Peter Cheung’s Ready for a Swing is a dynamic equestrian painting showing a polo player leaning forward on horseback, mallet raised and poised for action. The rider is seen from behind, dressed in blue with white breeches and helmet, while the horse pushes through the lower portion of the composition with loose, energetic strokes of brown, black, green and white.

The painting is less concerned with precise sporting detail than with movement and atmosphere. Cheung uses expressive brushwork, sweeping lines and layered colour to suggest the speed and tension of the moment just before the player strikes. The long diagonal of the mallet draws the eye upward through the composition, while the rider’s bent posture creates a strong sense of concentration and forward momentum.

The background is highly abstracted, built from vertical passages of deep blue, green, white and bright red-orange. These colours give the work a lush, almost tropical energy, while also keeping the focus on the rider and horse. The open, painterly handling makes the scene feel immediate, as though caught in the middle of play.