So anyone want to help me with .... polo ponies?

[quietann]

@skydy

I hope you find a convenient way around so you can enjoy your rides. If you can’t, I’m sure you’ll be able to figure it out.

Mine learned to hold it together when we had to pass “chicken corner” (barely) but the turkeys terrified him. Funny we only encountered the turkeys that one time…

Hang in there and remember to relax!

They all seem to have something that sets them off, right? Mine is unbothered by wild turkeys, Canada geese (she tries to herd them), and other fairly large birds, but is afraid of … hens. Not roosters, but hens, especially when they get to clucking.

BTW this very same mare has proven to be an excellent “babysitter” for horses that are young and/or new to trail riding, or even those who have developed bad habits… Several years ago, she even helped keep an ill-behaved, bargey mare from dragging her rider back to the barn. (Said mare proved hopeless on trails eventually, but me and another boarder were trying to help out.) She’s been a “babysitter” at shows, too… I do not show anymore, but she’s been the horse that someone with a young or green or frazzled horse can just walk next to.

I realized later today that I pushed the mare just a bit too hard today, and I regret it. It’s part of the problem with having so much access to such great trails, finally… I want to see it all! We’re riding with company on Sunday, and hopefully Saturday too.

[skydy]

Let us know how it goes. Most lookey horses are sensitive to their rider, so even when it goes against your (everyone’s) nature, when she tenses, you relax. Hum, sing, or just breathe and keep moving on.

[lawndart]

Quiet Ann, your mare sounds like a lovely responsive horse. She is a Morgan, correct? I owned a Morgan Mare for many years, and Alert was her nickname. She was also very athletic, so riding her meant you had better be alert, but not stiff or nervous. Morgans are smart enough to remember what works, and what doesn’t so she was a challenge to get past an obstacle that she decided was Evil Incarnate. I ended up just trying one thing after another, till I found something that worked. I once backed her several hundred feet unto a wooden bridge that she REFUSED to cross. It was in my DRIVEWAY so it was not like she hadn’t seen it before. Once I backed her onto the bridge, she looked down, said OK, it did not eat me and did a beautiful turn on the haunches and walked quietly over the bridge. Never refused a bridge again.

I think you have to have a bigger box of tricks when you are riding a Mare. I’ve never had one that responded well to pushing, and they have a memory of a elephant. Don’t let other people tell you to do it their way, because that is the ONLY way.

I do a ton of trail riding, and my biggest obstacle are people running with loose dogs. My horses are bomb proof for most stuff, but seeing a person, and a dog(s) running toward them at full speed is hard for them to comprehend I guess. They are always looking for what is chasing them.

Can you cut a trail thru the short stretch to bypass the Polo field?

[quietann]

Lawndart, thanks. Yes, she is a Morgan. Very typical Morgan in most ways – smart, friendly, a little “up” in personality. She’s 19 so she has calmed way down from when I first had her – but she is STILL smart and definitely not for everyone – though very safe. She does keep me on my toes.

I love the bridge story! That is just so funny… I did back mine into a pond once, and she was NOT happy about it. Not sure I could use that trick again.

Loose dogs are a fear of mine, too. We got attacked twice in one ride a few years ago. Luckily where we are now, the rules are pretty strict… and I have access to trails where no dogs, mountain bikers, etc. are allowed at all.

That short stretch where one has to ride on the edge of the polo field is basically on the edge of a cliff above the river, and the trail that goes into the woods starts as soon as there is enough room to have a trail next to the cliff. I’m still working out an alternate route.

[skydy]

That geographical situation doesn’t leave a lot of room for error. Though your horse, as you describe her, seems not to be a dingbat.
The horses I’ve had that have been very alert have had (as an asset that comes from that inclination) a sense of self preservation and awareness that some the more staid horses have not.

It does depend on the horse, how well you know it and how confident you are in that knowledge.

I think you’ll do well together.

[TMares]

LOL I sold an aged QH to a dear friend who does low level polo, she thought he might do for that. He’d team penned, done obstacle course competitions and placed well, trail ridden, shown a little, lots of miles helping me start colts, etc… This horse was incredibly well rounded, broke in a hundred different ways, BTDT, but something about the sheer scale of the polo field and so many things to look at sort of undid him. She finally just hauled him over there a few times and tied him and offered a hay bag and stayed the afternoon. He learned that there was nothing to worry about, and got to fret and dig a hole and worry and talk himself out of it. Again- a versatile, very well trained and seasoned horse and polo was a thing he just couldn’t grasp. In time she just walked him laps around field’s exterior, ignoring the game, and he gained confidence. It’s not always about some ‘hole’ - it’s just different and a little compassion goes a long way