By Christian Moon

The stop, or halt, is probably the most important thing a horse must learn to play polo
The snow is piled up outside so I thought I’d take some time to put pen to paper on what is probably the most important thing a horse can learn for it’s polo career. The stop.
The stop plays into most of the things we do in polo, and in training the young horse it is the prelude to roll backs. A good stop need not be a fight and when done well gives all confidence.
So how does the stop start?
I like to start on the ground using a head collar or bosal with a large loose fitting nose piece. At this point it is integral that your horse has been taught to lead with you walking at the neck or shoulder. That is to say that the horse will lead while you follow. You should be able to direct the horse’s head by holding up a hand to turn the horse away from you and you should be able to do this on either side. I try to avoid pulling the horse toward me in this exercise since I think it confuses the message. You’ll see why later.
I do this in the arena with the horse nearest the fence to keep him straight. Obviously I walk to the inside of the horse and let the fence turn the horse in the corners. As the horse progresses I come off the outside fence and turn the horse toward the fence using my hand. I hold my hand up to the horses eye and cause him to move away without touching him. This makes for a voluntary bend in the horse’s neck and through his body. If you push the head away then you begin to build resistance similar to if you pull the head around. Pulling will create the same resistance.
Line up by the horse’s shoulder or neck and take the rope of your head collar with loose nose band in the hand nearest the horse just under the chin. You need to be able to lift the loose nose band off the bridge of the horse’s nose so the nose band should be fairly stiff. … Continue Reading
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