R. Neal asked:


The Scope of This Project Exceeded Anything We Have Ever Done.

Our client was a high-end residential development in Southeast Texas. This master-planned community spanned nearly 2,000 acres and was home to a number of superb amenities which included a recreation center, a gymnasium, a game room, a resort pool with water slide, and most impressively, two World Class Polo Fields. The community planned to hold championship matches on one of these fields and decided to have a lighting system designed specifically for this purpose.

Many Unique Elements Distinguished This Endeavor.

This was a rather unique request for any lighting company to receive, considering that only two or three polo fields in the nation have lighting systems for nighttime matches. The client was aware that lighting a polo field essentially meant creating a unique and very rare facility, and they were more than willing to invest in this landmark facility in order to obtain the very best lighting design possible.

The project was ambitious, to say the least. The polo field spanned the area of nearly seven football fields. This already told us that a very high foot candle level would be necessary, and prior to even calculating the polo field lighting design, we knew that the poles we used would be laden with an exceptionally high number of lighting fixtures.

Lighting Design Software Enabled Us to Accommodate the Satisfy the Unique Parameters of This Project.

The client provided us with a CAD file which enabled us to calculate foot candle levels and determine exactly how many fixtures we were going to need. The results called for an exceptional configuration. First, we would need to create a luminance level of 50 foot candles over the entire field. Due to the massive area that we had to light, it would be necessary to place 48 fixtures on each lighting pole. This is far beyond industry standard configurations, and presented a formidable challenge to overcome. The wind loading of 48 fixtures on each pole is very great, and special care was needed when selecting the proper poles. Since this region of Texas lies near enough to the Gulf to experience tropical storms and occasional hurricane force winds, the high number of fixtures per pole amounted to a literal “wind sail” effect which represented a very unstable configuration if standard steel poles were used.

Unique Lighting Poles Were the Key to the Success of the Whole Endeavor.

To overcome this, we designed the polo field lighting system with 100′ concrete poles. These were the tallest and most powerful structures available for the task, and the modeling scenarios we ran in our photometric software confirmed that in spite of the high number of fixtures, these poles would provide reliable support for the lights and be able to resist the intermittent high winds that strike Southeast Texas on occasions.

Installation was Performed by a Local Team of Sports Lighting Installation Experts

The actual fixtures and poles were installed by a partner organization whose primary specialty lies in the arena of sports and athletic field lighting installation.



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Paul Simms asked:

Summary

The term “Polo pony” is an expression for a horse or pony that is used in the game of Polo.

Polo ponies are not a registered breed but a type of horse or pony that possess intelligence, bravery, speed, strength and masses of agility as the polo pony has to gallop and turn around and halt rapidly on demand. On the Horsewizard website you’ll find many Ponies for Sale suitable for the sport of Polo. Polo is considered to be one of the fasted games in the world; sometimes reaching speeds of around 30 mph, relentless galloping and quick changes of direction can put massive amounts of stress on the polo pony’s body. Polo ponies must have good confirmation to help with the rigours of the game.

Confirmation

A strong muscular body is needed; this will help when being bumped by others.

A deep sloping shoulder, this will allow for the rigors of “riding off”.

A deep and wide chest giving ample room for the heart and lungs, this will help with stamina.

Well defined withers to keep the saddle in place as the rider will make a tremendous amount of movement.

Ample room between the point of hip and the stifle, combined with a well let down hock to permit the utmost power from the hind quarters.

Pasterns can be more upright than normally acceptable to reduce the strain on the tendons.

Polo pony turn out

Polo ponies are traditionally hogged.This is a practice where the mane and forelock are shaved off, this is to prevent the mallet from getting caught up in the mane.

Polo ponies have their tail taped up during practice and in competition.This is to stop the ponies tail from getting in the way of the polo mallet which could potentially harm the pony, also a tail down may obscure the ball from vision.

Polo ponies legs are always bandaged and the ponies often wear protective boots to help protect their legs from the rigours of the game and to give their legs as much support as possible.

History and development

Argentina is the largest exporter of polo ponies. They have created some of the greatest polo ponies on the planet. This has been done by crossing the native Argentine Criollo horse with the Thoroughbred horse.

When polo was first discovered in India by the British the ponies used stood around 12 hands, only ponies could be used in the game until 1919 when height limits were brought to an end.

Hence the term “Polo pony”.

If you are interested in Horses for Sale or more information about popular breeds and types of Horse and Pony visit the Horsewizard website.

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