All sports horses will inevitably get wear and tear, no matter what discipline they are involved in. Therefore a prolonged holiday being turned out in a large field allows them to refresh mentally, as well as repair and recharge physically, and it should be a vital part of their annual routine.
During the polo season, polo ponies are athletes that follow an intense training and playing regime to improve and build up cardiovascular fitness, strength and conditioning, to be able to perform at their best during games. Physically, the horses need time to recover from strenuous work to allow their bodies as a whole to rest and any small injuries to heal, as well as to prevent injuries from overuse - more of a risk when a horse is fatigued.
Mentally, it is recommended that a break of a minimum of eight weeks will increase a horse’s motivation, focus and enthusiasm for work when they restart training again. However, this depends on the individual horse, what age they are and how much hard work they have done during the polo season. Young horses that are still growing will benefit from more regular, shorter holidays to enable their musculoskeletal maturity and to allow them to process new experiences without constant mental pressure.
For most horses, there will start to be a drop in fitness from as early as one week of rest, but horses don’t tend to truly lose fitness until at least six weeks’ rest, when it is believed their body is then really able to heal. Some of our ponies are currently back in training for Snow Polo in January, having had almost three months off, while the others will remain on their field break until the end of March before getting fit for the start of the UK polo season, which usually takes about 6 weeks of gradual building up.
While we believe our horses should be left to be horses during their winter break with minimal contact with us, they are checked on daily to ensure they are all healthy and they are also fed hay when the temperatures fall and the grass gets eaten down. Perhaps most importantly, they are able to roam naturally as a herd, get muddy and just enjoy being horses. As the viral video shows, they couldn’t be happier.
