Team USPA members Jake Stimmel, Loreto Natividad and Jim Wright have been training in Argentina with Gaston Laulhe in La Pampa.
After a long hard fought tournament we turned the made horses out and started to put some more time on the green ones. We split about 12 horses between the 3 of us, and it was the luck of the draw with the horses we got. Some were easy and didn’t give too much hassle and some had a little more fight in them. We rode these green horses morning and evening Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday then we played them in practice Thursday and Friday. The practices were perfect for these horses as Marcos and the other players were also riding young ones. This group of horses was very fun and taught us more about riding and horsemanship. Since we had just finished playing the top string, we weren’t accustomed to playing slower chukkers on younger horses. It helped us to learn how to anticipate and play the game on a deeper level. For us it was very satisfying that we were able to play this young string and watch them grow as individuals.
This past week we were preparing for a tournament that was being held at Gaston’s brothers ranch. We were very excited to play this tournament on irrigated and top playing fields. We prepared for the tournament all week. Tuesday we rode our horses in the morning and those who needed it in the afternoon. Half of our string were made ones that we played in the tournament that only had a little bit of rest and were more fit. The other half was another group that were just brought in and were going to Buenos Aires with Gaston. These horses were top young prospects that were ready to be pushed but had been out for a few months. The next day we gave them a little ride in the morning and then we practiced them easy in the afternoon to prepare them. The original plan was to let the horses rest Thursday morning as they were going to travel to the other club Thursday night. We were informed Thursday morning by the other club that they were getting some rain and that they were going to have to push the tournament back a day. Friday morning we were told they cancelled the tournament due to extensive amounts of rain. Although we were unable to squeeze in another tournament, we were able to play very fast club chukkers at Chapalefú. Since everyone is about to move to Pilar for the fall season there, people are preparing their top strings. Despite not being able to play the tournament, we were extremely happy to play such fast chukkars on the Chapalefú fields.