Since the beginning of the November Season in California there has been much said about the definition of a sponsor, pro or amateur. These differences are but small and trifling when one considers the costs to play at any level that are often the very thing that keep most polo players from being “rich!”
We all know that regardless of rank within our financial peer group we really seek a combination of illusive things on the polo field. Balance, impulsion, and harmony. Or is it? Sadly, it seems that we long for, wish for, and pay a great deal for, a smooth, balanced and harmoniously huge swing that will cause the ball to soar like an eagle, as accurately as global satellite positioning and as far as the eye can see, but forget the horse.
Well how is it then that we, armed with a cruise missile swing, from one or other swing genius still arrive at the ball and are unable to hit it well? I mean it seems to fly on a stationary wooden horse doesn’t it?
Could it be our riding skills? And here I choose my words somewhat deliberately, in that the question is not whether a Polo player can ride, if riding is being able to stay on, it is whether or not he or she can communicate her intentions to the mount.
Riding by it’s dictionary definition describes steering or being supported in motion by a horse or vehicle. Riding as defined in many ancient texts and set out by many masters is far more then that, and yet we are prepared, in some cases, to accept second rate horsemanship skills in a game devised by the best cavalry men on earth, at the time, to hone their skills and test the mettle of their horses.
The cavalryman of old would have learned the skills of both horsemanship and swordsmanship, and had other weapons in his arsenal including his horse. The horse was so well trained that it could perform high leaps into the air and kick out on command staving in the heads of enemies or avoiding an attack. The art of training these “Airs Above Ground” is preserved to this day through the Spanish Riding School and Classical Riding.
On the polo field as on the battlefield we expect control of the horse through thick and thin. As we ride off we ask for lateral movements.As we strike the ball or dribble we expect the horse to be finger tip sensitive and check and extend his stride. The game stimulates many emotions in the horse, who is after all a sentient being, and we expect him to listen through the pounding of blood in his head to us talk in whispers not knowing the correct way to phrase our communications.
Each of the moves we make on the polo field, without any exception I have come across so far, has it’s roots in Classical Riding and therefore has a prescribed set of instructions to the horse associated with it. It is here that the polo player of this day and age may not know his stuff.
When a horse has made it through training to your playing string, you should know what it is and how it performs. From that stage on the horse should continue to improve on it’s execution of the moves it has been trained in, but this can only happen if you know the sets of instructions to apply and when to apply them. If as a new comer to polo you are in any way unsure of how these instructions are applied and in what order. You should seek council. If you have been playing for years and are unsure of what a diagonal is, or a lead, and why one would wish to know these things, then find a person who does. If you have had to buy horses to replace those that have lost their minds. Your horses are not getting better and you should seek help.
Most of the professional players I have met have been excellent horsemen. Most could ride like the wind, but I think that very few professionals and amateurs alike, in all equine disciplines, can say that every one of their horses gets better from season to season, game to game, or week to week. And they should.
For example.
As you approach the ball and begin to swing your horse accelerates a little and goes over the ball. As the season goes on this gets worse.
The scope of this article precludes me from approaching every aspect of these problems but here are a couple of suggestions.
Through prescribed channels of communication, set up by the horses trainer, it has been established that squeezing firmly with both legs on the flanks of the horse constitutes an aid to go forward. As you go to swing at the ball your leg is tightening. In addition you have moved your weight into the right stirrup and have caused the horse to unbalance and move laterally over the ball. You may also find that you have no give in your rein hand. I say give because the drive you create in the horse when you squeeze your legs can be collected in the hand but only if you have first given to the horse. (Those that understand a checking rhythm go to the top of the class. Those that don’t….. well you know what to do.)
In classical riding each segment of your leg can give an instruction to the horse. These are referred to as leg aids and on the well trained horse are imperceptible to the naked eye, but with correct use can change the length of a stride or move either the front or the back of the horse laterally.
Imagine for now that you have no mallet and you are just walking the horse in a straight line. Now be very honest. How many times have you practiced just walking in a straight line on your horse? Probably not since you picked a mallet up, and even then you were really practicing hitting the ball at the walk and not practicing walking in a straight line. You see we value the horse that is straight but fail to take the time to keep him that way. A horse would far rather be bent one way or the other (usually to the left.) since this affords him some comfort. However if he arrives at the point where you wish to strike the ball and is not straight you cannot engage your fissile swing and must settle for a swing that in some way compensates for the bend in the horse. It is hard to remain centered on the horse and ride it from one point to the other in a straight line at any pace. It is harder to do the same and arrive at a ball with it visible and in the correct spot to be hit, as the horse is at the smoothest part of it’s stride every time. If you practice this at the walk you will notice that there is certain timing to the stride, that corresponds to the moment of impact between mallet and ball. This is the same at the canter, and indeed the canter stride and the walk are both in four time. ( The trot is in two time.) Practice at the walk makes more sense therefore. You take less out of your horse. You should do it on each horse to warm up before you canter anyway. You teach your horse to enter and leave the field calmly if you walk your horse to warm up and hot walk it after your canter session until it is cool. The walk has the same beat or timing as the canter but is far more forgiving on the rider. You will learn at the walk just how sensitive the horse’s flanks are to touch and how sensitive his balance is to your shifts in weight. You will learn to push your horse into the bridle to keep it straight and to relax you r grip and contact with it’s mouth as a reward. Eventually this exercise will cross over into canter and have a place on the polo field as you are able to release the long range “bomba” with more frequency then ever.
In polo we have a reputation amongst other equine disciplines as the motor cyclists of the horse world. Many think we treat our animals as if they were machines, and in slamming them around the field we are cruel to them. It is time we put paid to that, and as a team dedicated to the advancement of our sport prove to the equine community that we are committed to our horses. The horse and the game are inexorably linked, thus through improving one we can affect the other. However the game has been the same within reason for generations so it is only through the horse we can as individuals effect change. We owe it to generations of horsemen and horses who made this game great to hone our riding skills and bring the beauty back to a sport that sees too much brutality through simple ignorance.
About the Author: Christian has been riding since before he can remember. He come from a riding family and claims to have hunted with hounds in Scotland Ireland and England. He broke his first horse at 14 years of age and achieved his pony club "A" test inNorthern Ireland. Christian has competed in combined training in Britain and Germany, and was trained in dressage by Hans Kruse in Berlin.
At the start of his polo career, about ten years ago, Christian trained for ClaireTomlinson (Beaufort Polo Club) who at that time employed Juni Crotto (9 goals) and Milo Fernandez Araujo(then 7 goals). Whilst his polo skills at
that time were dubious he rode and trained on made, high-goal ponies that were used to take the Los Locos team to the finals of the Queens Cup, an experience that has helped him to know the full potential of good polo ponies.
Since coming to this country in 1994, Christian has sold horses into all levels of polo and trained for Rege Ludwig and Bill Atkinson amongst others. He knows keep his own string of horses and only sell polo ponies on consignment. Christian's horse training skills are put to good use training Dressage and Show Jumping horses for sale.
He was recently asked to help the US Olympic Pentathlon team for Athens in 2004 with their riding and jumping by giving a 5 day clinic. Christian is available for lessons or clinics in any "English" equine discipline. For more information contact Christian Moon via e-mail: cmoon@dc.rr.com. Or click here to view his Player profile.
