Researchers Discover How to Increase Metabolic Oxygen Intake of Polo Horses

One thing polo players, and especially polo horse owners want to know is, How to improve a horses performance? As with most things there are lots of advice but not always well thought out advice or advice based more in science. If you want to improve your horses performance consider regimens of low and higher intensity practice.  

You may want to read about a study on which type of exercises lead to increased oxygen metabolic health and overall performance in Game play a crucial element in fitness regime of polo ponies, research suggests. The authors indicate that playing at low to moderate intensity and then engaging in higher intensity in match polo play increased the horses conditioning. I took the following quotes from the article:

"Among all exercise training subsets, only the low to moderate intensity training plus match play polo exercise period {vs. low to moderate intensity alone} caused an increase in the number of oxidative fibers, along with increases in properties related to oxygen-related metabolism, including high capillary density, intramuscular lipid content, and expression of two genes relating to energy production."

The researchers conclude.....  

“To improve muscle performance and minimize injury risk, starting exercise training further in advance of competition, as well as incorporating more intensity and longer duration sessions may be useful for the improvement of muscle performance.”    right out of the horses mouth so to speak. 😏

The Rules of Polo - EXPLAINED!

 A great polo basics video I saw on Twin City Polo Club's site. 

First Large International Polo Mallet Order: Escanaba Polo Mallet Co. Begins Scaling Process

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Escanaba Polo Mallet Company has been working on perfecting its mallets and has been ensuring customers service (Part of the entry strategy. We want a high quality product and we want to be trusted!). We invented the tri-partite mallet which had positive reviews as an alternative type mallet (It was a little stiff but we got the heaviness down to standard mallet range. Our 52" standard mallet is lighter than many mallets allowing for a little more control.) and continued to develop our standard mallet. An order comes in for a single mallet, which is normal, and then finally an order for many more to supply a new team sponsored by a saddle company. 

The order was fairly large, larger than we normally produce, and now have an opportunity to start supplying entire teams. That is where we would like to go in terms of providing organizations and clubs with both mallets and gear. We aren't anywhere near supplying team gear just yet but once we are able to show our capacity in supplying teams with high quality mallets we can improve on that and offer other products as well (We won't be building those products but selecting the best quality and branding them.). 

The Issue of Scalability:

The issues of scalability is an important one because as the product becomes better known it will create long tail marketing. That improves interest and opportunities. We will discuss at other points widening the types of products one might sell, make, or distribute but for the time being scalability is our primary issue (Successful business is all about solving problems.)  Growth will come through improving on the repeatability of an artisan product to create more consistent outcomes (We are almost there.)

Within the article Five Steps To Run And Scale A Successful Startup it indicates that one must be able to repeat their sales process over and over. That same concept will likely to apply to manufacturing and quality. When you scale you are designing processes that can be repeated over and over allow for incremental improvements in quality, consistency, and efficiency. Sometimes that might require new tools and other times just a better process. The same can be said for marketing, branding and advertising where channels are explored and what works is repeated (often getting better.). 

Keep Focused on Change and Honesty:

All start ups will go through growing issues and owners can become a little delusional about their prospects. According to an article in Entrepreneur entitled The Benefits of Intentionally Scaling Your Startup 50% of start-ups fail within the first 4 years. There are many issues as they relate to management, capital, and others to get from point A to a multimillion dollar point L. The focus in he beginning shouldn't be on money but on the development of a viable business model. 

The creation of a viable business model is precisely what I'm doing. I started selling mallets a few years here and there and listed to customers before launching the Escanaba Polo Mallet Co brand. I spend a lot of time talking with customers and what they need and want to ensure I have a strong customer centric product that has few returns. Now the process is about scaling to adjust and repeat processes to provide more return on efforts to a wider audience (i.e. clubs and teams.)

A Few Things Learned:

1. Scaling starts with a strong model

2. You need an excellent high quality product with market appeal.

3. Develop your brand with customer service and allow customers to tell you what they want.

4. If your not pressed for cash take your time and do things the right way.

5. Learn, develop, and innovate.

6. Repeat what works and remove what doesn't to create scalability. 

Who Is Escanaba Polo Mallet Company?

Escanaba Polo Mallet Co. is a good works start-up designed to provide quality polo mallets (and in the future gear) to the polo playing community. We have secondary objectives that focus on teaching others about entrepreneurship and donating a significant portion of our products to good works causes (i.e. orphans, gifted children, horse rescue, and other important causes). We are capable of providing your team and individuals with quality custom polo mallets. https://www.escanabapolomallet.com/

Email Escanaba Polo Mallet Co.

Why Making Handmade Polo Mallets Move into High Quality Specialty Outcomes

Polo mallets are can be handmade or they can be manufactured by machines. The type of mallet you choose will depend on the approach a polo manufacturer takes. Some are more focused on volume sales while others are more focused on specialty products; a few may be able to do both. Many companies pre-buy the heads and shafts and then wrap the handles other may just purchase the whole mallet and resell it under their brand. At Escanaba Polo Mallet Company we make our own heads, shafts, and handles so we can manage the quality and outcomes. While small tools are used there are times when there are benefits to making quality mallets by hand. 

1.) Make Innovative Improvements: When working by hand it is easiest to make improvements and try them out. 

2.) Understand Wood: The wood of the handle has different contours of grain and working by hand trying out different pieces of wood can help find the best match. 

3.) Using American Materials: When working by hand it is possible to test and try American materials to improve the local economy. 

4.) Skill Development: While machines are great there are few things better than making polo mallets by hand to really understanding the process. 

5.) Improved Quality: Quality is often improved because one has control over all the parts of the process. 

EBAY STORE to buy mallets.

Small Business and Green Initiatives: Packaging and Supplies @ Escanaba Polo Mallet Co.

Our environment has become extremely important and companies are trying to find the best way to go green. Green initiatives are very important to a company's reputation and to enhancing corporate social responsibility. Small businesses don't have the financial cushion or healthy profit margins that are sometimes needed to implement green practices. However, sometimes they can find little changes that can help. 

Escanaba Polo Mallet Company is a small start-up that supports prosocial and positive community action. It isn't a large production but seeks to create a brand by instilling the best practices in terms of customer service, quality, and functionality. In our case, we are using two green initiatives that include mostly reusable materials for production and reusable packaging (That is a big one for companies.).

That isn't a huge change for us as our mallets are made from bamboo/rattan poles that we straighten. Many companies sort of dump hundreds of those to find a few very straight ones. We learned how to straighten them ourselves. Our heads are made from hardwood that is a supply we can find in the area and thus reduce our carbon footprint. 

Our packaging is also made from reusable paper bags. While it would be more convenient to just have custom cardboard boxes it would add significantly to the cost. Reused paper bags aren't as beautiful as a box but cheaper to ship and easy to find (We may want to put a sticker on them so people now we are using green packaging.). 

Protecting our Environment

Here are a few ideas that might help your small business find some green practices. 

1.) Is there an adjustment you can make in your materials.

2.) Think about packaging and how that adds to waste. i.e. less plastic.

3.) Are there other uses for left over materials like saw dust.

4.) Can you buy supplies from companies that engage in green practices. 

5.) Is your supply chain local/regional and smaller carbon footprint.

You may review and purchase one of our mallets at https://www.escanabapolomallet.com/

Improving Tripartite Mallet Handles Based on Customer Feedback

Customer feedback provides opportunities to understand what customers want and where they are willing to spend their resources. As a business approach, if you accept and review feedback from customers you also begin to develop a method of improving your products. Product returns are more than a financial loss as they also reflect negatively on the product. We took to heart the lesson we learned from a returned tripartite polo mallet. 

The tripartite polo mallet was designed to have a stronger shaft by using three smaller shafts versus one larger one. As with all products there are advantages and disadvantages. 

Disadvantages: 

1.) The handle felt off because of the way the shafts come together. 

2.) Slightly heavier than the single shaft mallet (Not excessive but a little more. Might need to update the description.).

3.) Less snap than a regular mallet. 

Advantages:

1.) Stronger shaft that is hard to break.

2.) Affordable price for beginners

3.) New options in mallet development. 

We always want to improve our mallets and one of the biggest things we could fix is the feeling/design of the handle. The handle was filled out in a way that creates a "rounder" feeling without the hard edges. We will make the mallets this way and see if our customers like the new handles and if that solves a problem for them. If it solves the problem we have taken a leap forward in the development of this design.

Using customer feedback as a loop for improvement helps to ensure that your products are continuously adjusting upward to meet market needs. It also can help your bottom line as upgrades through R&D leads to less returns (often calculated in $ and by %) and higher market value. An additional benefit is that the products also improve and in turn become more competitive as a contributory factor to the brand. 

World Snow Polo Championship Final (2021)