Speaking ahead of this Sunday's Test match between Aus- tralia and England at Windsor Polo Club, Meally said the game favoured by people such as James Packer and Prince Charles was no dearer than any other equestrian sport.

And Riverlands is the best place to get started, with approximately 100 people coming through the gates of the largest training club in NSW to try polo every year.

Meally said all you needed to play polo was the ability to canter a horse up the field in a straight line.

"If you can ride a horse, you can play polo, and it doesn't matter how long ago you rode," he said.

"People come out here and we get them on the wooden horse and teach them shots, before we go to real horses and show them how to hit the ball.

"After that we'll get them to come out for some chukkas and we slowly introduce them into the game.

"We also do introductory clinics two to three times a year where we take up to 10 people with a couple of coaches over a weekend and show them the basics of polo to get them to where they can have a pretty good grounding if they want to continue playing."

Meally said polo was growing fast, and he had seen a significant increase in numbers taking lessons.

"When we first started this business we weren't even coaching, we were more just a livery, looking after clients' horses, but slowly over the years we started seeing a few people who want to play," he said.

"A lot just come in for one lesson and that's enough, others have a casual stick and ball and then we get 10 per cent that really want to start the game, and they end up buying horses and getting right into it.

"It's no more expensive than any other equestrian sport and the great thing about polo is it can be enjoyed at so many different levels."

Meally, who has been coaching for 12 years, said he was seeing a lot of thrill-seekers taking lessons.

"It's now considered the new adrenaline sport in Sydney, it's taking over from skydiving and rockclimbing," he said.

For details on learning to play polo, visit www.riverland spolo.com.au

The International Polo Test will be played at the Windsor Polo Club from 2.30pm on Sunday, with entry starting at $15 and gates opening at 9.30am with a colts match beforehand - visit www.wpc.org.au for more details.