Anuario Raza Polo Argentino Anuario2018 | Page 218

It is important to emphasize the fact that most of these
mares (8) were broken-in by Polito at Lavinia, including
some dams and grand-dams schooled by Hilario or
Salvador. Likewise, we wish to highlight that they are
often the offspring of thoroughbred racehorse mares,
selected for polo because of their aptitude, and crossed
with Polo Argentino or Thoroughbred Racehorse
Stallions chosen for Polo. As well as some cases of
small breeders who have gone through the Selection
processes, raising and schooling of their horses.
Mónica and Polito Ulloa:
Their Early Days in Breeding
SB: “Tell me about how you both began as
breeders which ended up with members of the
family playing the Open.” and female belonging to Jorge Torres Zavaleta and
were awarded the horse-blanket to best male and
female at the Rural Exhibition.”
Mónica: “We were living on a farm in Córdoba
called “El Consuelo” and Polito was managing it
and had some mares to break in and you used to
turn up, Santiago and say: ‘Polito, you should start
taming’. One day Polito’s mother called to tell us
that a friend of hers had made her a gift of a 4000
hectare farm called “Lavinia”. When I told Polito
over the radio, we didn’t quite understand what it
was about and went over to Lavinia. At the time, his
mother asked him to take charge of the farm, and
Polito answered: ‘I prefer to rent 100 hectares off
you and try to start taming as Santiago Ballester
tells me to do’. And so we began… Polito: “Actually, all this happened without us
really noticing; with passion, a will and hard work.
I was fortunate to have been raised in the country,
which is where I no doubt acquired a sensitivity
or capacity to manage horses which proved
very useful for polo, because one must learn to
anticipate moves, run and do several things one
does in polo. That is an example of an Argentine
polo player. A very good horseman who based on
his loose movements and audacity has reached
the levels we now know.”
From the moment we arrived, in May, we went to
the Rural Exhibition which was entering horses on
a halter for the first time, and on the day of the
auction there was a filly from Alberto Pedro Heguy’s
bloodstock which Ruso, who was a Polo star at the
time, purchased. And that was when they sent us
Polo Fergie, that later played two chukkas in the
Open. On the following year, 1990, we took a male
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SB: “Polito, you continue to constantly go on
learning, don’t you?”
Polito: “Of course. I always will, because there
is always something more to learn or perfect. I
think Argentines are pretty closed about that,
because there is a lot of knowledge that can be
broadened. In this case, all the courses that are
being organized aim at seeing new things, which
if you think about it, are things that have existed