Working in polo in Argentina

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ajph

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Next February I will begin work at a racing yard in Australia down near Perth, after 6 months there I will then move on to the East coast to work at a show jumping yard. After I've done my time in Australia I'm interested to continue my travels to Argentina to work in a polo yard.
However, I have never played or worked with polo before and am an 18 year old girl. Anyone done what I'm doing? Is it stupid and dangerous and am I guaranteed to get treated like **** in Argentina? Anyone got any tips as to how to get a job in polo having never previously worked in it (want to experience many different disciplines whilst I can travel too)

Anyone's thoughts and opinions are all welcome! Including telling me it's the worst idea ever! Very open for discussion - Thanks in advance x
 
I was near Buenos Aires a couple of months ago, and visited a polo ranch. There was a demo game put on for the tourists...mixed teams. The best player was a young german woman. Some of the others were foreign too. I don't think your age or sex will be against you. We also stayed on a family run estancia...both male and female family members led rides. All gauchos were male though.
Argentina is a fabulous place, and safe for women. I think your travels sound amazing...the very best of luck to you :-)
 
Try getting in touch with estancia los potreros. They are a family run ranch. The husband grew up in Argentina and the wife is British originally. They do a lot of polo. I was there on a riding holiday in April and loved every minute of it. They take on seasonal workers every season. When i was there, there were several English girls there who were all working as part of gap years
 
I would try and do some polo work here in uk to get contacts, most that play here I summer have farms etc in arg over the winter so maybe if you get to know someone here you could help them out over there. Good luck sounds amazing!
 
My friend did similar although she was slightly older than you. She went for 6 months, but ended up staying 4 years and she just got engaged so staying over long term! She didn't know anything about polo either but she worked in ranches where she mainly had to take clients for hacks. Apparently the hacking is incredible! I think it's a very popular job with foreigners, especially women, and if you have a pleasant and bubbly personality (for the clients) you will fit right in.
 
I read a very factual documentary-type book about working with polo ponies in Argentina and the UK. You might find it useful for information and contacts. It's called Polo and the author is J. Cooper. :-)

Sounds like a great adventure. Best of luck.
 
Good luck to you Ajph!

I'm seconding ZondaR, I love Jilly Cooper books, she writes the best ever horsey stuff! Polo and Riders are some of my favourite books ever, and Polo describes the Argentinian polo scene so well. It is a sort of romance/comedy novel as well though so expect some rollicking in the hay and all that ;)
 
Just wrote a long reply and deleted it...aah!

I've been to Argentina quite a few times to play polo, it is a wonderful place to play, great standard of play and depending on where you were there are some female players ( but there is only one other girl player at the club I play at!) The grooming world is very much male dominated, I have actually never seen a female groom at the club, but at the Estancia where I stay all the grooms are girls and european! So it's really a case of choosing where you work! The estancia does ranch rides as well as polo so it's not just polo though.

I'd recommend posting on Polo Grooms Wanted/Needed on facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/181225948566069/
There are usually jobs on there, and people will be able to give you advice.

All I'd say is that polo grooming is hard work but awesome fun. I did a season grooming in NZ and it was the best time of my life, and even in the UK I've loved grooming. Enjoy- polo is the most fun!
 
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