Why Nigeria Needs Its Own Polo Pony

Nigeria runs the biggest polo tournament in Africa. The 2024 Lagos event ran 48 matches across 39 teams over four weeks, with squads from across Nigeria and Ghana. Almost every pony under those players is bought, not bred, and the supply chain behind them is the weakest link in Nigerian polo.

The import model has three structural problems

Cost. An imported Argentine pony carries purchase price, transport, quarantine and the risk of loss in transit. Every unit of that cost is paid in foreign currency.

Adaptation. A pony raised on Argentine pampas grass and a temperate climate lands in a hot environment with a different pathogen load. It must adapt while it is also being asked to perform. The move adds pressure while the pony is also being asked to perform.

Dependency. A club that can only buy ponies cannot grow its string on its own schedule. Supply is set by someone else's breeding programme and someone else's export decisions.

Nigeria has done this before

Polo reached Lagos in the early twentieth century, and early Nigerian polo was played on local horses. Records cite low maintenance costs for horses in Nigeria as the reason, and name Dongola horses, Barbs and the locally crossed Asben type as the main sources. Katsina's Emir Muhammadu Dikko promoted the game after visiting Hurlingham in the 1920s. His son, Emir Nagogo, played to a +7 handicap, and the Katsina team dominated the Georgian Cup from the 1930s into the 1950s.

The country once produced competitive polo on its own horses. The programme exists to rebuild that capability with modern selection, identification and training.

What the Arewa x Champion Pride programme does differently

The programme pairs native-type Sahel mares with Thoroughbred sires, using frozen semen, to produce the polo pony that Nigerian conditions demand. Three controls separate it from informal breeding:

1. Identification. Microchip and DNA parentage on every pony.
2. Screening. Veterinary results on file, including trypanosomiasis and equine infectious anaemia.
3. Documented start. Every pony follows a written start plan, so a buyer receives a record rather than a verbal account.

What this is not

The programme is in formation. No pony is listed for sale, and nothing on this site is an offer. The interest list is told first when registered stock is ready to view.

Frequently asked questions

Are Nigerian-bred polo ponies as good as imported ones? That is the question the programme is built to answer with data. Argentine polo ponies are themselves a Thoroughbred and Criollo cross developed over a century of selection. The Nigerian programme applies the same logic to a different base mare and a different environment, and publishes the outcomes.

Where does the programme operate? The programme is based in northern Nigeria, in the Sahel belt where the native-type mares originate.

How do I hear about the first foals? Join the interest list through the Enquire page.