Is Your Horse Happy According to Research?

If you are a horse enthusiast and love the smell of horse poop, like riding horses, and whispering to yourself and the horse then you may be interested in the study below. As a horse enthusiast I love to be with horses and spend a lot of time around my four-legged tail whipping friends. However, I often wonder if they are truly happy.

Yes, they do snort, and I have read a study saying that because they snort that is an indication of happiness. I would suspect that if they come by you when you show up, they are also somewhat friendly. However, some of the other cues and behaviors can be misinterpreted.

Consider the study Is Your Horse Happy?

Research Indicates that Polo Player and Horse Personality Impact Performance

Many polo coaches have discussed how horses and players have certain personalities that interact. Those interactions could have an impact on handicap and play. However, it is hard to describe how that happens. According to the research below there is a definate interaction between the two.  

Do Horse And Human Personalities Affect The Game Of Polo?

-Player neuroticism and openness had negative main effects on player handicap and level of play by horse.

-Positive interaction between player neuroticism and horse neuroticism. 

-Positive interaction between player openness and horse intellect in outcome of player's handicap. 

-Positive interaction between horse intellect and player openness in level of horse performance

Weise, A. & Johnson, T. (2009). Do Horse And Human Personalities Affect The Game Of Polo? [Dissertation] Edinburgh Research Archive, https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/3558

Morroco Spring Polo Challenge

A Review of Equestrian Polo and a Methodology for Testing the Mechanical Properties of the Mallet (Polo Research)

Polo mallets do come in different sizes, shape and quality. Escanaba Polo Mallets are light and use bamboo because bamboo is sustainable. We find straight poles, correct them when needed, and then put them into our mallets. 

 Our heads are hardwood. These are pretty like most other mallets except because of the way in which we construct them they are lighter. This makes them a little more nimble and easier to use.

Each mallet can be further tested for durability to determine how much abuse it can take before breaking. Breaking mallets is normal because of the amount of contact and pressures. A hairline fracture will eventually split the pole. However, using ratan or bamboo fiber cane allows the mallet to shred in a way that doesn't pose a piercing risk to horses or riders.

 We test each mallet but might consider as a start-up also using a similar method to determine precisely when they break. The study indicates that using the same metric helps us compare quality. It is also fair to say that our mallet quality is one thing and our push to donate over half (most of the time) all of our profits to charity is important. The start-up was designed to test the ease or difficult of starting business and some of the difficulties increasing entrepreneurship.  

 Consider reading,

A Review of Equestrian Polo and a Methodology for Testing the Mechanical Properties of the Mallet (Polo Research)

You may also be interested in our research page where we place all the polo related research we can find.

Check out our Polo Research Page

Paul Ewart, Ken Louie and Hong Zhou (2020) A Review of Equestrian Polo and a Methodology for Testing the Mechanical Properties of the Mallet (Polo Research). Proceedings. https://www.academia.edu/57659408/A_Review_of_Equestrian_Polo_and_a_Methodology_for_Testing_the_Mechanical_Properties_of_the_Mallet

nd Hong Zhou

†

Don't Forget Our Escanaba Polo Mallet Co Sweatshirts

Looking for some great sweatshirts? Consider some of our Escanaba Polo Mallet Co. logo items. 

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