Page 82 - The Royal Lancers Chapka 2018

80 REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL LANCERS (QUEEN ELIZABETHS’ OWN) Polo – APoloA expedition to Mongolia
In 1162 Gehngis Khan was born in the Khentii mountains of the North-Eastern Mongolian Steppe. By the time he was 30 he had conquered 70% of the known civilisations and to date is responsible for the largest empire ever. He did this with vast armies of mounted horsemen who appropriated military tech- nology from every society they encountered (and subsequently crushed). Their force was merciless.
Apart from the myriad of other aspects of today we can thank Lord of the Sea of Grass for – including the military decimal system, armour, broadswords, siege warfare and to some extent, fingerspitzengefuhl – is polo. Developed from other equestrian games such as Al Kabouzi (or Buzkashii), Polo was born in the western regions of Ghengis’ empire in what we would know as Persia. It is with some surprise then that I was asked by director Army Polo Association (APoloA), Lieutenant Colonel Simon Ledger to join a team that would travel to Mongolia to teach the Mongolian Armed forces polo. You would rather think it might be the other way around?
The team assembled at Gatwick, a truly D&I polo team. Major Janet Johnson (AGC), Lieutenant Paul Erahaimene (a reservist from QARANC) and Colonel Dicky Winchester (RA) accompa- nied by our coach, Gaston Devrient. 12 hours later and a day layover in Beijing we were en route to Ulan Batoor courtesy of Mongol Air.
A three hour flight perhaps demonstrates how unfathomably huge Mongolia is. The Beijing to Ulanbatoor flight crosses
the Great Gobi desert; the same journey by car would be a
day of straight desert highway. Ghengis crossed the desert
with tens of thousands of men and women on horseback
in a week. Ulanbatoor is an anti-climax of a city. One of the most atmospherically polluted in the world, it is not bizarre to see a 30-story modern skyscraper surrounded by traditional felt Gers. These tents are made of pressed sheep and goat
wool and then stretched over a wooden framework. They house the entire family in about four square metres.
Yet still we had not reached our destination. Only four hours later, four complex river crossings involving the might of the Mongol Armoured Engineers, did we finally make the Khan polo club near Terelj. We were unsure at first, mainly due to the lack of a polo field. The presence of one man piloting a mower – the sort you might imagine in a Beatrix potter book – valiantly up and down the ‘field’ suggested that there may be one; maybe
by next summer. Near him were eight horsemen on ponies that were only just taller than a Shetland pony: the Mongolian Armed Forces Polo team.
The first day not only was the same day that the field was ‘pre- pared’ but also the same as when all the horses were finally brought off the hill. Naturally in the span of a year on the hill they had made more horses and these required branding. Mongolian branding lacks finesse: it’s more of a strength competition and