Training & Facilities

Training Program

From birth our foals are handled to establish a trust relationship between the horse and us.  From our own experiences, we have found that early intervention with the youngsters only increases their easiness to respond to their later handling and training.  However, we also make sure that once we have established a certain level of quietness with the foal, we leave them alone without interference so they can develop as a horse and not become too ‘spoilt’ or ‘humanised’ which can lead to bad behavioural characteristics to battle with later.

 

Above: Foals are born and initially handled up at the foaling and broodmare yards and then turned out into paddocks

From foaling, we teach our babies the basics such as leading, picking up feet, rubbing all over and respect for their handler.  From weaning to two years old, they’ll come in to the yards for a few weeks at a time, have some lessons or experiences, such as lunging and encouraging them to ‘want to be with you’ or simply just vetting and grooming.  They are then are turned back out again to think about it.

 

Above: One of the foals with resident cat, Pumpkin

Breaking in occurs at approximately two years old and this is where we outsource our training. We have had various breakers work in our program over the years. Most recently, the past few years, we have been very fortunate to have Mark Palmer, of Quirindi, as an integral part of our two year old breaking and young horse program.

As broken-in youngsters, the horses will then be turned out and then later followed up for further training and riding out.  This includes long stress free rides, stick and balling for polo, arena work and also cattle work on the farm.  We have always found in the past that a good initial training method for our young horses is complimented by good solid cattle work out in the paddock – this can be for any sport, and certainly for polo.  It not only develops their cattle sense, but also encourages patience and relaxed forward movement. If you do need to exert a spurt of speed, then the horse needs to be able to come back down quietly with confidence.

 

Above: Kat, Robert, Hannah and Emma riding out at Glenaladale

Above: Mustering cattle

Above: Robert on one of the young ones riding up the hill

 

After an accepted level of development has been achieved with the broken-in horse, we then turn them out for the rest of the year to mature both mentally and physically.  At three years old, they will come back in and first up we will give them a short ‘refresher’ of what they were taught the year before.  We then start to do more schooling exercises, specifically focusing on moving forward, stopping and half halting, turning back and neck reining. Once this is all established well we take them to moving forward at a canter from the stand still and correct movements/changes whilst developing their sensitivity to leg and hand aids.  This is done either in our round yard, 20m x 40m sand arena or out on the open flat. 

 

Above: the larger round yard

Above: The 20 x 40 arena, with horse walker nearby

 

With stick and balling for polo, we always take youngsters slowly and calmly and encourage a loose rein with soft hands.  The best way to achieve this is just nice big circles or ‘triangles’ whilst stick and balling, rather than expecting too much of them too early i.e. with stopping and starting and changing this way and that all in a split second or with too much spur (we tend to not use spurs on our young horses).  Once we have confidence with stick and balling on the forehand, we start to introduce the other swings such as backhands, the nearside swings and later the under-the-neck shot – the progression of these different types depends on the horse’s own confidence and willingness to accept.   

At Quirindi Polo Club, we sometimes have young horse chukkas on the weekends from February to April.  We also participate in the Scone Polo Club League where they have green horse chukkas in the morning.  These training days are aimed to introduce the horses to horse/player traffic, game play and help them develop their playing skills in a calculated manner so as not to get them overexcited and nervous about it all.  The worst thing that can happen to a young polo horse is to overexcite it when it goes out on the field – once a horse thinks that this is what polo is all about you will never be able to get it back. 

After we finish young horse chukkas by the end of May, they are turned out for a break and come back in for further light work in mid to late June or even July (depending on when they finished in Autumn) to join the main playing team of ponies.  They will continue to play practice chukkas, sometimes accompany us to tournaments and even be used in low grade slow games or, better still, as the Umpire’s horse.  We then turn them out again to concentrate on our main team of playing ponies on the Northern NSW Polo circuit which we compete in from August to end October.  The young ones will generally come back in again the following year for their first full season of polo, starting again with young horse chukkas at Quirindi and/or Scone.

 

Above: the main string drying off after work

Above: Robert’s semi carries 14 horses to polo

Our main string, as mentioned above compete from August to November starting on the Northern NSW circuit and then moving down to hopefully finish with a few tournaments on the lovely fields at Windsor (all being well back on the farm – as this approaching our summer planting and wheat harvest).  The Northern NSW polo starts with us travelling back to ‘our roots’ at the Goondiwindi and North Star tournaments.  We then travel locally with Gunnedah, Tamarang and Quirindi tournaments.  From here we usually try to go to a couple at Scone, Wirragulla (Dungog), and Windsor.

 

Above: James (far left) playing in the first tournament of the season, Goondiwindi A Grade Final 2015

 

One of the best investments we’ve made in recent years is our 8-horse automatic exercise machine.  We had it custom made on a larger than usual diameter to increase the travelling circumference the horses will track, plus give them more room in their compartments.  We have found this machine to be a valuable tool particularly early in the season when the horses are soft and fat after 6 months break – we will give them a few weeks on the machine, starting with light trotting until we progress to trot/canter for longer periods.  It also helps give the horses a break if they girth ‘gall’ and takes the pressure off their legs whilst trying to primarily lose weight and gain some fitness at the same time.  However, good cardiac fitness is still achieved by doing miles of ‘sets’ through the week.  When the horses are fit and throughout the whole season, we use the machine on Tuesdays (Monday is rest day) for a very light workout to help stretch out any stiffness from the previous weekend’s games.  It is also very handy for injuries that need a light exercise or walk plus we use it a lot with young ones when they first come in……works wonders putting the saddles on them and making them do a few laps before we get on! 

 

Facilities

We custom built our horse yards at “Glenaladale” in 2010, keeping in mind horse safety but also convenience.  As “Glenaladale” was previously a Hereford cattle stud before our purchase of the property in 2009, there are 14 pre-existing steel day stalls as well as the same number in an indoor shed arrangement, which is convenient for bad weather.  On from these, we have constructed iron bark post and rail day yards, arena, foaling yards and laneways.   

We have the 8 horse automatic exercise machine, plus two different sized round yards.  The visiting mares throughout the breeding season have second to none safety and comfort in our large foaling yards secured by top rail and netting, situated very close to the main house.

 

Above: Soda Jillian in the foaling yards

Above: Brinkley and filly, Bardot, in the foaling yards

 

We only have our polo horses in the yards throughout the day; Using the laneway system we have easy access to all the night paddocks, where we generally keep the horses in groups of either 4 or 8 at a time – this allows them to come into the yards in groups that fit on the exercise machine.