Riders are readying their mallets and fashionistas are fixing their frocks ahead of Barnbougle Polo this Saturday.
This year’s event will be made all-the-more special with an all-Tasmanian team being featured in the competitions.
Horse minder Lach Mackinnon said it was wonderful to be able to assemble a full team of Tasmanians for this weekend.
“I looked through the books last night and I think it’s actually the first time in 100 years that we’ll have actually have a complete team of Tasmanian players on the day,” he said.
Event organiser Penny Sattler said the weather is looking great for the weekend, and that ticket sales, as usual were looking really good.
“We’re hoping for about 2500 or 3000 people, similar to previous years which is really great,” she said. Frustration, however is mounting, according to Barnbougle owner Richard Sattler.
“At times I find it frustrating … It’s a great venue and we give a lot of fun to a lot of people and it’s a big social event for North-East Tasmania but it continues to get harder with some of the lack of co-operation we get in some of the things we try and do for the district,” he said.
Isabel Beard from England grooms former Victorian race horse Kellmick.
“We’re having a lot of trouble getting the horses down [from the mainland] over the last two years and getting sponsors and support for the things we’re doing … it’s pretty disappointing.
“We put it together and put it on in an area where no one thought we’d ever be able to put on an event like this … we don’t always get the co-operation we’d like to get.”
Mr Sattler said since the incident in 2018 in which 16 horses died on the Spirit of Tasmania, paying for horsing imports has risen, complicating the organising of the event.
Polo will run from 12pm until 5pm at Barnbougle, Bridport.