The Beaufort Badge

The Beaufort Bronze – An introduction to Polo.

The Beaufort Bronze Badge is open to everyone, catering to complete beginners all the way through to those who are ready to move up in the levels. We will help prepare you for your final assessment with all the information and practise you need in order to complete the badge with flying colours.

The Bronze Badge covers everything you need to know to get your started in the world of polo, including: 

• An overview of the history of polo 
• An overview of the equipment used by the players 
• An overview of the horses tack
• A basic understanding of the game
• Horsemanship knowledge; how to care for and prepare a polo pony for training and matches 

Our HPA Certified coaches will help you every step of the way and teach you everything you need to know to move up the levels.

To complete the first level of the Beaufort Badge all participants are required to have completed a minimum of 2 hours training at Beaufort Polo School before taking their Beaufort Bronze Badge. If your still not sure whether you are quite ready to work your way through the levels you can book further training with one of our HPA accredited coaches.

The Beaufort Bronze Badge test takes 1 hour to complete; the participant is assessed on the following:

• Their knowledge of the basic shots in polo
• Their knowledge of the basic rules (line of the ball, off side shots and hooking)
• Their understanding of horsemanship, This will include plaiting and putting up a polo ponies tail and showing an understanding for different parts of the bridle and saddle.

The Beaufort Silver – Aimed at those looking to advance their knowledge on the rules and stable management

Ready to take the next step! The Beaufort Silver Badge is the next level in the Beaufort Badge series, where our coaches will help to prepare you to be chukka ready.

The Silver Badge will delve deeper into the art of polo allowing participants to extend their knowledge in the following areas:

• The rules and tactics of polo
• Better understand how a basic foul is committed and the repercussions
• Skills required for a competitive chukka; taking back hand and offside shots at a canter

As a result the skills acquired in training will allow participants to take part in instructional chukkas in a safe but fun manner.

The Beaufort Silver Badge test takes 1 hour to complete with a minimum of 6 hours training to be completed beforehand to ensure you are ready to complete the assessment successfully.

Graduates of the Silver Badge will be able to and assessed on:

• Preparing a polo pony ready for chukkas; to include putting on bandages, plaiting and putting up the tail, putting studs in and tacking up the pony
• Participants will also be able to make both offside and nearside shots at a canter and participate in an instructional chukka to show their understanding of  being able to follow the line of the ball, give right of way and perform hooking
• During the instructional chukka your knowledge will also be tested to check you are able to recognise obvious fouls and have a good understanding of the game.

The Beaufort Gold – Aimed at those wanting to advance in the levels and obtain their HPA handicap and Beaufort Polo Club Playing Membership.

The Beaufort Gold Badge is the final step to help prepare you for becoming a Beaufort Member and entering into tournaments and club chukkas. 

Our HPA Certified coaches will ensure you have a wide knowledge, clear understanding and ability of the following:

• All the rules required for you to pass your HPA rules test.
• Ability to perform all shots and determine when is and is not the correct moment to play them 
• Ability to play comfortably in an instructional chukka and be able to follow the rules
• The knowledge of how to take care of the horse properly, as they quite literally do all the leg work. Therefore, all graduates must be able to demonstrate good stable management to include the appropriate care for horses pre and post chukka.

Before taking the 1 hour and 30 minute Beaufort Gold Assessment you must have completed 6 hours of training and a minimum of 6 instructional chukkas.

If the participant is able to complete all the criteria from the Gold Badge you will be ready to start playing in club chukkas and soon after tournaments! Maybe you’ll be the next Gerald Balding or Claire Tomlinson!