Claudio The way you play the horses also has a great influence , because even if the horse is six years old , it is used to playing slowly and then you give it to a good player … you may think they ’ ve ruined it when the thing is that it has never been properly put to the test .
Gastón Yes , that ’ s true ; one must always look into the history of each horse ; one must interpret what the horse is “ telling ” you , although that is very difficult .
If you have a pony that becomes pregnant during her first practice matches , must one interrupt her training ? And if so , would she lose what she ’ s learned in that time ? Could breeding at that time make the mare mature ?
Claudio In my experience , either if they become pregnant or injured could help the horse become better , because you don ’ t force or hurry on the learning of that mare . I had two cases in which I had to interrupt their training , and over the years they became great mares . Maybe if I had continued training them I could have spoilt them . But I don ’ t believe that what they ’ ve learned is wasted if they become pregnant .
There are those who say that when you have a wild mare , the best you can do is to get her pregnant and when she returns she ’ s more mature . But these are all things that have to be done with a lot of time and no hurry . If the horse has the skill and one works responsibly , you can obtain a very good pony . The most important thing is to work with them , and even though they don ’ t speak , you feel them in your seat and in your hand .
THIRD STAGE : “ TIGHTENING THE SCREWS ”
Gastón When the horses travel to Buenos Aires is when we consider them to be in the third stage , when they ’ re fairly mature around the mouth and have played some practice matches on the farm . It is the most dangerous stage , because it is when they change their natural environment . Removing the horse from the farm is where the change is most abrupt for the animal . This is when the horse starts feeding on rations and one must see to every detail because new injuries could appear , or they may not get used to the feed or several other things that could happen and cause their careers to be shorter . When the horse reaches the age of 8 years it is fully trained , it ’ s a question of maturity . That is when they really start doing well , and sometimes on the following year , when it seems as though they are completed , they become part of batch A and very often they change on the second year , which shows that they are still very new , not at the same level as a horse that has been playing several seasons .
Tomás In our case the five-year old mares start playing progressive practice matches , according to the level of each horse . It is when they start to mingle with playing ponies and we try to make it a natural transition for them . From the sanitary point of view we also try that they rest more , and as in other stages , we always work on tameness and trying to advance towards continuing this stage with more intense matches until they reach top level tournaments , which is when the training stage ends . Because it is also key to train them to the liking of each player , as it is they who will be playing them throughout their careers . When we consider that they have played enough polo , we try to hand them over having played three or four tour-
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