Grand Touring Polo Experience

"Sweet Child O' Mine"

August was a pretty quiet month for the Grand Touring Experience, given the not-so-favorable weather and that many of our friends have been away or were pre-occupied. RJ went back to the U.S. for a holiday, Jean-Louis was grand touring in Europe, while Jules & Belle were getting ready for their first epic tournament in Mongolia (you can find out more on that in the Grand Touring Polo Community page).

Despite all that, we did managed to invite Zen back for his second lesson, this time bringing along his young son Wisely to have a go as well. I can happily tell you that both thoroughly enjoyed themselves and were taken care of quite well by the pros at Polo Escape. I know this because when it was over, Wisely implored, "Can I ride with dad again?!". Unlike adults, most nine and ten-year-olds like Wisely are pretty straightforward when it comes to telling the things they like and which they don't. Zen didn't say it (being a grown-up!) but I'm sure that he was quite pleased that he finally found something magical that he and his son can do together.

As for myself, I also learned that introducing polo to a child required for you to keep things simple and restrict your explanations to a minimum (something which I've experienced also teaching kids on how to swing a golf club). So after his first ride, I let Wisely try wielding a miniature mallet. Rather than go through the elaborate mechanics, I thought it would be easier to show him that, to hit the ball where you want to go, the toe of the mallet should be pointing to your target when you take the mallet back. Wisely followed my advice religiously and was quite excited in being able to just hitting the ball backwards and forwards with me with quite a precision.

Just the other weekend, Jean-Louis returned to Thailand and brought along his two daughters to Thai Polo Club. While I was quite glad to be back on the saddle and played a chukka with him again, I was more marveled by watching him taking Isabelle to ride Robina under his careful supervision. What I saw from this five-year-old was how she was able to mimic the way her father rides by kicking with her heels as Robina was moving (even though her legs has yet to reach the stirrups!). I am quite sure that Jean-Louis was one very proud father that day.

These episodes in the past month taught me that polo, if you can take your mind away from the bombarded images of champagne and the fancy hats for a moment, is purely a recreation in which you and your family can all enjoy. I never had the privilege of being a parent so far. But I know what it was like to have been someone's child and still remembered the wonderful things that I did with my parents. So for all you Moms & Pops out there, you might not fancy the idea of riding a horse or may not be keen on what you thought polo is associated with. But don't think your kids would agree with you. They might thank you afterward for making the effort to let them try. It is a sport that they and you also can have fun together. That's all it is.

"The Charm of the Southpaw"

At last weekend's Grand Touring Experience, I was able to introduce the game to a mutual friend, R.J. Doyle, which turned out to be quite a revelation. R.J. is an American living in Thailand and much like how I started, had never ridden a horse in his life. Like a true Southern gentleman who grew up in Georgia and Florida, R.J. was friendly, courteous and enthusiastic over the prospect of being able to learn and understand how polo is played for the first time. (Quite frankly, it would be very healthy for polo if more and more personalities like R.J. took up the sport).

One reservation that R.J. had though was that since polo is played right-handed, he was concerned of the greater struggle if one was a natural left-hander like him. I reassured him that it wouldn't be an issue as time goes by, for I too am his kindred spirit when I started: zero horse-riding experience and a southpaw all my life. Aside from being forced to write (by my mean kindergarten teacher) and play golf (there wasn't such a thing as a left-handed club for kids) right-handed, I do everything else with my left hand, from playing tennis, throwing, opening Dom Perignon's, giving fellow incompetent motorists the appropriate signs, to seducing women or correspondingly holding their hands when the parties were over (not from I can recall but more from what they tell me...).

During our journey to the club, my first thought was to figure out how to put R.J.'s mind at ease. I drew from my own experience that once I was on the pony on that first day, it would have been a nicer moment had I was able to overcome the intimidation of the riding and playing from the "wrong side", if I could think about something else more SIMPLE instead when I was on that saddle. So once we got there, my attention was to figure out how to make R.J. FEEL where his right hand, arm and the mallet should be first, before we doing any real riding. We spent a good hour or so to get him comfortable with it, initially with a drill of getting him "ready" to hit (turning the right shoulder while extending the arm and holding the mallet back into an "L" position) and then on the wooden horse so that he can get the idea of what it would be like himself to hit in a half-seat position (toe up and heel down on the stirrups with the head & body forward to create leverage during the "hit"), using that drill.

We then moved on to a real pony and just like any first-timer, R.J. spent a moment adjusting and determining on holding the reins and getting acquainted with the speed of Robina initially. But once he felt more comfortable and we gave him the mallet, R.J.'s focus on the drills rather than the ride itself worked wonders. From what I saw, R.J. turned his attention more on what he was taught with the mallet instead and less on being so overwhelmed with the idea of this being his first ride. He quickly was able to go around and played some solid shots during the riding session (and jealously more effective than I was during my first time...). The riding might not look that pretty now, but R.J. did not look inadequate in wielding the mallet with his right hand. I am happy to tell you that the next issue that we had to overcome was to get him to stop and come down from Robina, as it was cutting into our beer-drinking time...

It dawned on me now that being a lefty in a a right-hander's world of polo is not a deficit if you understand how the basics of holding the mallet work and to familiarize yourself with them consistently. In fact, it could be more of an advantage for a beginner who are left-handers to be able to control the reins and thus your pony with your stronger hand, which I think is more crucial. I understood myself also that polo has no preference on which side you are comfortable with in order to play well. After all, both High Royal Highnesses Prince Charles and Prince William are both natural lefties and neither are shabby polo players...

We left-handers may not be able to hit the ball as solid at first. But they often say that we are more gifted with using our imagination and creativity. So that means that we should stand a greater chance of figuring it out how to be good polo players eventually that much better...

"The Lin & The Lam"

We welcomed two guests to take part in the Grand Touring Polo Experience last Saturday, each with two contrasting and refreshing backgrounds. Sara Lin is from Hawaii and is on vacation, traveling around Southeast Asia with her husband Karl. An accomplished dressage rider since early age, she was quite keen to learn polo for the first time. I found out soon enough that Sara is one fast learner. We went through the basics of how to use the mallet and the contrast of riding dressage vs. western on the wooden horse. But once we put her on Penny Lane, I got the distinct impression that she understood the importance of balance when riding half-seat in . In no time she looked quite comfortable in doing so and was able to put herself in a proper hitting position similar to how myself was taught. You can tell that a person had become addicted because once we started playing our usual late afternoon chukkas and I offered my spot on the team to ride Robina, Sara accepted without hesitation and even contributed by hitting a few shots in her very first match!

Meanwhile Singaporean Zen Lam was a complete novice who has been on a horse only once. But rather than being intimidated at thought of riding a polo pony that day, Zen's was eager to learn and feel the speed and the quickness of how fast a horse can go (I know this. Because I too learned of the speed and urgency of how fast he drove his BMW from Bangkok...) It was a struggle, much like everything else in life the first time, but eventually Zen picked up. Toward the end of the session, he was quite joyful in the art of trotting. Although much as I wanted him to get familiar with this new sense of power, I still want to make sure that he would be able to hit the ball at the same time. So at the finish, I asked him to hit five consecutive shots on the trot. I am glad to tell you he was able to do so at his first attempt.

Two different approaches but the urgency and the addiction were the same. I got a strong feeling that they want to come back again---very quickly.

"The Twilight Saga"

Last Saturday's club chukkas were one of the best days for me. It wasn't because I scored my first career goal (which no one was counting the scores anyway---except me). It wasn't because I was playing amongst friends nor was it the fact that I was able to canter much better to keep up with where most of the action was. It was more about the fact of how pleasurable it was to play during twilight hours.

I took one of these trivial quizzes recently that one of my friends shared with me on social media. It gave out these set of questions that would determined "what's your REAL age?" that included, "what's your favorite time of day?". Without hesitation I answered instinctively "early evening" and as a result, the quiz conclusively determined, through it's own calculative and scientific way (which I don't know how) that I am REALLY a 20 year old (not sure whether that reflects that I am truly a young at heart or that's about summed up the fact that mentally, I never grew beyond that age). I may have also tweaked my answers a bit to the other questions in order to get that final result...

Looking back over the past year though, the answer that I gave as early evening was true. For polo under twilight is fantastic whether I take part myself or just watching people do so. It seems that when the sun is about to set, I'm at my utmost peace. The whole world just turned breezy, tranquil and everything seems to be working in harmony. When I was riding Robina last weekend, she and I have never been more in sync during the entire match and she was probably relieved that I finally did a pretty good job at being a better rider than before. I recalled that it was the same exact feeling that I got so many years ago, when I played golf with my dad during the summer days or with my uncle for a quick 9 hole after school, before we go home to dinner. I remembered vividly too that some of the best rounds I've ever played then were during this time of the day. If all golf tournaments were held around late afternoon, I'm quite positive that I would have turned pro by now! It's no wonder that everything have become welcomingly familiar (and partly explain the result of that quiz).

Polo in the evening. If you want to treat yourself to one of life's simple pleasures, come and take a look this Saturday at Thai Polo so that you'll get what I'm talking about. I'm certainly going to be there again...

"Ladies' First"

It was a great moment for the Grand Touring Experience yesterday. There was a sense of satisfaction to be able to invite 4 wonderful ladies for a introduction to polo. Each had differing backgrounds, experiences and individualistic styles in their approach toward riding and yet all came away pretty much mutually satisfied (I know this, because when women continue to talk about "the next time" when it was already over together, you're onto a good thing...").

They all had their first taste in polo that myself, Jules, Belle & Jean-Louis tried to convey during the best part of a Saturday afternoon. It included not only guiding them through the basics of "polo style" riding on an actual pony, Penny Lane, but also the fundamentals of using the mallet and the art of hitting on a wooden pony.

My high school friend Nan, who is a no mean rider herself for many years, struggled initially with learning how to hold the reins with one hand. But since she wasn't the type who would back down on a challenge, she quickly got comfortable with aplomb. Her fellow riding friend, Chong, took to riding half-saddle with ease and you could tell that she is quite handy in other sports by showing a lot of "ball-sense" when wielding the mallet. Nan's other friend, Khun Dang, was a absolute marvel: Sixty-five years young who has done it all (including ballroom dancing), Khun Dang possessed more energy, verve and determination than many people half her age that I know. In no time after figuring out how this "polo thing works", she "demanded" for a mallet and gave several serious, dead-solid whacks at the ball with force and power right from the start that startled all of us. She was a joy to watch---right up to point where we think that it's time for others to also have a go...

Meanwhile our fourth guest, Mink, was a revelation. This noted university professor had virtually no riding experience and yet toward the end she already began to learn to trot (and there's a video to prove it...).

What I drawn from yesterday is that I am now totally convinced that polo can be fun for EVERYBODY, no matter what age and where ever you're from.

Some assemblies may be required, but no experience is necessary...

"You Wear It Well"

Once you become a addict, one of the things that crept into your system is the daily dose on the Internet to look for anything you can find not only about the game but also about all the polo "goodies": the coolest saddle, the mallets that the pros use, the bags you are supposed to carry, the ideal leather boots, helmet, watch, belts, white jeans and of course the obligatory polo shirts, in order to be appropriately equipped. Granted that I am still a struggler on the polo field, but I might as well try to look properly attired when I do so....

From my own observation for the past year on the polo shirt in particular, here is first my own set of rules of what constitutes as NOT a polo shirt (consider it a novice guide to polo "snobbery" if you wish):

1.) Any household sportswear that you know of that sponsors football teams, basketball teams, tennis players, golfers, joggers, cyclists, bowlers and darts players are NOT polo (save them for "stick and ball" practice only)

2.) Any brands that you can also wear for yoga, swimming, surfing or sunbathing are NOT polo

3.) Any shirt that has a number 0 and from 5 or higher into double and triple digits is NOT polo (polo players wear numbers from 1 to 4 only)

4.) The ONLY Ralph Lauren Polo shirt that is actually a "polo shirt" is the Black Watch collection

5.) T shirts or collarless shirts (except the ones that are designed to LOOK collarless) are NEVER polo (leave your favorite Black Sabbath, WHAM! or Backstreet Boys tees at home)

6.) Any shirt with "suggestive" lettering, symbols or images, or the one with your face, your loved ones or your pet on it, no matter how cute they are, is NOT polo

7.) Singlets, tank and sleeveless tops are DEFINITELY NOT for the polo field

8.) Any shirt with logos related to petroleum products, nightclubs and clinics is NOT polo---unless they happen to sponsor the team you're playing for

When it's comes to polo wear, there are a handful of brands that are dedicated to the sport. Since they are specific to polo, relatively little is known of them outside, although they are much respected for their creative design, craftsmanship and exclusivity among the polo society. One such brand is which I first heard of its name only last year when we were working on launching the Grand Touring Polo Team. The more I learned, the more I realized just how luxurious and premium it is, being associated with such brands as (in which they designed virtually all of Maserati's entire polo, shirt and outerwear collection, including this year's Centenary range) along with producing for some of the most prestigious polo clubs in the world such as The Guards Polo Club and for Thai Polo Club as well, among others. Since we were working with Maserati as our partner for our launch, we thought it would have been tremendous had La Martina been involved. But due to the time constraint, we had to resort to coming up with something myself instead (which as it turned out, wasn't too shabby).

La Martina has been established for nearly 30 years now by its founder, Lando Simonetti. Although of Italian descent, Simonetti is in fact an Argentinean. Thus his inspiration for La Martina was to convey a sense of heritage and identity of his country---hence nothing would be more appropriate than the style and elegance of polo (as Argentina is its "Mecca" after all). The relationship of La Martina and the sport extended beyond producing polo-related goods using the best of materials (aside from polo and casual wear, they are involved with saddlery, riding boots and other accessories), as they also take part in promoting the sport itself. La Martina is the official supplier of many national polo teams, they are involved with major international events (as I saw from the tournaments I attended) and if you are chosen as members of the Ivy League or Oxbridge universities polo squad, chances are your clothing will have La Martina's twin polo ponies crest on them.

So I was quite excited when I and my friends (some of whom are La Martina devotees already, such as Anchalika who sported their military jacket and matching handbag to the event and Nat, who wears nothing but La Martina Maserati for polo) got to be invited to the Grand Opening of its first flagship store in Bangkok the other week. Not only because we were able to see a more complete range of La Martina locally, but also we met the founder's son, Adrian Simonetti, who is now the Company's CEO for America. It was quite a privilege to have talked to him personally about the brand, the vision that he has for La Martina and how they are able to tailor exclusively for any group of keen polo players who would like to create their own identity.

An exclusive range of La Martina shirts worn by the Grand Touring Polo Community members? Interesting. I hadn't thought of that...

"The Pleasures of Pain"

Went cantering with Belle and Jules after being away from riding for a while. The aches afterward came back--which felt GOOD...

Plan to do it again this Saturday. Anybody who wants to join, let me know.

"Field Dressing"

Personally, one of the perks of loving is the excuse to go out and buy nice quality shirts before you go out and play. There are several beautiful brands that I will share with you later on. The term itself came from the sport describing the type of knitted garment you wear for outdoor activity---but with proper buttoned collar to show some form of decorum and style. Hence, "polo shirt".

Many of my golfing friends will tell you how much I spend on golf shirts for the last 30 years.
Much to their annoyance, they will tell you about my endless ramblings on what season and which collection a particular shirt came from, who was the designer and which pro wears which brand. It's a hard habit to break. My family thinks its a disease, the kind that's incurable (particularly for the person responsible for my laundry). But my justification for this badly disguised male vanity is the belief that, whether you are a man or a woman, you stand a better chance of playing well when you FEEL you are dressing well. When the Swedish pro Jasper Parnevik shot 64 in the final round to win one particular golf tournament, he credited the fact that he felt good throughout the round for wearing the entire colorful outfit by J. (another game-changing designer who I admired), complete with tight fitting pink pants and big white belt that was then ahead of its time (any golf pro now can't go out on tour without one). My obsession with golf and fashion has gotten to the point where there was a time when I grew frustrated and designed my own golf shirts. I once designed shirts for both the Team Europe and Team U.S. for the annual August Cup golf match between the European-graduated lads versus the boys who studied in the States. It was a joy to see them looking good.

Two main things I observed about polo wear that stood out from golf. First is since it's a team sport, the design, the colors, the lettering and the patterns should be not so subdued to differentiate yourself clearly against the opposing team during a match for the benefit of the crowd. Secondly, there is more use of individualism integrated into the design that identifies your team, club and/or nationality. A personal favorite this past polo season was Team Mongolia, in which the shirt is emblazoned with Mongolian symbols and alphabets.

So when the Grand Touring Polo Team prepared for our first match against Thai Polo Team last October, I naturally took to designing our uniform with earnest myself. I wanted to use the darkest blue that I could find to reflect our corporate color, with white lettering and bold vertical stripes for contrast. As a dedication to our initial sponsors, I put the brand across the back and their Trident logo on the left chest, while Development was placed outside the right sleeve---the hitting arm. As a Thai, I added an extra touch of placing the Thai versions of polo numbers, 1,2,3 and 4, outside the left sleeve. Not a bad first attempt for a designer-wannabe, I think...

So if you want to play polo (and in particular if you choose to play with Grand Touring), then be prepared to look good like a polo player should. Leave the "dressing down" style until afterward or if you prefer to play cribbage instead. I insist...

"A Horse by Any Other Name"

I am a sucker for beautiful names. Back in elementary, I loved it when the teacher called out my classmate's name, Sabrina, every morning during roll-call. In college I became roommates with 4 girls and 3 other guys in one house mostly because two of the girls were named Nicola and Benita (who both have friends called Nadine and another Nicola). As a self-proclaimed car aficionado, I admired that started naming their cars after famous fighting bulls, like , and . I was also a fan of the (after the song), my favorite classic car was called a and my all-time favorite name was an obscure racing car called . It didn't really matter whether the car or the person was as good looking or ideal to be with as the name implied. In truth, Sabrina was not that feminine and was our best defensive linesmen in tag football, Nicola and Benita always hogged our only bathroom (while Nadine and the other Nicola can outdrink a fish). Facel Vega is now gone, so was Stanguellini, which didn't win anything that much anyway and Lola has since gone bankrupt. Nevertheless, pretty names are plentiful among ponies as I founded out and for that alone I can love polo all day long.

As mentioned before, my first riding lesson was with "Golondrina". She was named after a type of bird, the Swallow, that roamed around La Pampa province in Argentina (how romantic can you get...). Unlike Sabrina the peewee American Football player, she looked as good as her name sounded. With her mane shaven and her tail braided (all polo ponies are, as to avoid tangling with your or your opponents' mallet during play), I confided to my pro Juan that she looked majestic, almost regal-like. Juan replied that she should be, since she used to belong to the Sultan of Brunei. To me, that was like taking your first driving lesson with one of His Royal Highness' collection of one-of-a-kind .

In my subsequent lessons and practices, I have ridden "Robina", "Badal" and lately "Penny Lane", who used to be called "Tequila" (for obvious reasons, her new owner is a rock star, a Beatle die-hard and less of a drinker...). Among our Grand Touring Polo community right now, we have "Padilla", "Quepatisa" , "Bandana" , "Luisa" , "Camilla", while one of our fellow players Jean-Louis had just acquired "Pamiento" and "Facha". Great names all.

When it's my time to names the horses of my own, I already have thought it through. It would have been too easy if I were to name them after my ex's (and it would have been uncouth to do so out of respect of their husbands and boyfriends), but I have already decided. Rest assured, it won't be Sabrina, Nicola, Benita or Nadine either...

"There's Always A First Time For Everything"

I am not much of what you call an animal person. It has been quite enough of a challenge to deal with human beings already.

Only had a pet once but that was unintentionally. I remembered walking home from school when I was in 5th grade while we were living in Maryland, when a tiny squirrel jumped onto my shoulder and wouldn't leave. So I just took it home as it clung on to my jacket and gave it to mom. Dad went out and bought a cage. I fed it, looked after it---and two weeks later after coming home from school (and even before I could name it), mom informed me that it died of unknown causes (maybe from not enough climbing trees and telephone poles. Or maybe from how I decorated the cage without consulting my Feng Shui Master...) I was of course devastated and like any 10 year old in mourning, I shrugged and then went back to watch reruns of "The Flintstones", followed by "Speed Racer". Dad was a bit miffed. The cage money was supposed to go to a new Ping putter, he mentioned later. But that experience scarred me for thinking of touching any kind of animal ever again.

That's why I have never been that keen of getting a dog (Cats? Forget them too). I really tried to like dogs but getting bitten by them---twice---sort of puts me off further (the first was before I proposed, the second was just prior to signing the divorce paper. Still baffled today whether these incidences are correlated. If they were then maybe dogs ARE Man's Best Friend...)

Which reminds me of my first riding lesson. Before I fortuitously tried to ride my first , the wonderfully-named "Golondrina" (more on that later on), I was instructed by Juan my teaching pro that I must first pet her, in order to introduce myself before I can mount. For a inept animal lover-wannabe like me, I rather plead to him if I can poke my fingers into a live electricity socket instead. Once I overcame my fear of touching a and got on the saddle, to be honest it felt a bit queasy. Juan told me not to look down but forward. But then the horizon looked weird when you're now an extra 5 feet above ground. Be that as it may, I got comfortable quickly with "Golondrina". She and I started to get along. Though not quite in the knowing her favorite song or what she likes to drink kind of way just yet. But after a few minutes of struggle on my part, we did began to get coordinated---even if at a snail's pace. I moved my upper body left just a touch and she moved left just a touch. I turned to my right, then she turned to my right just a little. I kicked my heels just for a bit of pace and she became slightly more brisk with her strides. I pulled the rein to stop and she came to a standstill. It felt nice for a while. I hoped it was nice for Golondrina too. Though I did sensed that she returned quite swiftly to her stable. Probably wanting to get back to "Single Ladies" by Beyoncé on her iPod and a nice glass of Merlot...

In my subsequent lessons from that first day, I became more confident little by little with the ponies, though my handling is still far from smooth. More to point, I taught myself to appreciate how intelligent, sensitive and intuitive these creatures can be. ponies in particular are so well trained that they are also your crucial teammate on the polo field. They can sense the excitement of the match and can move to where you must move to score, defend a goal and help your fellow teammates (polo ponies can turn around on a dime when you can ride them with enough competence ). I learned also that how well you do in polo is not only about how much you put into improving your polo-playing skills but also into understanding and respecting what ponies can do.

These days, I don't hesitate in getting close and saying hello to the ponies I'm about to ride anymore. Maybe soon, I might consider getting a dog. I can train one to wash the dishes, make my Nespresso, bite my neighbor for complaining too much about me coming home so late and apply for a job to pay back for all the rabies shots I took because of their cousins...---KNOTTY