The implementation of global positioning systems (GPS) has become widely supported in a variety of sports, due to the insight it provides into athlete workloads, training parameters and playing styles. Despite widely reported use of GPS in equine settings, few studies have quantified the reliability of spatiotemporal characteristics in a dynamic environment of high intensity gameplay. Due to the unique game demands of Polo for both riders and horses, this study aimed to assess the inter-unit reliability between a traditional GPS placement between the shoulder blades and a Polo specific placement on players' belts, in order to inform the feasibility of GPS implementation within Polo. GPS data was collected across 37 unique rider-horse interactions. GPS metrics included distance covered, speeds attained and number of sprints performed. Data was further categorised into respect to equine specific speed zones. All metrics agreed across multiple reliability measures and were deemed qualitatively reliable (ICC>0.70 and CV<10%), with sprint count displaying 100% agreement between units. Findings suggest the spatiotemporal characteristics of Polo can be reliably measured via GPS through a traditional or belt-based placement, which leaves the decision of GPS placement at riders' discretion.

Global positioning systems (GPS) have recently been shown to reliably quantify the spatiotemporal characteristics of Polo, with the physiological demands of Polo play at low- and high-goal levels also investigated. This study aims to describe the spatiotemporal demands of Polo across 0–24 goal levels. A player-worn GPS unit was used to quantify distance, speed and high-intensity activities performed. Data were divided into chukkas and five equine-based speed zones, grouped per cumulative player handicap and assessed using standardized mean differences. Average distance and speed per chukka increased in accordance with cumulative player handicap, with the magnitude of differences being trivial–large and trivial–very large, respectively. Differences between time spent in high-intensity speed zones (zones 4 and 5) show a linear increase in magnitude, when comparing 0 goal Polo to all other levels of play (Small–Very Large; 6–24 goals, respectively). High-intensity activities predominantly shared this trend, displaying trivial–large differences between levels. These findings highlight increased cardiovascular, anaerobic and speed based physiological demands on Polo ponies as playing level increases. Strategies such as high-intensity interval training, maximal speed work and aerobic conditioning may be warranted to facilitate this development and improve pony welfare and performance.

This research was carried out with owner informed consent and in accordance with ethical animal research guidelines (International Guiding Principles for Biomedical Research Involving Animals). Ethical approval for this investigation was provided by Waikato Institute of Technology's (Wintec) ethics committee (Approval code: WTFE2601102018).

This dataset presents information pertaining to the spatiotemporal characteristics of Polo play from a 0 to 24-goal level. Data were collected by player worn GPS units, across a New Zealand Polo season. The dataset comprises observations from 466 chukkas of Polo, across mixed and women’s only Polo and is curated by cumulative player handicap. Data are presented for distance, speed and high intensity metrics, which have further categorised into five equine-based speed zones. The purpose of this dataset is to provide a detailed quantification of a range of Polo performance levels, advancing the scope and size of previous Polo literature that has employed GPS technology. This dataset may be of value to equine scientists and trainers, veterinary practitioners and sports scientists.

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