunday hang-out. Surprisingly, the games are free to watch.