By, Elisa Cashin
USPA Pony Club Committee Member and Polo Instructor
I can not tell you how much pleasure it gave me to teach my first pony club polo clinic! Can you imagine not having to tell the kids to “get their heels down” the entire clinic? I think those are the first words out of my mouth in every other lesson!
Last fall we did a clinic for USPC at Chukkar Farm Polo Club in Alpharetta, GA. We had a great turnout and the kids, in addition to being fantastic riders, were attentive, enthusiastic and focused. What instructor wouldn’t be thrilled to work with such a terrific group?
The kids watched polo videos, tried out the wooden horse in the hitting cage, learned to hit the ball off the horses with foot mallets and then they all hopped on our seasoned ponies and played polo for the first time. Many of the kids had so much fun they are now on our Interscholastic Polo Team!
Ginger Thomassy, a Chukkar Farm Interscholastic polo player who also does eventing in Pony Club says, “I like to play polo because it has had an overall positive effect on my riding. I’ve started to get “balanced seat” comments in my dressage collected remarks and I’m able to stay with my horse better over fences. Plus, playing in tournaments is so much fun! I have met other people my age that have the same interests as me. My polo team is amazing and I’ve made a lot of friends over the past months.”
One of the things the kids on the interscholastic team enjoyed most was traveling to other clubs and meeting and playing polo with other kids who share their love of horses and competing. The other clubs were so hospitable and gave us a great welcome whenever we visited!
We can’t wait for our next Pony Club Polo Clinic in June where we can show even more riders how much fun polo can be!
Visit www.uspolo.org and click on Pony Club under the ‘Clubs’ tab for more information on the USPA Pony Club Program.