by Wilbur O’Ferrall
Horse Park Polo Clinic Participants.
In mid-June, I drove to the Horse Park Polo Club in Woodside, CA and gave a one day polo clinic to the local pony clubs in the area. Despite the heat wave, I had seven enthusiastic young riders “chomping at the bit” to cut loose and begin playing. Their parents watched from the shaded viewing area as I began teaching the students how to swing the mallets and hit the balls to one another. From there, we progressed to a foot-mallet scrimmage to expend some of their energy and to give a good appreciation of what the horses do for us when playing the game of polo.
All but one brought their own horse to determine if his or her horse would be suitable to play polo. As I showed the students how to introduce their horses to the new stimuli i.e. mallets and balls, they were even more excited than before and the horses adapted well to the introduction. In no time the students started hitting the balls while mounted without any hesitation and they were all smiles at the thought of an interscholastic polo program. I received so much support and interest from the parents who decided to set-up a follow-up clinic on July 18th.
The next day I was off to Jackson, WI to give a Pony Club clinic and help with the Pony Club rally that Margie Paur organized at her
Hillside Farm Polo Clinic Participants.
Hillside Farm Polo Club and Pony Club School. The temps were high with humidity, but that did not dampen the spirits of the 18 participants involved in the clinic. They were split up into groups from novice to advance so they could get more one-on-one instruction with me and we rotated each class every hour. I taught everything from basic equitation to the strategies for setting up offensive and defensive plays for the five penalty shots in arena polo. The kids loved it! I kept it fresh and fun for them so that they would have a strong foundation of polo basics for the Pony Club polo rally on the next day.
Due to transportation issues, one of the local pony clubs coming to the rally was unable to bring horses to the rally. Thus, a decision was made to postpone the rally until later in the fall so all could participate. Although disappointing as it was, Margie and I put plan “B” into place and set up a round robin tournament for the young riders to play in.
This was the next best thing to a rally as the students were still able to enjoy the competition and camaraderie that polo gives to individuals when they play against each other on teams. I’m looking forward to giving a helpful hand in the fall when the first Pony Club polo rally takes place.
Thanks to Margie Paur, Jeff Scheraga and Jessica Goldstein and others who helped make this clinic a successful one!