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May 7, 2012As usual in our neck of the woods the weather has been very chaotic. It does sometimes warrant us to be very flexible and allow for change, so please bare with us. We have several fun things coming up as well as our regular practice and play schedule of Wednesday's at 6 at South Glenmore Park and Saturdays from 1-4. Everyone is welcome to come check us out or bring your horse and try it out! Saturday May 12 will be a little different as we have our annual Highway clean-up. We will meet on site at 9:30 which should allow us plenty of time to get back and move our horses over to the field for an afternoon of play. We will start at 2PM instead of 1 which should allow for enough time to get your horses to the field. Some members of our club have also started their 30 Day Challenge with Ryan Murphy in prep for the playing season and of course to make us ready for his clinic which is being held June 1 & 2. If you have any questions or would like to register for any of these events, please contact us and we will take care of it! April 23, 2012Well the season is officially under way. We have now hosted our first practice and our first day of play this past Saturday. The weather was lovely and we had a pile of fun, a great turnout and of course wonderful weather. It was obvious that most of the horses are not being actively exercised yet though and the bright lovely sun only helped to really warm them up...Do remember to bring a sponge, bucket and container of water to cool them off and provide a drink for them after play as they are just a hot and thirsty as you are I also wanted to advise that Ryan Murphy is compiling a 1 month program that he will be working on through for the next month. This is in prep for the season and his clinic. It will be a great opportunity to get the most out of his clinic as well! If you are interested in getting involved in this 1 Month Challenge with Ryan Murphy, please contact me. The cost will be $50 and you will receive several programs for yourself and your horse. Your progress will be followed up by Ryan via a special Facebook Group and again once he arrives here on Thurdsay May 31. Also a quick reminder that practice is on for Wednesday at 5:30 unless we have extreme weather. I will post on the Facebook group if it is cancelled hopefully 3 hours prior. There will also be NO play this Saturday as a large number of players are off at The Mane Event in Red Deer. See you Wednesday! April 19, 2012As promised here is your training circuit. Now let's work on getting our horses in the best shape we can. Those of you that are playing up a division this year, will find your horses fitness level VERY important. I look forward to seeing you on the field Saturday
Conditioning the Polocrosse Horse April 17, 2012As is spring around Calgary the weather is a little unpredictable...We did however manage to get the first practice done last Wednesday! We did have a good turnout and folk came from far and wide to play on the field. As usual the field is in great shape and we look forward to playing every Wednesday evening and Saturday afternoon for the rest of the year! I like to plan that we are going until three hours prior to play and if we must, I will cancel via the Facebook page as it is the fastest and easiest way to get to everyone. I know that we have folk coming from Bragg Creek, Strathmore and Lethbridge and so we allow 3 hours so that everyone has not left to start there trek to arrive. Please if you are not part of the Facebook group, please join it so you are able to stay in touch and in the know Also I wanted to make sure that everyone is aware that Ryan Murphy will be coming back up to do another clinic for us! Please see the attached flyer. It is also beyond time to get everyone up and on their horse for their fitness training and I will be adding an excellent 8 week fitness program to make sure that our horses stay fit and healthy. Playing cold unfit horses is a sure way for them to suffer injury and nobody wants to be down a horse at the beginning of the season! March 20, 2012Today is the first day of spring and we have felt it coming for awhile now. Of course we also know that we are not over the snow...The footing has been excellent to ride and leg up horses in preparation for play and some but not near enough folk have been kicking around Zues Acres working their horses. I expect we should be able to hit the field very soon! RJ ranch hosted yet another great practice on St Paddy's Day and I must say the challenge was put out and everyone did wear green. Some went above and beyond and a great time was had by all and those of you that were not able to make it were missed! Our lovely team jackets came in very quickly Thanks to Jennifer Lynn and her team and they look very smart. An order for 30 was placed and almost everyone has picked them up, if you have not drop a line and we can get them off to you. In our lovely photo Krystalle was kind enough to demo the "panties" you will be playing in if you are selected "putz of the day"! So that being said, be kind, play hard, and no complaining! Happy Trails!  Us showing off our lovely new jackets
March 5, 2012We are currently practicing indoors and the turn-out is tremendous each week! We really have a great group of keeners this year and everyone and their horses are picking up their skills weekly. I am sure you all know that spring is in the air and it is very evident with our "fresh" horses. The weather has been treating us very well this year and therefore we are in fitness week number 6 (for those of you keeping track). I would like to point out again that it does in fact take 8 weeks of regular work to fit up a Polocrosse horse. This does not mean weekly rides for practice In our weekly practices a few training things have become apparent. For this reason I thought it important to add a couple tips here and there to help everyone out with their "horse tune-ups". The relief of pressure: A horse learns through the relief of pressure, this being said I will try to explain this as easy as I can to shed some light on some simple ques. I will use "backing your horse up" as an example for this. When we ask our horse to back up what should happen vs what does happen. A very common error is that we pull, release, pull, release, pull, release to get the horse to back up. What is actually happening is that the horse backs up (tension on reins), stops (tension off reins) and repeat until horse gets to where we want it. What needs to happen is in a tall position with weight in the feet and bum, shoulders up and back put pressure on both reins. Maintain this pressure until the horse moves (make sure your reins are short enough to apply more pressure if needed). Once he moves, let the pressure off. So that he realizes when there is pressure on, his feet should be moving backward (as the rein pressure does not indicate go forward). As I am sure you realize, when starting, you do this one step at a time and continue until he can do as many steps as you would like. This is something that you "work on". It should become part of your warm up. It is important to understand that training is something that is ongoing and needs to be tested to make sure that it is in fact available for when it is needed. Always revisit things that you have taught your horse so he stays fresh and tuned-up. Happy horsing to you all and see you next week! February 7, 2012Saturday brought another large indoor practice and a good time was had by all. I am happy to say we have not lost a rider yet but did come close a couple times again this week. Clearly nobody is "chomping at the bit" to buy the first case of beer
February 3, 2012As we spend our time looking for a new partner it always crosses our mind to consider picking up a horse from the track. It is a fantastic idea provided you are ready for some work. An interesting article was sent to me and so I thought I would share it as it does have some great information in it. "I’m an expert of rehabilitating ex racehorses. If it’s just finished racing, it should be spelled immediately, it’s feet trimmed and definitely NOT shod, it should be in a very well fenced, extremely safe paddock with an option to enclose it for its own safety at night until it re-learns that it is actually a horse, as many its natural instincts will have been brain fried by the unnatural environment of racing, and it should be only fed good quality hay, good grass and be left totally UNRUGGED so that it rebuilds its immune system which will have been virtually lost through the unnatural environment of racing. Check it daily for cuts or the stuff that brain-fried ex racehorses do to themselves, do not feed it ANY additives, not even for hooves as it’s been fed so many additives in the industry that by now it will have no natural gut flora left. Leave it be for six months. Let it see other horses or be able to mix with horses over the fence until it remembers what being a horse is, AND, if you don’t know how to re-train an ex racehorse after you’ve done all of this, keep it as a pet or have someone who knows what they’re doing help you. It will need its gut flora re-established, as well as it’s behaviour patterns and its idea of WHY it is ridden refreshed. If you don’t know how to do this really really well, sell it to someone who does. But I cannot reiterate enough: if it is new off the track or relatively new from the track IT MUST BE SPELLED PROPERLY for at least six months with no shoes, no rugs and plenty of natural fodder." Just some food for thought! January 28, 2012We certainly kicked off our practice season with a bang! We hosted our first indoor practice this past Saturday and had a "full house". There were 13 riders, 2 coaches, and a pile of spectators. A good time was had by all including our "hairy" out of shape horses. Several of whom were really feeling their "Wheaties". After a couple horse changes and some switching and swapping everyone was able to get a little ride in as well as take a bit of the spring out of our fresh horses. As we have a very active year ahead of us we will build slowly to fit up our horses as well as really get into some of the rules which will only help play on the field. The main objective being safe horsemanship. These are our partners so we certainly want to take care of them so they are able to take care of us. The weather has been lovely and what better time to teach your horse to "mark up" by ponying them around. Remember if you are trying this, you need a whip with you to gently ask the horse you are ponying to move up shoulder to shoulder. As your horse gets better you should be able to switch sides. Of course when the footing is good you should be able to a pattern and the horse being ponied should always travel at the shoulder. Just a little fitness tip to help start the year off right! I am looking forward to seeing you all this Saturday February 4 at RJ Ranch. Birthday wishes go out to Dana on February 1st!
First Practice of 2012! January 4, 2011Well we are in preparation for our first practice which will be held on January 28 from 1-3 at RJ Ranch I know everyone is keen to slowly get their horses back into work. This is a slow and steady procedure to ensure our horse remain healthy and happy. Please remember to renew your AEF membership and notify Danielle that it is done before this practice. It is also important to bring a blanket along as horses tend to get sweaty at practice as they are not used to doing much right now and we don't want them to get a draft on the way home or after being turned out. We are also happy to announce that both Shelby and Shaina have started training to head to France and represent Canada in July! We wish both girls plenty of luck and want you to know your club backs you 100%. Also be advised if you don't see your picture on yet, we are under construction to fix that! December 4, 2011Well as things go we are finally back to updating the website. Summer seems to just take over with so much going on so please forgive as we begin a "Year in Review" phase...It has been quite a year for our 23 members with 2011 being our biggest growth year yet! We left off in mid June with terribly rainy weather which just simply continued to improved and in the end left our fields beautiful and green. In fact the fields and weather were so great we were able to play every Wednesday and Saturday on our home field at South Glenmore Park! As our field is located within the heart of City of Calgary it does afford us many benefits. One came to light at the end of June when we were approached by one of the news broadcasting companies here in Calgary. They had heard of our club and were interested in seeing this sport "Polocrosse" and asked if they could come and do an interview with us as well as watch some of the aspects of the sport. They were very excited to see our younger players performing such great feats on their horses and look forward to coming back for a follow-up. The interview was aired every hour for 24 hours straight! What a great feather in our cap. July came along swiftly and the weather held up well. Emily Brodigan our Australian Exchange girl landed and the fun began. It was a whirlwind of activity starting with the 99th Annual Stampede Parade, we placed 3rd in the "Mounted Color Parties" division this year. Not the first place finish that we were hoping for but we will try again in 2012. Our next club maneuver was off to the Millarville Tournament where we had some fun camping, playing and enjoying the weather. We also had the pleasure of hosting Paul and Susan Johnson for the week they were here to pick up there new filly from McArthur's Australian Stock Horse barn. While here Paul blessed us with some fun coaching as well as some of his umpiring techniques. Susan of course was full of help and great knowledge as usual. August felt almost lonely without Emily around but we turned our sights and energy to our tournament. Our club was just FANTASTIC at pulling together to bring this event off the ground. All of our members really need to pat themselves on the back for their part in making this such a successful event. I am sure there is not one person that did not volunteer to do some sort of task in order to see it a success. Thank you all so much for your involvement. The weather was spectacular and the play was rather un-eventful but VERY exciting. We had a small mishap with one of our favorite horses "Julio" but he healed up just great. Our club did very well in this tournament, in fact 2 of our girls were on the A division winning team! Well done Shelby and Shaina! Shaina managed to do this on a horse that she had ridden for 30 minutes prior to play, nice work. September brought us the Canadian Nationals that were held as the first tournament down at the "Buckin' Eh Ranch" in Nanton. As usual the Foothills club pulled another nice location, weather and tournament out of the hat for us. There were plenty of great plays, pictures and times had by one and all. Once again everyone stepped up to the plate and chipped in with getting horses there, lending horses and arranging places for everyone to stay as it was VERY cold out at nights and a warm hotel was a great score....It sure takes more than cold weather to bring the spirits down with this group! In fact we also began Fox Hunting and headed off for our annual camping "Wind-up" in the woods...We headed to Mesa Butte with a large group to ride for the weekend so our horses could look at some different scenery... Nothing goes without event with this group though. Between a couple of strange fellows showing up to sing and play for us and Sheldon mysteriously "flying" off Daisy this weekend was no different. A special Thanks also goes out to Paige for bringing her cousin Taryn to provide some great entertainment around the fire for us! October we still had fantastic weather and took every opportunity to enjoy it. We hunted every Sunday and rode back and forth to Glenmore Park several times as a group as well as joined up with some friends from Fox Hunting to ride to Fish Creek Park! Of course the high-light was the Halloween Fox Hunt which several of us took part in this year. I must say "Whitey" stole the show again being painted as a zebra and Cully her warrior. This little $90 pony has definitely stolen several hearts in her break through year. Who knew that she could jump with the "big" kids! November held all kinds of fun and excitement in it! The horses for the most part were off to there winter homes, doing other jobs or simply turned out for a well deserved rest. We were off enjoying banquets and Wind-up/Christmas Parties. First off was the Polocrosse Canada banquet held at the Millarville racetrack. The Millarville club did a fantastic job of organizing and hosting this event and our club had a great season with some exceptional wins...Evan won "Top Under 14 Junior, Connie won "Top C Grade female", Shaina won "Top B Grade female and Julio won "Best Horse". The following weekend we enjoyed our Polocrosse Calgary Wind-Up and Gift Exchange where we feasted like "Kings" and enjoyed a great time together at the Springbank Equestrian Centre. With the club having grown so much and everyone having played so well this year we added some new awards for our club. The winners were: "Desi" for "Best Horse", "Whitey" for "Most Improved Horse", Rob for "Top D Grade Player" and Kiara for "Most Improved Player". With growth comes change and we found it important that these "D' grade players efforts be recognized as they practice and play hard to learn a new sport as well as learn to ride in some cases. For this reason Calgary thought it important to support their efforts by presenting some beautifully embriodered saddle pads for winning the 'D' division in the Canadian Nationals. Congratulations Irish, Rob and Paige! We also enjoyed an evening at the Calgary Western Riders banquet, where as a group we did very well again. Evan won the "Pee Wee" division "High Point", Rob won the "Junior" division "High Point", and several of us placed 2nd in our divisions. Our Polocrosse club walked out of the party with an 8ft long table full of prizes stacked 2ft high! As I am sure you know I could go on for hours about the fun we have during our season as we enjoy many good laughs and stories while "horsing" around. Each and every member is a pleasure and is enjoyed simply for who they are. Don't go changin' and stay tuned for continued updates as we are officially under repair again! Pictures and riders profiles will be updated for the new year so if you would like to provide your own in each case, by all means drop a line to Lesley and she will take care of it. If not, she will also provide that information... Happy Trails and Happy Holidays! Click below for map to our field at South Glenmore Park
Click for map to Foothills Club field
Click here for map to RJ Ranch
Tournament Entry FormClick to download the entry form for our 2011 tournament, the "ADD Smackdown", which will be held on August 20 - 21.
2011 Membership forms: Polocrosse Calada Membership
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All photos within these pages belong to the members of the Calgary Polocrosse Club
Design elements and images are the intellectual property of Allison ©ully, 2007 - 09
. On this note, a great horse fitness program was added last week to the website so please have a look at it and try and get across your horse a couple times a week. It will make your horse more comfortable if he is fit. 
. Most of you are not that keen to be out riding but it is important to understand that a fit horse is a healthy horse. Fitness also helps to prevent injuries as it is when we or our horse is tired that injuries occur. Just a little food for thought...I am sure you all know that with each passing week the intensity will increase and we want to give ourselves and our horses the best opportunity to improve and starting new each week does not move them or us forward as well as it could. Contact me and I can help you with a training schedule. 
You can tell spring is here because all of our horses are fresh and excited to have some fun! Unless you want to be the first I hope that everyone will consider to get out and enjoy this lovely weather by taking their horses for a nice ride between practices. 
