Ex Polo Ponies

ginageorge

ginageorge

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Sep 25, 2006
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:)Does anyone own or know someone who has an ex polo pony that has being re-trained and used as riding horse and what they are like,i know every horse is differant but i have heard differant things about them and would like to hear your experiences and views thanks:)
 
I used to ride polo ponies, including a retired one. Pretty fast when they want to be, and some prefer to continur neck reining, but are pretty versatile to anything - mine used to go BSJA!!!
 
We've got few at our (Polo) yard. Depending on how well the re-training is done (usually requires some time off first and patient trainer as the horses are mainly used to just two speeds: stop and full pelt), but I don't see any reason why the horses wouldn't work well in other disciplines as well. The ones we have do jumping and XC mainly, but that is because we don't really have Dressage riders to do Dressage with them, apart from when ever I have time and I really am not a Dressage rider though did my fair share of it before I fell for Polo.. :p

Check out Jojo_82's Enigma threads for good example of re-training a Polo pony! :)

Nina x
 
ginageorge said:
:)Does anyone own or know someone who has an ex polo pony that has being re-trained and used as riding horse and what they are like,i know every horse is differant but i have heard differant things about them and would like to hear your experiences and views thanks:)
Click to expand...


Yes!

I was in Kenya over Easter to see my brother and we rode regularly at a really nice but definitely African riding school. Most of the horses there were ponies who came straight off the polo field and into the school for hacking and lessons and then went back to playing low goal club polo when the season started up again. They were really nice rides and we had a ball hacking.

That being said I had a friend who had an ex-high goal pony for hacking, hunting and a bit of pony club polo in the summer. He was sweet, went like S**T off a shovel but was no good hacking on his own, because he was used to be ponied. He really missed polo too. He was used to playing it all year so a a few matches in the summer didn't cut the mustard. I am not saying all polo ponies are like this - but the ones who really love the game tend to mope a bit when taken out of a really stimulating environment. Really good ponies play the game with or for you, watch the game from the pony lines and definitely miss the challenge when they retire.
 
I rode one in America, Now used as a cattle hoss. However, i was told not to take him into a canter as his gait was so short and with not being used to that, there woud be a 3ft gap between me and ths saddle:o
 
Beeswaxy said:
the ones who really love the game tend to mope a bit when taken out of a really stimulating environment.
Click to expand...

My ex-high goal pony, who though still loves to play (I play only the arena season), is perfectly fine only doing few hacks a week and eating grass in the paddock for the rest of the time, so are many of the others we have on our yard. Horses don't mope because of lack of excitement (they aren't adrenalin junkies the way some humans are), if they mope about something it is the lack of routine, which can easily be provided in any discipline.

Nina x
 
Hi everyone thanks for your replys i will tell you more tomorrow,all i will say at the moment is that this thread is following on from a thread i posted the other day(would you take on a horse with arthritis).Iam very excited about tomorrow but thats all iam saying for now:D
 
someone i know has a re-trained polo horse.
hes actually for sale and my best friend should be buying him (if everything goes to plan)
hes been re-trained mainly as a jumper, and turns on a sixpence!

hes so good. really responsive and more or less bomb proof!
 
My first share was an ex polo pony and he was fantastic. He was responsive and could be very fast, but he was very well behaved and very caring for his rider. He was an expert at quick, sharp turns and could take off at full speed if asked but he would never use it against you... I often thought that he would probably have made a very good western riding horse: totally chilled until you asked him to show what he could do :) .
 
I imagine they'd make good western or show jumpers against the clock?

And I'm looking forward to your update....ex polo pony with arthritus viewing?!
 
We were talking only yesterday about a polo pony we tried about 18 years ago lol - she was so honest and responsive - unlike the seller who was selling without the owner's knowledge and had taken 10 years off her age ... luckily our vet knew the pony as he had treated her for advanced emphysema and warned us off and saved us the cost of a vetting!!!
 
Hi

LuLu is ex polo and also has abit of arthritis in her back legs. It doesn't seem to bother her and you certainly wouldn't think anything was wrong when you see her acting like a loon in her field.
She is the kindest most placid horse I have ever met. She does not buck, rear, barge, kick or bite. She has no vices and is a dream to do in every way. She follows you around the field when you poo pick, she comes up to you in the field.
Being ex polo she is VERY quick on her back legs and can spin around quicker than anything. She can be ridden either conventional or neck reining and tbh I prefer the latter.
I would def buy another ex polo - they are the best.
 
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