Anuario Raza Polo Argentino Anuario2017 | Page 229

MG: “And tell me something, do you also
consider precociousness an important asset?
Because your way of training them is to
demand a lot from them from very young.”
APH: “Yes, yes, it is what I call cruel selection. Start
training a horse from very new, and if something
goes wrong it’s because it had no aptitude. Of
course, this runs counter to the modern theory
of giving them time. I believe that there are many
horses that because they have been given time,
end up not being completely trained for polo.
That’s why—and this is an invention of mine which I admit is arguable and questioned—but
yes, I do believe that a 2-year-old horse should
be undergoing break-in and at 3 years should be
playing at least informal matches and competing
as soon as possible.
I did well by this method of selection. I don’t say
that it is economically viable. Maybe horses that
could have been trained later remain along the way,
or become injured or go berserk; they become
unmanageable because they’ve been driven
too hard too young. It was useful as a selective
method. I don’t know about the economics.”
“That is why from when they are
very new I can tell if the horse is
sensitive, and of course, when
mounted I perceive it all the more” MG: “During your Player/Breeder stage
you owned important horses. I’ll mention
some names and ask you to tell us what you
remember about them, and how important
they were to you. Let’s start with Purita.”
APH: “Purita, to be precise, was a mare that
Eduardo Harriott sent as a gift to my brothers-in-
law, and they insisted she had some problem. As
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