El Metejon Polo Club, Buenos Aires

Written by Jill, visited November 2024

El Metejon Polo Club – November 2024

Partner and Owner Jill Dolan visited El Metejon with a private group and little did she realise how much love she would have for this game!

Excited to be in Argentina and to visit one of the best Polo Clubs in Buenos Aires, El Metejon. Although not a Polo player of any sort, Zara who had visited before Covid had reassured me that it was great fun and I’d be cantering my horse up and down the pitch within a lesson or two – how right she was!

El Metejon is owner managed, which is what we love at Zara’s Planet and aim to offer when we build a partnership – it always means our clients get to meet and hang out with the people on the ground – and you couldn’t meet a nicer couple than Dutch born Fleur and her Argentine, Professional playing husband Luis – they were around us all the time of our stay, Luis joined us practicing stick and ball on the field and both of them sat, chatted and laughed with us over lunches and dinners, it gave us such a great insight to their Polo lives in this Buenos Aires hot spot. Polo is often regarded as pretentious, a game for the elite, but there’s none of this air or feel about this place, just a heartfelt passion for the sport and the joy of introducing anyone interested in trying out the sport – equally as we experienced, this is a place to visit if you want to play seriously, we met other clients flying in from LA, Canada and Australia staying for week stay of training and practice sessions. They were as welcoming and friendly as Fleur and Luis too, they must attract similar people!

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El Metejon is so easy to get to, just 15 minutes from the International airport and we were picked up on time after our flight from the UK. It worked really well and anyone landing into Buenos Aires, even if you are travelling onto an Estancia or a trail ride over the Andes, this is a brilliant stopover to recover, relax before your onward journey, even if you don’t want to play Polo you can stay at their gorgeous lodge with a swimming pool which is set in lush gardens with the most beautiful birdlife. This what we were doing there, best of both worlds, getting an intro into playing Polo before heading up to experience a real Gaucho Estancia stay at Estancia Don Joaquin.

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Our room was a real treat, lovely and spacious with the most comfortable beds. The central part of the lodge, where we socialised and ate, had a huge sitting room and dining room where we all sat and enjoyed the most delicious 3 course lunches and dinners, plus relaxing outdoor space that looked onto the pool and the Polo pitches. It had a stylish home from home feel, really relaxing and we didn’t want for anything, drinks flowed and chatter was constant!

Onto the riding – the horses we rode were excellent, perfectly turned out, in top condition and very well behaved. Sometimes when you get on a horse you feel you need to bond, suss them out, create a partnership, but none of that here, these are bold, happy, work focused horses that are calm and know their job – they feel secure from the offset, so there’s no messing about – you hop on, have some instruction on how to hold your stick, how to hit the ball and you are off.

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We practiced for 15 minutes, (with arm and hand starting already to ache but you just ignore it!) then comes a change of fresh horse, a quick turnaround and you are back on the field. I started off cautiously aware I didn’t want to wallop my horse, but with every shot I improved (lots missed, lots hit) and our professional took it in turns to ride behind us, so when we missed shots, he generously played the ball forward for us so we could continue with the momentum of play.

By the next session, I was cantering to the ball and swinging out of my saddle to the right to play – it felt great and in my mind I was playing the game! Needless to say I am hooked and if I get any opportunity to play again I will and I have promised myself to go back there as soon as I can to enjoy a full week – maybe if I work hard enough I’ll be get to play some chukkas! I was definitely kicking myself and wising I had stayed at least a couple of nights more, because I really did enjoy the game!

Of course, when I watched the LA lot ride, I realised how far I needed to get to make it into a match, there’s a lot more to it than just cantering slowly to one ball and giving it a pop! A lot of skill and thought BUT it still didn’t detract from how much enjoyment I did get from my own full day of sessions!

ANYONE can visit here and I mean it, from total beginner to some-one who plays regularly, you’ll have the most beautiful stay and ride some excellent horses. Bring your non rider friend or partner too, there’s loads to do, lovely walks on the estate, great viewing places if they want to watch with play, with a glass of wine! The swimming pool, plus Buenos Aires is on your door step, easy to uber in and out, explore, visit some fancy steak restaurants, take in a Tango show, walk around the endless parks, art galleries and museums!

See the full ride details on our website.