Playing Tips with Rege Ludwig

Playing tips with Rege Ludwig The Joy Stick Affect

Renowned polo coach, Rege Ludwig gives his expert advice on how to get more out of your game

This is more of a “consider this” article than a “how to do” article. What I would like for you to consider is; how you use your body on top of your polo horse conveys a message to the horse, either intentionally or inadvertently, as to what it should be doing for you at any given moment.

If you can accept the age old adage that the horse represents eighty percent of your ability to play the game of polo, then you should be able to accept the fact that, how you use your body on your horse’s back affects its ability to play the game with you and for you.

The first thing to be aware of is, there is no mind reading going on to where your horse knows what you want from it at any given moment. If your horse is to respond correctly to your request for it to move in a particular manner, you must communicate accurately exactly what you want, when you want it, and the degree of intensity with which to deliver it,

With that having been said, your upper legs are the strongest and most direct form of communication you have to your horse; while, it is your hands connected to the reins that are the second most effective form of communication.

In a book I have written on the topic of The Polo Style of Riding, I reference an analogy I use when teaching, the Joy Stick Affect. With that analogy, I am comparing your body on your horse’s back to a Joy Stick used to control an automobile on a television screen. If you want the car to accelerate, you would move the joy stick froward. If you want the car to decelerate, you would move the Joy Stick back. release a degree of pressure on its mouth that is consistent with the rate you want it to accelerate. Your rein hand, as a part of your joystick upper body, should be moving forward and down at the same rate as your upper body, and to the same degree, so as to be releasing that pressure.

A significant point to consider is, the polo horse is an athlete trained to respond to the movements you make on its back. Consistent with that thought, every move you make with your Joy Stick upper body goes directly into your upper legs that are gripping into your horse’s shoulders. Because your upper legs will be pushing down and forward into your horse’s shoulders as your upper body is leaning forward and down, your upper legs are effectively pushing your horse forward.

If you combine the Joy Stick analogy to my Bolt Through Knees analogy, you will be delivering a quite strong message, through your upper legs, that your horse should be responding to your Joy Stick upper body requesting acceleration.

At the same time, your upper body movement has moved your arms and hands forward to be releasing pressure on your horse’s mouth. From that movement, your horse feels the effect of your joy stick upper body moving your rein hand forward requesting acceleration.

If you realise that your polo horse is a trained athlete taught to respond to the movements of you on its back, and that it is trained to respond consistent with the degree of intensity with which you make those moves; then it should be obvious that it does not take much of a move of your body on that trained athlete’s back to have it respond with a degree of vigour.

Now, consider that instead of moving your Joystick upper body forward and down to accelerate, you move it back and up. Under those conditions, your rein hand should be moving back and up at the same time. That, in turn, would be applying pressure onto your horse’s mouth which would be indicating – decelerate.

At the same time that your Joy Stick upper body is leaning back, your upper

Photography courtesy of Rege Ludwi Joy Stick Affect

Similarly, if you want your polo horse to accelerate, you should lean your Joy Stick upper body forward and down to

Leaning to Change Direction

legs will be lifting up and back on the bolt and your horse’s shoulders to affectively be lifting your horse’s front end up and back. That must happen if the horse is to decelerate and maintain a degree of readiness for executing the next manoeuvre.

Additionally, consider that If you were to lean your Joy Stick upper body either left or right, your horse will respond correspondingly by moving laterally in that same direction; and, will do so with a degree of intensity that is equal to the degree to which you leaned.

On the negative side, consider that if you were to move your rein hand right requesting your horse to turn right; however, your upper body was not leaning right to initiate the right turn; a negative consequence of that situation would be that your upper body will begin falling left and out of balance with your horse’s balance the moment your horse initiates the right turn manoeuvre. With your Joy Stick upper body falling left, that unintended upper body, Joy Stick, movement will be negatively affecting your horses’ ability to continue turning right.

The way the riding aspect of playing your polo horse works is, the more correctly you convey your message relative to what you want, when you want it, and the degree of intensity with which to deliver it, the more you are helping your polo playing partner, the horse, play more affectively with you and for you.

Your ability to play the game of polo with maximum effectiveness is directly related to your ability to accurately communicate to your polo playing partner what you want, when you want it, and the degree of intensity with which you want it.

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