In the Hamptons, it seems each summer season is bigger than the last, with hours-long waits at The Crow’s Nest and waves of weekend warriors descending from the city for DJ sets at The Surf Lodge. But beyond the chaos and crowds, a more civilized world persists: polo.

There’s the annual Polo Hamptons cocktail party and polo match at Maria and Kenneth Fishel’s estate in Southampton, two USPA national tournaments—the Continental Cup and the historic Monty Waterbury—and countless matches on fields across the East End. The fast-paced equestrian sport offers a welcome respite from the Hamptons’ summer frenzy—drawing a more cultivated crowd to centuries-old tradition.

One of the oldest recorded sports in history, polo had its origins in Central Asia and modern Iran more than 2,000 years ago. Part pastime, part training for war, the game was popular among Persian military men and nobility (hence its moniker as the Sport of Kings), eventually becoming a national sport and spreading to Constantinople, Tibet, China, Japan, and India.

It was in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur where modern polo originated, when British lieutenant Joseph Sherer witnessed locals playing a version of the sport and was immediately intrigued. Teaming up with Captain Robert Stewart, Sherer formed the world’s first polo club in 1862, Calcutta Polo Club, which is still operating today. The game quickly spread to England, Ireland, Malta, Australia, and Argentina, eventually reaching the United States when the Westchester Polo Club was established in 1876 by James Gordon Bennett, and has been a favorite sport of the global elite in the century-and-a-half since.

Today, the US boasts more than 275 USPA member clubs, with spectators and players traveling to polo fields across the country for tournaments. The sport follows temperate climates, beginning in the equestrian mecca of Wellington, Florida, just outside Palm Beach, where jumpers, dressage, and polo players convene. Wellington is home to the National Polo Center, where the United States Polo Association is based and is host to the sport’s U.S. Open, the most prestigious tournament in the country. As temperatures rise, players move to other wealthy enclaves: west to Santa Barbara’s Polo & Racquet Club, which is known for its welcoming atmosphere, or north to Greenwich and the Hamptons. A smaller cohort also travels to Aspen Valley Polo Club.

As a sport, polo is uniquely expensive—breeding, buying, training, and caring for ponies comes at a high price, particularly when they also need to be regularly transported cross-country or overseas. Team owners, known as patrons, fund the breeding and training of more than 200 to 500 ponies at a time, foot the bill for professional polo players, and often take to the field themselves, enjoying being set up by the pros for key plays during matches. Patrons include Australian multimillionaire David Paradice; Sarah Siegel-Magness, wife of billionaire Gary Magness; Gillian Johnston, daughter of former Coca-Cola CEO Summerfield Johnston Jr.; and Bob Jornayvaz, patron of the legendary Adolfo Cambiaso, who is widely regarded as the greatest polo player of all time.

While summer sports come and go, polo demands a lifetime commitment—to tradition, to excellence, and to the horses that make it possible.