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By LISA G. CURRIE
Rappahannock Newi Staff Writer
Rappahannock County has a national winner.
The Rappahannock Polo team “left the gold at Fort Knox but brought home the silver,” said team captain William “Bill” Fannon.
The huge sterling trophy set on a walnut base engraved with 24 years of winners is fair reward for the long hours, hard work and physical strain the four-man team endured.
Polo is a game where rider and horse gain points by placing a small four-inch-round plastic ball weighing three to four ounces into a goal.
The rider hits the ball with a mallet shaped somewhat like a croquet mallet, though smaller and thinner.
Over 20 balls are used in one game. The constant smashing by the mallet crushes the plastic.
The game is fast and often dangerous for rider and horse, as both are in constant movement.
“You have to be fit,” said team captain Fannon, a 60-year-old man who, each spring, works, conditions and schools horses three to four hours a day in preparation for the polo season.
“The horse is extremely fit and well cared for,” he said, explaining that one polo game takes six to seven horses.
“You play one horse per period,” he explained, adding seven horses are required in case of injury.
One period lasts 7Vz minutes.
“One period to a horse is the same as riding him at whip for three miles,” said Mr. Fannon, adding polo is played under summer sun and
Wood endorses
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