(Alphabetical by surname)
My parents gave me my first pony when I was about four and by then I had already lost a finger to a horse accident. I now have a natural aversion to accidents. Horses were never blamed for that accident and I consider the forgiveness on the part of a naive child, and his parents to be something that has helped me a great deal in trusting horses up until now. I thank my parents for riding with me from the lead line to the side lines of the polo fields and for every lesson along the way.
Horses have taken me to many places. I have met many interesting horse men and women. Whilst many of them were instructors in pony clubs throughout England, Germany, and Northern Ireland, some where further from my roots in Scotland.
In Australia I was employed by Anto White at Belltrees New South Wales. Anto is a one eyed Australian polo player who made 8 goals. As such he was a great influence on me as a 19 year old. The Belltrees Station is huge and at that time they ran Angus and Charollet Cattle, along with some sheep. I was privileged to ride some fantastic horses all over that gorgeous ranch, and it was there I first came across polo.
In the same trip but the following year I worked for James Archibald who’s ranch is only a short ride from the polo grounds in Scone. There I broke youngsters. Our program was such that only a young head strong person might take it on. However it worked and it was there I got on my first team riding the young horses I broke. It was an education in shoeing, patience, and hard work.
I moved from Australia and back to the UK after three polo seasons. In the UK I ended up starting horses for Claire Tomlinson at the Beaufort Polo club in Gloucestershire. I have worked for Claire twice in my polo career. Each time was instructional at many levels. As the first woman to reach five goals Claire can’t fail to have much to teach. Her barn runs like clock work and each horse is personally over seen by Claire. The Los Locos team employed Juni Crotto at nine goals and Milo Fernandes Araujo at seven. They were contenders in every major tournament. For me the main event was bringing up the high goal horses to fitness and schooling them between games. Riding the horses that would later be played by players at the zenith of polo was a huge education. Breaking and training with Claire helped me to a more placid method of breaking, I learned bad Spanish and talked to the Argentine Gauchos that worked at The Beaufort. There are alot of horses at Down Farm where the polo club is. I remember working sixteen in one day. I think Claire will have that written down in her diary!
Edgeworth Polo club also provided me with a job riding young stock. John P Smail is well known at Cirencester Polo club for turning out quality horses. I remember bringing up horses for Prince Charles in 1994 or 95. I did not meet Prince Charles, but he did ride a horse I had a large hand in. I remember the horse as “Charlie”, but I can’t remember if we named him after The Prince rode him? If you read this John P, then perhaps you can remind me?
I have been in the USA for about 15 years now. I have trained polo ponies that have sold to Catcha Merlos through Bill Atkinson, to Memo Gracida through Rege Ludwig, to Rookie Baylieu, Graham Bray, Joe Henderson, and to many other lesser known but far more difficult to fit players.
I would like to thank each and every person that handed me the reins to their and horse asked me to ride it for them. Each time I have been privileged to learn and to teach at the same time. The spark to all of this though has to go to Johnny “I got a video I need you to see” Gonzales.”
Thanks for all the pretty horses Johnny.
Thanks Dempsey Mork for the chance to work with the Olympics in 2004. Thanks to Frenchie (my horse) for his hard work in that.
And if you got this far, thanks for reading. It’s still on going!
Dale Smicklas is a former 8-goal player and is a 2-time World Cup champion (35+ goals 1991 & 1993), 2-time US Open runner-up (26 goals), winner of the 1990 C.V. Whitney tournament (26 goals), winner of the 1988 Coronation Cup (GB vs USA), 2-time winner of the Warwickshire Trophy (22 goals 1988 & 1990), Americas Polo Challenge runner-up (Argentina vs USA 1988), and Camacho Cup runner-up (USA vs Mexico 1988).
He sold his first polo pony in america for $100,000 to Gonzalo Pieres (10 goals) in 1990 and did it again in 1994.
George Oliver (9 goals), Memo Gracida’s father-in-law, once commented that “No other American player brought horses to the field ready to play a full chukker in high-goal polo as [Dale] did. Whatever you are doing, just keep doing it!”
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