The Sport of Kings: Polo

Training starts from birth, and for these newborns, getting used to being around humans is the first lesson.

[Owen Rinehart: That one's mother is a great horse, but she's mean.]

They are all descendants of great polo ponies, bred from champion stock.

Owen Rinehart: We want these to hopefully one day be in either the U.S. Open, the British Open or the Argentine Open. Those are the three biggest tournaments in the world.

These horses won't be ready for professional polo until they're six or seven - pretty old compared to a racehorse which peaks at three or four.

Lara Logan: So he could turn out to be a champion polo horse.

Owen Reinhart: I believe he will be.

Lara Logan: Which would mean he'd be worth what?

Owen Reinhart: Up-- I think that sort of the top end now is $200,000.

Polo ponies don't spend long in the ring, but Owen told us this is a critical part of their training, because it's here that he determines how sensitive their mouth is to the reins.

Owen Reinhart: It's all about pressure and this is very light pressure and you want a horse to have a light mouth.

On the field, they get used to full contact and learn how to compete at top speed. The best polo ponies like the ones bred here can play for 10 years or longer.

Lara Logan: That's amazing to see her weave like that from side to side.

Owen showed us what a champion horse can do.

Owen Reinhart: When she feels this...

Lara Logan: Yeah.

Owen Reinhart: She goes that way. When she feels the reigns on the other side she goes the other way. It's all her and it's literally that or that.

Professional players like Nacho travel with their best horses. He brought 13 of the 300 he told us he owns here to the Bridgehampton Polo Club on Long Island where he was playing in a six-week tournament.

His wife and children travel with him as much as they can. Professional polo keeps Nacho on the road seven months a year, competing in a series of international tournaments, from Singapore to Spain.

Polo at his level costs millions of dollars and is paid for by the ultra-rich, like Peter Brant, who owns two polo clubs and his own team. Nacho spent years playing for him.

Lara Logan: So this is your polo field?

Peter Brant: Yes.

Peter Brant: I have one polo field here. And we have two across the road for the Greenwich Polo Club.

We met him on his estate in Connecticut. He's what's known in polo as a patron.

Peter Brant: If the team runs into deficit, he covers it, and if it runs a profit, he keeps it. That's what a patron is.

Lara Logan: Have you covered more deficits or kept some profits over the years?

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[svspag01]

I loved this piece! I'd much rather see more sports like polo and rugby on TV than American football and baseball. I can't believe how negative all the comments are though. The economic status of American people has nothing to do with this article or sport.
I just started learning polo! and guess how much it cost me...$1000 or more? no $325! yeah...$325/semester for unlimited riding. Polo is not only for the elite, rich, or the %1. My team and I raise our money ourselves. We take what we can get, work with old tack and equipment, our horses/tack are donated, and the boarding/grooming/veterinary/farrier is up to us. For the first time ever our school gave us $5,000 this spring (after pushing them) and that was a huge deal for us. Aside from that it's our responsibility to get money in the bank any way we can. We take amazing care of our ponies and put so much work into making sure they are taken care of and stabled at a trustworthy place. And they're not going to the glue factory!
Sure, the CBS program's main focus was the world of professional polo and that is no comparison to collegiate arena polo, but I don't understand why people are attacking this article? Don't say polo is for the elite because I can guarantee if any of you told any one of my teammates they would be playing polo in college they wouldn't believe it or just laugh.
Also, "And they added the black guy at the end...are you f'n kidding me?" timpcfcgrv So??? The objective wasn't he's a black, poor, minority let's make polo look charitable. The program Work to Ride is doing a great thing. Those kids are so fortunate to have that opportunity and I hope there are more programs like that out there! This summer I'll be working free labor as a groom in exchange to ride and keep up my playing.
So, for all you complainers, I hope this gives a little more perspective on the sport. We're not all rich and can throw our money around but some of us know that if there is a will there is a way.
PLEASE feel free to check out our team!!! http://uoflpolo.org/home.html we're always trying to get more recognition :)

[Frameofview]

To begin (from an experienced horseman and writer), EVERY non-western 'horse-sport' is a supposed 'Sport of Kings'...from racing to show-jumping and dressage. Some involve more skill, refinement and humanity than others to create 'beauty' and 'exhilaration' in the fantasy centaur-like performance. The sobering truth is that the lives of most polo ponies and their rider are of the utmost 'brusque', 'barbarous', and 'unrefined'. Absolutely torturous to many polo ponies...and the riders are almost debilitatingly mono-depressing until the end of the show or match or race. Riding a retired polo pony is usually a most unpleasant experience. Their mouths are hardened - extremely heavy in the hand, roached manes that don't return, and they are disposed of like candy wrappers when their injuries compile...they are sold for dog food, glue, and worse. It is so sickeningly disheartening what happens to many of them...just like old male fashion models who fail to shine again in any other line of work...

[Frameofview]

oh...and level of his attractiveness is totally subjective. His net worth is posted on Forbes for 30 million. For some reason, these fashion czars love him. I don't understand why except that he sounds incredibly depressed.

[ejm4]

So you want the next line up of 60mins to be:
"100 ways with potato peelings and other fantastic money saving tips"
"I'm in the gutter but looking at the stars - a down and out tells his story."
"Grapes of Wrath revisited 2012"
Can't wait.

[lagniappegirl]

interesting story on polo in Aiken. Just FYI sixty minutes reporter, there aren't any "ranches" in Aiken. We call them "horse farms". This ain't Texas, ma'am.

[apple232323]

i have to say that i am extremely disappointed with 60 minutes and this piece. why would you show a piece like this during these tough economic times. it only demonstrates just how out of touch some of the producers are at 60 minutes. these are not the types of stories we are interested in hearing about right now.

nacho himself is also completely out of touch with reality and the rest of the world. for him to say that if you grow up in argentina that you'll probably end up playing polo is ridiculous. if you grow up in argentina you'll most likely end up playing SOCCER, not polo. hello!! you cannot be serious with that comment! the argentines live and breathe soccer NOT polo. hardly anybody in argentina cares or knows anything about polo.

[La_Molkas]

Seriously Lara Logan???? in many years of watching 60 minutes I have never seen anything so ridiculous as this segment.

1)For this segment to air on a time when so many people are unemployed or under-employed and to boast of 50K tables at Governor's Island is insulting.

2) For Nacho or Lara to say that all kids in Argentina dream of growing up and being Polo players is absolutely stupid - I think we would all agree that kids in Argentina probably grow up dreaming of being Futball players

3) And as mentioned above - just looking at the horses break my hear - injuries, abuse, etc.

Please refrain from producing, distributing, and airing segments like this again!

[Tooch55]

The POLO Story was F- piece, while the Congo story was an A+ 60 minute producers really totally blew it running the Polo story while there is a record number of Americans in poverty, and millions unable to find suitable work. And yes, most of the problems that America is having is due to the 1 percent that this story was aiming to please.

[timpcfcgrv]

And they added the black guy at the end...are you f'n kidding me?

[timpcfcgrv]

And they added the black guy at the end...are you f'n kidding me?

[timpcfcgrv]

Are you kidding me? Polo? Why is this chick even on 60 minutes? Is she f'n the producer? I am so sick right now considering Mike Wallaces' death. He is not buried and he is already turning over in his grave.