naments, so that they may have had the experience of several matches. Nowadays, Open players arrive in Argentina and begin by playing the Tortugas Open, where they already need to win, so that it is very difficult to enter a new mare without much experience, because of that very need. It is better when they’ ve gone through it all; when they are used to competition and can play some tournament before so that they are better prepared for that level of polo. It’ s essential to have a good trainer( pilot) at this stage and that he be a player, who makes it play in other tournaments, because if they were to start by going straight in to Tortugas, where they have to win, it is important that the shock should not be so drastic.
Claudio At this stage I see to it that they are fully fit so that medium or high-goal players may start to mount them. It is all a question of details related to each horse. If the person who schooled them did so conscientiously, he already knows what kind of horse he has. As the horse goes asking for more you realize that the moment has come for it to start playing. Yes, in my experience, I believe that the schooling ends after a polo player takes them up, because I’ ve noticed that I may think something about a horse, but when I watch it being played I realize that it is better than what I thought. I think that ideally they should be played first by medium-goal players and then by high-goal. For those horses that did very well during the first year, it is good to make space for them in the fall season to play them on the farm without the bustle of Pilar, and take the usual heat off them a bit; I think it does them a lot of good. If the horse is fit and ready to be played by a highgoal player, the best that could happen to it is that somebody should tighten the screws on it a bit so that it knows what it feels like to play at that level. There is a lot of difference between medium and high-goal polo, and that is why it’ s very easy to make a mistake and believe that a horse is ready and then be angry when the player says he doesn’ t like it, when what is happening is that it’ s never played at that level. One must understand that many players arrive from abroad with horses that are fully fit and get on to these and find a difference in timing which makes it harder for them to adapt to the speed that the player demands.
Juanpi When the horse is really tame and ready to play, I like to lend it to good players to mount. In my case I hand them to Eduardo, Nacho or Miguel Novillo Astrada because I think the ponies are ready, and it is they who tell me whether or not they are truly finished. I have probably been working with a horse since break-in and they’ ve only watched it perform in practice matches. But I like to listen to various opinions. In my case I prefer to let the horse loose when it is doing well, before it gets bored or starts feeling some pain or other. The high-goal players are the ones who give the horses their finishing touches, not only on the field, but also as regards their care and everything surrounding their upkeep in each player’ s organization. The ideal situation is that a high-goaler should play them so that they feel fully the rigors that level demands, but the final change will occur when they receive high-goal-care treatment. Our work is long term, and we try that the ponies be played by the highest possible handicap-level players before they go to those who are to play the triple crown. It is a combination of pilot; level and practice matches.
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