POWER OF POLO AND EBONY HORSE CLUB PILOT PROGRAMME

21st & 22nd March, 2026

In March Power of Polo was thrilled to partner with Ebony Horse Club, ML Community Enterprise and the Metropolitan Police to run a new weekend pilot programme.

Seven young people from MLCE, aged 15 and 16, and three serving Metropolitan Police Officers came together for a two-day course focused on strengthening relationships in the community, inspired by Power of Polo’s groundbreaking 2023 residential, documented in our film Breaking Barriers.

Day one took place at long-term PoP partner Cool Hooves Polo in Berkshire, and the participants were “really thrown in at the deep end!” as Joe, one of the police officers, said. Everyone in the group, young people and police officers alike, had little to no equine experience and this meant everyone found themselves on the same level, concentrating on learning to ride a horse and swing a polo stick rather than preconceptions about one another. The morning focused on getting to know the ponies, basic riding skills, and stickwork on wooden horses, before the group was treated to a fascinating talk from Roddy Matthews, the HPA’s Head of High Goal and International Polo, on communicating with horses and retraining thoroughbreds for polo.

Some improvised competitive athletics at lunchtime helped any shyness to evaporate but it was nonetheless a daunting task to get back on and play a real chukka in the afternoon. Teamwork across barriers was the aim and this was developed through mixed teams of police and young people. Despite some fears to overcome, everyone took part and there were smiles all round when achievements were celebrated at the Royal County of Berkshire Clubhouse afterwards, with prizes kindly presented by RCBPC Chairman Jamie Morrison.

Ben, one of the young people from MLCE, summed up what he’d learnt about horses, having never had any equine interaction before. “I think horses just have a good energy around them and like, they can just feel your energy when you’re around them. They’re quiet animals…I like it because they’re peaceful and elegant. They’ve taught me about patience and that you sometimes have to find a different way to approach things to get what you want. And me and Joe…we were on the same team!”

Day two took place back on the participants’ home turf in South London, at the wonderful Ebony Horse Club in Brixton. This was a much gentler day and focused on interacting with horses from the ground. Building on the ideas introduced by Roddy Matthews, there was plenty of time to develop relationships with horses and each other. Participants grazed horses in hand, groomed them, and learnt more about how to communicate through kindness and teamwork during ground-based exercises. “If you look after a horse, it will look after you!” said Joe, who serves with the Metropolitan Police in their Community Engagement programme. “To have all got out of London and then to have been thrown into an environment that no one knows, to adapt to that risk and learn together has been incredible. And then to come back here to Brixton together, as police and young people from the community, and to work together again as a team has been immensely powerful for us all. It’s shown us that we’re all human.”

Katy Hayward, Founder and CEO of Power of Polo, commented: “Being able to finally put together our ‘Breaking Barriers’ film reinforced the incredible, unique power polo and horses have to bring people from different backgrounds together and how valuable a tool this is for the polo community to give back and make a difference. We are so grateful to our long-term friends Ebony Horse Club for enabling us to try this programme in a new, shorter format, with the added benefit of a day at Ebony. It’s been great to work with MLCE and the Metroplitan Police again and even in this short time, we’ve seen real progress in how these two groups are interacting with each other. Once again, it’s testament to the healing powers of horses and we hope they can all take this positivity back into their communities. It’s been a wonderful weekend and are looking forward to refining and developing this programme and going on to do more with these partners.”

Power of Polo would like to thank Ebony Horse Club, ML Community Enterprise, the Metropolitan Police, Cool Hooves Polo, the Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club and Roddy Matthews for their support and involvement in this pilot programme. For more information on this or other Power of Polo activities please contact: katie.baines@powerofpolo.org.uk