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PHOTO FEATURE The government outlawed pato at various points throughout the 19th century, and the church chimed in as well, excommunicating players. But the game gradually became more civilized and moved to a designated field, and by the late 1930s, pato rules were codified. There are plenty of similarities between pato and polo, as both have teams of four face off to score goals against one another and several 8-minute periods in a game. But while polo players hit the ball with a mallet, pato players play with a "pato" (a soccer ball with leather handles) that they toss into goals resembling giant butterfly nets. The game has more similarities to horseball than polo, and in fact shares a national governing body with that sport. These days, pato enthusiasts obsess over breeding fast, handy horses for the sport, largely criollos, Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds, many of which also help with livestock on the farm as well. While polo has a reputation as an elite sport, pato is proud of its modest roots. Families tend to care for the horses themselves, rather than grooms, and players regularly pool money to pay for the required on-site ambulance. Juan Perón declared pato the country's national sport in 1953, much to the consternation of soccer fans, who introduced a bill into Congress in 2010 in an attempt to thwart that designation. While most Argentines know vaguely what pato entails, it remains a largely insulated, grassroots affair, despite a well-publicized annual championship in December in Buenos Aires. French-based photojournalist Emmanuel Ortiz grew up riding horses in Argentina but largely stopped riding when he moved across the Atlantic 54 W INTER 2013 U N TAC K E D After the match riders congratulate one another on good sport.

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