Research on the Health of Polo Horses

Horses are a big investment and polo horses must be in tip top shape. That means taking care of their maintenance and conditioning to ensure they can perform at a high level when needed. If you ever owned horses you will know how much work they are and what happens if you don't stay on schedule with their care. Neglect a stall for a full day and you will see. Make sure you take good care of your equestrian athletes.

This study highlights some some ailments and risks associated with polo horses.

Health of Polo Horses

You may also want to read our Polo Research Page

Schumacher, A., & Gehlen, H. (2024). Health of Polo Horses. Animals, 14(12), 1735. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14121735

*Escanaba Polo Mallet is supported by private donations and sales of mallets and logo items. 

Escanaba Polo Mallet Co. Donates Profits Away

 Our mallets are made for good causes. You may purchase one of our mallets HERE. We support various charities and entities with our mallets. Our goal is to give away 50% but we are at present giving away nearly 100% of profits to various charities and entities.  Clubs we support and send money to include Orphans (Donate Here Direct), Amvets, local fire department, social/charity clubs, local medical procedure, St. Judes Children's hospital, etc. 

If you are going to buy a mallet you should buy it from a good works company that seeks to do good in the world. Our webpage is https://www.escanabapolomallet.com/

You may also be interested in looking at our Polo Research Page https://www.escanabapolomallet.com/p/polo-related-research-studies.html

The Necessity of Preparing Your Horse for Higher Polo Playing

Horses are just like people and they need to be conditioned in order to achieve their maximum performance. It wouldn't be wise to over push a horse that isn't ready for a hardy polo game. So conditioning is needed to maximize performance.

Consider conditioning with your horse so you are both growing together. Read this study and consider your best options. The Spatiotemporal Characteristics of 0–24-Goal Polo

Best, R., & Standing, R. (2019). The Spatiotemporal Characteristics of 0–24-Goal Polo. Animals, 9(7), 446. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani9070446

You may want to check out the Polo Research Page

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

†