Pato
team sport played on horseback / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pato is a game played on horseback. It adds ideas from polo and basketball. It is the national sport of Argentina.[1]
Pato is Spanish for "duck". The early games used a live duck inside a basket instead of a ball.[2] Pato has been written about since 1610.[3] The playing field would often go between neighboring ranches. The first team to reach its own ranch house with the duck was the winner.
Pato was banned several times during its history. This was due to the violence—not only to the duck; many gauchos were trampled underfoot. Some lost their lives in knife fights started in the heat of the game. In 1796, a Catholic priest said that pato players who died this way should not get Christian burial. Laws saying people could not play pato were common in the 19th century.
During the 1930s, pato had rules added by ranch owner Alberto del Castillo Posse. He made a set of rules based on modern polo. President Juan Perón made pato Argentina's national game in 1953.[4]