First polo lesson in 18 months!!!!

[Ginn]

And I loved it! For someone who is totally uncoordinated and cannot cope with even a simple game of tennis I am very proud of myself as notonly was I hitting the ball 95% of the time from a canter but by the end of the lesson I was able to hit the ball 1/4 of the way down the pitch!! (Sounds poo but for me thats very good!)

And in the last 10 mins we had a little chukka and I scored a goal! Woohooo!

I am sooo sore now though - my right arm feels like jelly (though my wrist is surprisingly ok) and I think I've discovered the best way to develop a secure lower leg - 1hr 45 mins of cantering! Lol!

Only problem is I am now totally hooked again and at £40 a throw for the time being I'm not too sure if my bank balance will ever survive - I might have to take out a student loan after all!

 

[GTs]

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(though my wrist is surprisingly ok)

[/ QUOTE ]

As it shoud be - you should not swing with your wrist, and unless you hit the ground, your wrist does not get much action.

Not sure how polo males your lower leg secure, I find my legs everywhere.

Really pleased you enjoyed it - I must saying having played this week for the first time in a year, it is an incredibly amount of fun. I think Tilly could play.

 

[loopeepee]

Yey!! Polo is just awesome.
10 weeks of it in Argentina, in 3 months and a week

Glad you had a fab time, it really is a drug though

 

[Ginn]

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(though my wrist is surprisingly ok)

[/ QUOTE ]

As it shoud be - you should not swing with your wrist, and unless you hit the ground, your wrist does not get much action.

[/ QUOTE ]



[/ QUOTE ]
Yay! I got something right! Our instructor said that he suspected we'd all have sore wrists by the end of it so I figured that would be the case.

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Not sure how polo males your lower leg secure, I find my legs everywhere.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well the achyness I feel right now suggests that the legs were doing something right!

Over an hour and a half with weight in your legs and a slightly forward seat whilset cantering around...... Only time my leg moved was when I swang for the ball as he had us with our right shoulder parallel to the horse and our body really twisting but even then I felt secure. It was really strange to begin with - polo ponies do not move off leg aids but seat aids on the other hand... Wow! I want my pony to be that responsive!!!

[ QUOTE ]
Really pleased you enjoyed it - I must saying having played this week for the first time in a year, it is an incredibly amount of fun. I think Tilly could play.

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I am hooked - have another lesson booked on wed

and then away next weekend.

I think Tilly could play too loking at the skid marks she made today. That horse can do 0-30 in a blink and then change direction and be back up to speed before you even realise thats what she's done

(do I really want to sit on her?!)

If she doesn't jump then she can go and learn to play polo but I'll leave that to someone that actually knows what they're doing - I don't want to break her

 

[GTs]

I think Tilly can do it all - just becareful who you get to teach her polo, she does not need to play at a high level, just something you can hit a ball around on, and play student chukkars - not worth risking her breaking down, because someone got overzealous!

Pleased you are enjoying polo - it is fun!

 

[Ginn]

Well if you like you can come over and train her up. An eventer with polo pony steering would be fantastic - that way I'll have perfect control when things go wrong!

You can play polo with her and I'll do BE!

 

[squemma40]

I've got a polo pony and an Irish sport horse, I started training the sport horse to play polo in september and he is now neck reining whilst cantering and I'm hitting all the shots off him. So it is possible to train them and he's 12 so they don't have to be young. I had no previous experience of training polo ponies but just started by neck reining as advised by my argentinian coach. If you want any more tips feel free to ask.