Polo demands a lot from your horse. To ensure that you’re giving him the best opportunity to manage the challenge, try these training tips from polo players Johan du Plooy and Janna Strehlau.
Firstly, remember that a pony with well-balanced conformation and a good temperament will always do better. When choosing your pony, keep that in mind!
Because polo is about speed, quick turns on the hindquarter and fast stops, your horse must be well-balanced, fit, flexible and strong. To get there, you will need to develop a good seat and balance so that you can offer the best support for your horse. Thereafter, it’s all about building the work up slowly, with patience and empathy for your equine partner.
Starting off
School in a simple snaffle (or whatever bit your horse prefers). This keeps your horse’s mouth sensitive and active.
While polo is ridden with the reins in one hand, it is often better to school with the reins in both hands.
Step 1: Warm-up
As with any training, be sure to warm your horse up properly beforehand. It takes at least 10 minutes of forward-moving (but not rushed) walking to get the muscles warm, the tendons supple and the joints lubricated.
Step 2: Responsiveness
Start in a light, active trot, encouraging your horse to activate his hindquarters. Slow, active trotting is best for this. Start in a big circle and slow the pony with your seat and reins for a couple of strides and then push him forward again for about 30 metres. You will be able to see if your pony understands your seat aids and moves away from leg pressure. This is a good general exercise for teaching responsiveness to the seat and leg aids.
Step 3: Balance, rhythm and flexibility
Slowly make your circle smaller and smaller while keeping your horse in an active, controlled trot. This encourages him to stay balanced, and in rhythm and avoid rushing. The horse should also start bending through the body and not just at the neck. You can begin to ask for contact through the reins at this point. Watch out for leaning on the shoulders. If this occurs, increase your support with the inside leg and outside rein and, if necessary, use a bigger circle until your horse has developed the stength to hold himself better.
Step 4: The importance of a good canter
After warming up, it’s important to work in a canter as the horse will usually only canter or gallop in a polo game. Ask for a controlled canter in a 20-metre circle for three rounds and then speed up in a straight line for 20 metres or more. Slow down, but stay in canter, and circle again, ensuring that the horse is stepping under nicely with his hindquarters and bending through the body, then push forward into a faster straight line again. Make sure you try this on both reins!
Step 5: Sharp turns
Using objects like tyres to canter around can be helpful, especially for a young or green horse. Put the items 20 to 30 metres apart and canter big circles around one item, then speed up straight to the next item. Over time you can make the circles smaller and smaller around the item, ensuring that the pony is bending well. Advance this exercise slowly over many sessions to allow your horse to develop the necessary strength.
For advanced training, the goal is to speed up in a straight line, then stop, turn on the hindquarters and speed up again. This is very advanced and takes a lot of practice and strength from your horse or pony. Another option is to stop and take a few steps backwards and then turn around again. Remember to always do the exercises on both reins.
Step 6: Flying changes
Learning the flying change is very useful for polo. Ride in a figure of eight, encouraging a flying change at the cross point or using poles to achieve the change. Again, these will take time and patience to get right.
Step 7: Hillwork
Hillwork will drastically improve strength over time. Ultimately, an advanced horse would be able to canter slowly down a gentle slope, stop at the bottom, walk backwards for three steps and then turn on his haunches and go back up the hill.
First, work in walk, and then trot and then canter. You start with using a small circle to turn at the bottom of the hill and progress to turning on the haunches. This work strengthens the hindquarters tremendously.
Step 8: Flexibility
Stand on one side of the horse and hold his withers with one hand, and muzzle or halter with the other. Gently, bend his neck around. Hold for five seconds and then release. Repeat four times on each side. If you do this twice a day, you will notice a huge improvement in your horse’s neck flexibility. You can also do this while riding. With your reins, gently ask the horse to swing his nose around to your foot. Be gentle and don’t expect the horse to touch the first time. Work up to it slowly.
NOTE: If your horse struggles with this exercise speak to your vet or physio. Never force your horse into movements he finds uncomfortable.
Step 9: Cool down
Don’t forget to always cool down your pony with a few minutes of walking on a long loose rein. Hose down all four legs with cold water and, if it’s very hot, hose the pony down completely.