ROR - Retraining racehorses for polo

Q. Do the RoR support the retraining of ex racehorses specifically for polo?


Yes, of course, we currently stage two challenge events a year and we give two awards, namely the RoR Elite Polo Pony Performance Award and the RoR Young Pony Producer Award. Also, there are best playing pony prizes at international matches. The challenge at Cowdray is held on the day of the English high goal semi-finals and showcases the best examples of RoR ponies currently in polo. Meanwhile, the challenge held at The Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club has a total of four classes and caters more for the grass roots and is aimed primarily at the producers. This event allows the producers to showcase their work and the ponies they are working with. Both events are well supported within the polo community and details can be found on the RoR website.

Q. Is it best to source an ex racehorse from a retrainer or direct from a racing yard?

That depends. For a person experienced in retraining racehorses, either direct from racing via a trainer’s yard or from the sales are both good options. For amateurs, it is probably best to try before you buy and therefore buying from a producer might be best. RoR currently works closely with a number of producers, such as Will Brasher, Jack Richardson and Ed Hitchman, to name just a few.

Q. Where could interested people look to find a racing yard or producer/retrainer to buy from?

They can contact us direct in the office or visit the ‘RoR Source A Horse’ website, which is designed to facilitate the sale, purchase or loaning of former racehorses either directly from the trainer's yard or for those horses that have been out of training for a period of time. Whatever their level of retraining, this is one place to advertise or source a former racehorse.

Q. Is there any polo specific advice that can be found for retraining racehorses and if so where can it be found?


 RoR have previously hosted Polo Clinics and are working on arranging a low goal clinic hopefully to be finalised in the New Year and run in the current arena season, early in 2020. This will have a lot of information available to people plus producers and experienced trainers on-hand, giving advice.
 The objective is to help people move up the ranks and hopefully on towards entering the Royal Berkshire challenge themselves. RoR also currently run club nights for RoR members, these are not specific to polo but it is another way to meet likeminded people who are retraining racehorses and learn and support each other in the retraining journey.

Q. Is polo likely to be featured in the annual RoR Showcase in the future?


Yes, it is the intention that polo will feature at the Showcase, as part of an overview of the breadth of RoR’s activities. Although there many former racehorses active in polo, because the ponies do not have to be registered with RoR to participate, in terms of representation on our database polo comes a long way behind the likes of showing and dressage. This in turn does influence where the charity's funding is allocated. RoR is funded through support from British racing, from the owners, racecourses and stakeholders, and there a budgets to fulfil. So, it is understandable that great resource is put into those with higher levels of registration. The way to ensure that the RoR can put on more clinics, demos and on-line training videos is to increase the number of polo ponies registered with the RoR. For RoR registration is important as it provides us with greater traceability and shows us which discipline the former racehorses are moving into. The HPA also also now have an agreement that if you tick a box when you register your pony with the HPA the data can be shared with RoR.

Q. There are a list of “approved trainers”on the RoR website but currently it showsonly 1 for polo, Are there any more thattrainers that people may approach?

We have recently added a further two trainersto our approved trainers list and will be lookingto adding more trainers in the future.

Q. Where can people increase theirknowledge of RoR ex racehorses, welfareand retraining?


In 2018 we ran over 120 education eventsacross 15 different disciplines, we have the RoR Showcase on 23 rd November at Hartpury, a day dedicated to retraining former racehorses,with a great line-up of experts attending. The best way to find out about the work we dowith polo is to attend one of the RoRchallenges, which will provide information andlinks to experienced trainers, like DavidMorley. There is also a DVD that is available to purchase via Equestrian Vision which shows the transitional stages from Racehorse to Polo pony. So there is a lot of information there and please do contact us directly, if need be. We really doencourage people to register their ponies withRoR for free, so that in the future polo can getmore support from RoR and in return we canlook forward to expanding the options andtraining available. Keep an eye out for anupcoming RoR clinic this winter and check outthe ‘Source A Horse’ link to find your newproject and don’t forget to watch the polo seriesin the summer of 2020 to learn from the best.