Arena and snow polo: what changes for the player.

Arena and snow polo use most of the same rules and skills as outdoor polo on grass. What changes is the space, the ball, the surface and how close the other players are. This page covers what sources say those changes mean for the player. The formats and their rules in full are on arena, snow and beach polo, and the kit is on arena and snow gear.

Arena polo: the basics that shape play

The HPA's Arena Polo Hub describes the format: three players a side in an all-weather arena of about 300 by 150 feet, usually four chukkas, with ends changed after each chukka. The ball is larger than the outdoor ball, the goal area has a height limit, and spurs are not allowed. The HPA says the object and the main rules are the same as outdoor polo. Its "about polo" page adds that in arena polo a goal scored from behind the 25-yard line counts two.

The HPA also says a player's arena handicap is normally one goal higher than his outdoor handicap, subject to its Arena Handicap Committee. See handicaps.

The walls and the ball

Two things set arena play apart, according to the sources we read:

• The boards are part of the game. Hickstead, home of the All England Polo Club, says shots and angles can be played off the boarded sides of the arena.
• The ball bounces. Wikipedia (a secondary source) says the arena ball is played on dirt and bounces on the uneven surface and off the walls, that there is no out of bounds, and that the small space keeps opponents close, which makes the game physical.

We did not find a coach or school that has written down how the swing or shot selection should change for the arena, or how to play rebounds off the boards. Hickstead's single line is the closest. If you are moving from grass to the arena, ask your instructor.

A place to learn, and a place to bring on young ponies

The Pony Club's 2026 "New to Polo" information pack calls the arena a great place to learn, in a safe and secure environment, and notes that arena polo is three a side against four outdoors. Tedworth Park Polo Club in the UK says it can teach polo year-round in its 40 m by 80 m arena, with the official arena season running from November to March.

Hickstead says arena polo is also an ideal way to bring on young horses, and to settle horses that are a handful on a big summer pitch.

Riding a pony you have never played: US college and school polo

USPA Intercollegiate and Interscholastic polo is played three a side in an arena, usually on dirt, as Horse Nation described it in March 2015. Every game uses a split string: each pony plays once for each team, and riders draw ponies at random from the host club. Riders therefore have to adapt to an unfamiliar pony. Horse Nation adds that riders groom and care for their assigned horses during tournaments, which it says puts the emphasis on horsemanship. See college and youth polo.

Snow polo

Both of our snow polo sources come from St. Moritz in Switzerland. They describe it as a different game from grass polo in pace and contact:

• Pace and technique. Reto Gaudenzi, founder of St. Moritz snow polo, told blue News in January 2025 that snow polo is a more flexible game, perhaps less fast than on grass but with more technique.
• Contact. Gaudenzi says physical contact between opponents is more intense on snow.
• Nearside play. The St. Moritz rules guide (2024) describes nearside play as looping the mallet hand over to the pony's left and twisting in the saddle, and calls the tail stroke one of the trickiest manoeuvres.

Why the snow field is smaller: sources differ

The St. Moritz field is usually about 90 by 220 metres, depending on conditions, against 182 by 274 metres for an official international field, according to the 2024 St. Moritz rules guide. The two St. Moritz sources give different reasons:

• Reto Gaudenzi (blue News, 2025): the ball travels less far on snow, so the pitch is smaller.
• St. Moritz rules guide (2024): physical strain is greater on snow and at winter altitude.

Both reasons may apply. Neither source rules out the other.

Rules the St. Moritz guide highlights

The 2024 guide says professionals play under FIP and SPA rules. High-goal snow matches are normally four chukkas of 7.5 minutes, the last being 7 minutes, and a pony may play at most two non-consecutive chukkas in a match. Riding off must be parallel to the player with the right of way, not at an angle, and hooking above the body of the opponent's pony is not allowed. For the grass-polo rules on both, see riding off and hooking.

The ponies' footing

Gaudenzi says snow polo shoes were originally fitted with a leather piece between shoe and hoof to stop snow packing, and that this has since been replaced by a synthetic material.