Paint it Lucky
Well-Known Member
I've had one polo lesson once years ago, other than that I've only ever ridden english style. I have just started riding an ex polo mare for someone, she is a very sweet mare but has had a tough life, passed around a bit, she retired from polo two years ago after getting injured then being neglected. Went to another family who I think just didn't know how to deal with her and so it didn't work out, got neglected again and went to a rescue centre (very underweight, bad feet etc). Her current owner got her from the centre, with good intentions but I think has basically been too scared to ride her so she's just been in a field for over a year. I met her the other week and she asked if I would have a look at her so I went today to see if I thought I could help (the lady would ideally like to be able to hack her eventually). She has a few issues, largely fear based/due to harsh training I suspect. She didn't want me to get on initially, was trying to run away and looked like she might buck me off/spin if I did so I spent a lot of time just putting my foot in the stirrup, hopping around, leaning over her etc etc and giving her loads of praise, patting etc when she stood still (which she enjoyed), managed to mount up after this with no dramas. Once I was on I tried some basic steering, stopping and starting etc. She has obviously been taught to neck rein and did this easily though she did start to get the hang on normal rein aids by the end. I was being very gentle with her as didn't want to provoke her to do anything bad (she felt like the type that if you pushed her too much she would just try and have you off), she wasn't really sure what I wanted when first asking her to walk on, just with gentle leg aids, eventually got it when I gave her loads of praise for moving and then realised what I wanted and was much more obliging. She just felt a bit confused mainly! She is a sweetheart though, once she knew what I wanted she would do it. She just felt like people have fought with her a lot in the past so her natural reaction was to fight back. I think she expected me to be the same and was quite surprised that I didn't try to beat her up or force her to do anything. So she is my new project 
As I have very limited polo experience I wondered if anyone would tell me what sort of aids polo riders use on their horses/ what the horses understand as it will help me understand this mare better and work out how best to work with her. I know they tend to use strong bits and do lots of spinning (my mare kept trying to do this at first when she wasn't sure what I wanted!) Anything else they do that might be different from standard english riding? I did expect this mare to be a bit funny in her mouth but actually she was fine so that's one good thing! Plan to work on lots of transitions initially just so she knows what I want. Sorry this is quite long! Any help/advice/shared experiences would be greatly appreciated
As I have very limited polo experience I wondered if anyone would tell me what sort of aids polo riders use on their horses/ what the horses understand as it will help me understand this mare better and work out how best to work with her. I know they tend to use strong bits and do lots of spinning (my mare kept trying to do this at first when she wasn't sure what I wanted!) Anything else they do that might be different from standard english riding? I did expect this mare to be a bit funny in her mouth but actually she was fine so that's one good thing! Plan to work on lots of transitions initially just so she knows what I want. Sorry this is quite long! Any help/advice/shared experiences would be greatly appreciated
