Fit And Ready – Get Your Horses In Shape So You Can All Enjoy The Season

By Tiana and Dale Smicklas

Trainers exercise polo horses at the Santa Barbara Polo Club in Summerland. Photo by Stephen Osman / LA Times

By this time of year, many clubs, both arena and outdoor, are gearing up for a full season of winter polo. If you play at one of these clubs, you are likely beginning to think about getting yourself and your horses ready for the season. Don’t wait until it’s too late. As your season approaches, get your horses into a fitness routine so they will be ready when the season starts. If you don’t give your horses enough time to prepare, they likely won’t last the season.

Injuries are much more likely to occur when horses are not fit enough. Imagine not exercising for months then deciding to jog for 10 days before running a marathon. It is equally ridiculous to play a horse that has only had a week or two of exercise. Why risk injury to begin your season?

Getting horses fit is an art not everyone completely understands. It is also one you could debate as everyone has his own ideas. There are, however, some common aspects that most people would agree upon.

First, much of how you spend the first few weeks has to do with how long the horses have been turned out. Before you attempt to get the horses fit, you must leg them up, get them stretched out and ready to build muscle. The longer the horses have been out, the longer it takes to get them legged up.

Here is one example: Let’s say you played your last game on September 1, and you turned your horses out one week later. The first game of your next tournament is December 15. Get your horses up around November 1. That means that your horses would have rested almost two full months. The horses will need one month of legging up before you begin to get them fit. At that point, you would have two more weeks to begin to get the horses fit.

The month of legging up involves the following: The first seven days, walk two times a day. Take them out for at least 45 minutes in the morning and at least 30 minutes in the afternoon. Despite what some may thing, they do not stay fit or even get any real leg work while they are turned out. Whether you realize it or not, the first week of just walking will make your horses a bit leg weary. While horses are turned out they relax and move freely or at their own pace. If you watch your horses while they are out, you will notice that unless they are being bothered by flies or mosquitoes they never walk at an accelerated pace for 10 to 15 minutes at a time.

For the next seven days walk the horses for 30 minutes, trot or slow lope for five to seven minutes only, and walk out 15 minutes in the morning. In the afternoon, walk them 20 minutes, trot or slow lope for five minutes, and walk out at least 10 to 15 minutes.

For the third week walk 25 minutes, trot or slow lope for 12 to 15 minutes, and walk out 10 to 15 minutes in the morning. At this point, just walk 0 to 40 minutes in the afternoon, no trotting.

In the fourth week, begin to ride singles with consistency. By this time the horses are trotting for 15 minutes in sets and are ready to begin getting fit. During this week, the morning workout will include stick and balling each horse at least twice, short working and sprinting each horse at least twice and riding in sets on the other three days. When taking out on morning sets walk 15 to 20 minutes, slow lope 15 to 20 minutes, and walk out at least 10 to 15 minutes. Each day, give them a 30- to 40-minute walk on set in the afternoon.

After the fourth week, the horses should be ready to start practicing. After a few slow practice games, you could then proceed with fitness exercises such as more intense short work, more sprints and faster practice games. If you can practice three times per week, you will have at least three weeks of legging up, and a least three weeks of working on wind and fitness levels. At this point your string should be ready to play.

Some important key points are as follows: If you have a horse or two coming up with prior injuries be sure to give them support with polo wraps or boots during the legging up process. Once you get into the fourth week, where you begin to work on fitness and air, always use polo wraps or boots, with the possible exception when working in sets.

Also, I am not a big believer in taking horses out two times a day for more than an hour — as that quickly wears on a horse’s mind. Your string can actually look forward to being exercised if it is done precisely and not overdone.

Remember that some people now think that you should break your trot or slow lope routine into two segments during one outing. That is, you would trot two intervals of five to 10 minutes as opposed to one interval of 10 to 20 minutes. The overall point is basically the same. Start out slow and ease into a routine that actually builds fitness levels.

Now that the horses have been up for about six weeks, it is time to start thinking about maintaining their fitness. Your playing schedule will determine how you manage your horses from this point forward. If, for example, you practice or play three times a week, say Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, your horses can literally walk or very lightly trot three days a week, Thursday, Saturday, and Monday, which are the three days after you play. With that schedule, in theory you only truly exercise the horses on Tuesday. On Tuesday the routine might be for your morning exercise: a 20-minute walk, a 12- to 15-minute trot or slow lope, and a 15-minute walk before you go in. In the afternoon on the same day a 30- to 45-minute walk is plenty. If your schedule is such that you only play two days a week, the routine would be similar in that you would still want to walk the horses they days after they play.

If two or more days go by between the times you play either in practice or a tournament, then the horses will require more exercise in the days leading up to the next time you play. This exercise would include riding them single, which means a moderate amount of short work and sprints. The other day or days the horses can go in sets.

Remember this, no two horses are the same. Some horses you can literally lead and play and they always play consistently and well. Other horses take more precise exercise and preparation in order to consistently play well. Get to know your string, regardless of how big or small it may be.

Remember that a lot of injuries polo horses experience are because they are not properly legged up. You are asking for trouble if you do fitness work such as short work and sprints if a horse does not have its legs. An investment in a string of polo horses is not a small one. If you give enough thought to the proper way to leg up a horse, get it fit and maintain that fitness, your investment will have an opportunity to give you many years of happy return.

There are many different ways people believe in getting horses fit. I believe the method I laid out works quite well. This is one that I discussed in depth with a very respected professional polo player known for having his horses in peak condition at all times.