Getting Your Horse Ready

Can my  horse attend a polo clinic?

Most ‘broke’ horses can participate in basic polo activities.  If your horse…

    -is any size or breed.
    -can reliably walk, trot, canter, and halt.
    -can be ridden with the reins in your left hand.
    -is not prone to kicking, biting, bucking, or rearing, and is safe to ride 
     close to other horses.
    -has been desensitized to objects moving around his head or on the ground 
     (exercises listed below).

Then, yes, your horse should do just fine in a polo clinic.

Do I have to use a particular kind of tack?

Nope. Use your regular tack, English or Western.  Many players don’t start using polo-
specific tack until they have been playing a while.  If you have polo wraps, sports
medicine boots, or bell boots, DO put them on your horse to protect his legs from
accidental thumps with the mallet.

What do I need to wear?

Wear your normal riding clothes. At minimum, you should wear jeans or breeches,
riding boots, t-shirt, and riding helmet.  The ‘official’ uniform of a polo player is jeans
 or breeches, tall boots, polo shirt, and riding helmet. Full or half chaps are fine, but not
necessary. Thin leather riding gloves are also useful for preventing blisters from the
mallet.

What can I do to get my horse ready?

First, if your horse isn’t being ridden regularly, start getting him in shape.

Next, here are some exercises you can do to help get your horse used to the idea of
playing polo. You can use whatever you have on hand, but in general it’s good to have:  a
long stick or old broom, inflatable balls (‘baby’ soccer or toy balls are best, though real
soccer balls, volleyballs, etc are fine), and a friend with a horse.

NOTE: Start all exercises slowly and carefully, until you’re sure your horse isn’t going to
spook. You might even need a parent or friend on the ground to help you get started, and
wear a helmet--most horses find at least a few things that are spooky during this
process.
 

Exercise 1.  Getting used to the mallet.  Standing beside your horse, hold a long stick in
your right hand and gently wave it all around his head and body.  Get on, and continue
waving the stick past the horse’s head, along his sides, behind his rump, etc. Start with
slow movements and work up to swinging the sticks in big arcs (careful not to hit your
horse in the head!). Once he’s fine with your stick, ride around at all gaits swinging your
stick. Reach out and tap things with your stick, especially anything that will make a noise
or move (careful—some horses spook at this point).

Exercise 2.  Getting used to the ball.  Start back on the ground again, holding your horse,
and with several balls. Roll or toss balls near your horse. Start carefully, and work up to
tossing under his belly and nose. Get on, and have a friend continue rolling balls past and
under your horse while you’re riding.

Once your horse is calm with these two exercises, you can start hitting or shoving the
balls around with your stick or broom.

Advanced Exercise:

Partner up with a friend. Set out any inflatable ball. Visualize an imaginary road.
The balls sits on the yellow line in the center, and each lane of traffic is wide enough for
a horse to ride past the ball with the rider’s stirrup about 2 feet from the ball. Start with
your horses riding side-by-side, one in each ‘lane’ (called a Right of Way, or ROW in
polo). Ride at all gaits, matching speed to stay even with each other, and keeping your
horses straight in their ROWs. Horses should be about 4 feet apart, and neither should
step on the ball.

Next, perform the exercise with horses starting on opposite sides of the ball and still
riding in their own ROWs (to avoid a head-on collision). Rate your speed and keep the
horses straight, so the riders pass each other at the ball and with about 4 feet of space 
between horses (with the ball about 2 feet from each rider’s stirrup).

Now pick up your brooms (or sticks) in your right hands (all polo players are required to 
carry the mallet right-handed). Designate one rider as ‘offense’ and one as ‘defense’.
 Keep your brooms low, below the level of the horses’ backs, and perform the two
exercises above, being careful to stay in your ROW. The offensive player will swing and
attempt to hit the ball as he or she passes it. The defensive player may use his or her
broom to hit the offensive player’s broom when he or she is swinging at the ball (e.g., the
offensive player swings forward at the ball, the defensive player swings backward so the
two strokes cancel each other out). The brooms MUST be below the level of the horses’
backs when they hit each other, or the defender commits a “high hook” foul.

You’ll notice while doing this exercise that one rider gets to hold the broom on the right,
but the other has to twist around and work from the left side of his or her horse to hit or
defend.  Trade off, so both riders practice hitting and defending on both sides of the
horse.