Inside the World of Polo with Pamela Flanagan Devaleix

In this episode of In The Vet’s Office, Dr. Josie Horchak heads to Wellington, Florida—the heart of American polo—to sit down with professional player and Netflix POLO docuseries star, Pamela Flanagan Devaleix. Pamela opens up about her unique journey into the world of polo, what it's like being a woman in a male-dominated sport, and why the connection between horse and rider runs deeper than most imagine. She also tackles some of the biggest misconceptions about polo, especially the false narratives around horse welfare. It’s a candid, eye-opening conversation that goes beyond the glamour of the sport to reveal the truth behind the scenes.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to in the Vets Office with doctor Josie Horchak.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hi everyone, and welcome back to in the Vets Office.
I am your host, doctor Josie, and today we are
not only in the Vets Office, we are in the
tack room. We have built quite literally, we have taken
the podcast on the road. This is the first episode
I have ever recorded outside of Nashville. And we are
in Wellington, Florida, for those of you who do not know,

(00:37):
it's just outside of Palm Beach, and it is the
mecca for all things horses, really from the months of
December to May, I would say, And we are here
today because I am interviewing my friend Pam Flanagan.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Hi, PaxVax. Oh my gosh, it's an adjustment. Proll of
us myself included. I get it.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
You got married a year and a half ago, now
almost two years ago. Two years ago we had two
years in June there, I was there the beautiful wedding.
So for those of you who do not know Pam,
Pam is an attorney, she's a new mom. She is
an amazing polo player. She has played in the Women's
US Open Championship. How many times.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
I've put a team in seven times, but I've played
six times.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
And how many times have you won?

Speaker 1 (01:19):
Four?

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Okay? Yeah, you're a badass. And most recently, she starred
on the Netflix series I guess i'd call it a docuseries.
Maybe docuseries, Yeah, yeah, a docuseries.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
I thought it was like the technical title was docuseries, okay.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
Called polo. So if you haven't watched that, you absolutely
should because I obviously am a little biased, but I
loved it. It was amazing.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
You may not recognize me. I was very pregnant, very
very pregnant.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
You were how many how many months pregnant?

Speaker 1 (01:45):
Were seven months pregnant? Like even the last shots, I
was eight months pregnant. I was about pop. Okay, but
it was shot. Those shots were like a little bit later.
Those were like April May shots, but the season was
really like February March. Okay, So I think like technically
by the timeline of the docuseries, I wasn't as pregnant
as I actually was in like the postseason interviews.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Okay, yeah, because I remember like towards the postseason interviews,
you were like about to pop.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
Yeah, like about to pop? Okay, I gave birth like
a month after my last interview, So yeah, like eight
months pregnant.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Every well, I have never been pregnant. All my girlfriends
when they're like eight months pregnant, they're like, this is hell,
and I feel like the last thing you want to
do is be on the world stage on Netflix.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
Well, and you know that they say, like the camera
adds ten pounds. Well, when you're pregnant, you already have
like forty plus pounds. So it was quite an adjustment
to myself there it is plus just tripled my weight overnight. Yeah,
it was quite interesting to watch, but no, it was
It was good.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
How was it filming and Netflix show? Like? How is Oh?
By the way, guys, we are in attack room, So
if you hear pounding, it's because horses are kicking the wall.
They might be winning in the background, so bear with us.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
Literally on the other side of the camera, that wall
is Blacklist stall, so like she's right there kicking her stall,
so perfect. Apologies in advance.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
Yeah, I kind of like that. This is like authentic,
very authentic. Yes, Yes, how is it filming the Netflix show?

Speaker 1 (03:05):
It was cool, It was an experience. It was the producer,
the showrunner I don't know the technical terms of this,
maybe you do, but the person kind of behind it
all was his name was Milosh. He was wonderful to
work with, to the point like we're buddies now. He's
super talented. He was just kind of like thrown in
this polar world and he had a month to figure
it out. So I was really impressed with his ability
to kind of like navigate the world generally and navigate

(03:27):
the personalities and try to like make something out of nothing.
He wasn't really given a lot of time to film
this series, so I was really impressed with how he
was able to execute everything.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Is he like the point person between you and like
the cameras like what do you mean by that?

Speaker 1 (03:43):
Gess right, So I don't know, and like anyone introduction
is going to be making fun of us right now
because like these audiences like we shouldn't know. But I mean, no,
I don't know the technical term of what his role was,
but he was like the go to guy, dame guy.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
Your guy, Milosh, if you're listening, thank you you are
our guy.

Speaker 1 (03:59):
You were awesome. He loved you. He was phenomenal, super talented.
He did like welcome to Wrexham, and he's done a
few other shows that have been a big hit. Yeah,
So my experience filming with them was fantastic because of him.
He was just awesome to work with.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
And I feel like you guys, so for those of
you who haven't watched, Pam and her husband Louis are
in it, and it's kind of just following their life
and him I think was he playing the Gauntlet at
the time.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
Yeah, exactly. So they were following I want to say,
four teams. They were following Lafe du Decorp, La Delfina
and Coca Cola, so they kind of like picked stories
within those teams to follow, and then of course Louis
kind of like new guy on the scene, kind of
like bad boy, crazy man. Yeah, was a big part
of it. And then of course you have like Adolpho Best,
who's best player that's ever lived, and his son Peroto competing,

(04:46):
and then Keko mcgreey up and coming, really talented young player,
he's like eighteen years old, and Timmy Duda kind of
comes from like a family who's very involved in the
polo world. He has his own team, but he's also
a professional, so it was kind of navigating the stories
within the teams, but the the overarching theme was following
these teams through their journey to the US Open final,

(05:07):
which ended up being father versus Son.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
So that was kind of like perfect amazing. Yeah, you
could have planned that better.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
No, did it quite well?

Speaker 2 (05:14):
How were you like, I mean, you had some vulnerable moments,
like anytime anyone's following you through your life? Of course,
how is that having cameras around? Were you like, oh
my god, like there's a camera or you're just like, oh,
this is our life.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
I can leave it both right, like, oh my god,
there's a camera. But I'm kind of an open book
no matter what. Yeah, you are, like, I've always been
an open book. It's always just kind of been my like,
my way of operating my my family's just that way.
We're Greek, crazyeing your mom. I think I know we're Greek.
We're very like open, warm people. So I just don't
feel like I've never been a very private person in

(05:49):
that way. So I'm I don't know here we are.
We're doing it. If we're going to commit and we're
gonna do it, we're gonna do it honestly, and you
know we'll be raw and vulnerable if it calls for that,
and and it was, and I think it was a
good experience in navigating different situations. I think my husband
was you know, portrayed and in the big bad meaning.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
I was wondering. I feel like, because I know him
from Okay, your wedding, like, he is the sweetest, kindest soul.
Oh there's the ring door belt. That's okay. But on
the show, I think they really leaned into him being
like the new bad boy on the scene. Oh yeah,
And I was like, oh, okay, let me see what
they're doing here.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
Yes, everybody has them. Sorry, I'm like, it's okay, I
talk with my hands. It's the Greek thing. I think
everybody kind of had to take on a role, right,
and so that's just kind of naturally the role that
fits him. But I mean, he's a sweetheart, he is
a big bad he has a badass, He is a
crazy man. He is like an extreme adrenaline addict. So

(06:48):
all of that is completely true. I just think that
that's a very small part of him, right, but it
is in fact a part of him. But yeah, it
was I don't think he cusses that much in real life.
That's for sure.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
The F bomb, I mean left and right.

Speaker 1 (06:59):
The man speaks four languages fluently, like hardcore, four languages
completely fluent. English is his third language. He's just incredible.
And you would think when you have four languages to
choose from, you could choose other words to express yourself.
And I promise you he does have quite an extensive vocabulary.
There is more to him than just the F B.

Speaker 2 (07:18):
Sometimes you just gotta say fuck, okay, am I right?
I support him. I mean, look, sometimes you just have
nothing else to say. We were just talking before we
started recording that when because I think, as some of
you know, I watch a lot of pole I play polo,
and we'll be listening to the live streams, and when
Pam is playing, Louis will be on the sideline screaming

(07:38):
bloody murder.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
Without question. Like he is no joke. He's my number
one teer ladter. He is so and it's awesome to
have him there because he just brings up the excitement
in the intensity of the games. Ye, but the cameras
that actually film the games are at like the middle
yard line, fifty yard line, if you will, But the
middle of the field in the field's three hundred yards long,
so he's on the far end of the on the corner,

(08:01):
so over one hundred and fifty yards away, and the
cameras can still pick him up screaming at the tent like, come.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
On, the earth is shaking a little bit.

Speaker 1 (08:08):
Yes, yes, I love it. It's great.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
So Prince Harry produced it, or was like an executive producer.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
Right, So this was one of his projects with Netflix.
So I'm under the understanding that Prince Harry and Megan
Markle have three contract deal with Netflix where they have
like three projects that Netflix signed them on for the
first one was Megan and Me. The second one, do
you want me to let her out? She's okay?

Speaker 2 (08:34):
Pam's boxer Sage is here and she's like, I think
if we're going to let her out of the tack
room and then she's gonna want to come back in.

Speaker 1 (08:39):
I have a feeling that's probably that's okay.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
She can won't do her little thing, Sage.

Speaker 1 (08:42):
Do you want to come here, Sage?

Speaker 2 (08:44):
Come look at her little nub. I love boxers. Look
at your little nub lup here, she says, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
I want to tell you, Yea, you're not allowed on furniture.

Speaker 2 (08:53):
Back to that. Oh yeah, so they're like like the.

Speaker 1 (08:56):
Big umbrella exactly. So they have three serious deal with Netflix.
From I understand the first one was Megan and Me,
the second one was Polo, and the third one is Megan's.
I think it's called With Love Meghan. They just released it.
It's like a show one like cooking and gardening and
all the things that kind of that she wanted loves
to share with her friends and family. Yeah, that's my understanding.
I haven't seen it quite yet, but I intend to
watch it.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
And Louis played with Harry. He has yeah, and against
Harry against Harry so twice a couple a handful of
times against he's a pretty good bowl player.

Speaker 1 (09:24):
He's really good. Yeah, Like he's a very good rider.
He's a very good polo player. Obviously he's not a professional.
It's not his like he doesn't have time for that. Yeah,
but as as an amateur and an enthusiast, he's he's
incredibly talented.

Speaker 2 (09:36):
Well, I feel like that family, you've come out of
the womb and like get straight onto a horse.

Speaker 1 (09:39):
I think you should. It's like part of the culture.

Speaker 2 (09:41):
Yeah, I mean they like they're the ogs. They are
they are the og. Okay, so Pam got me into
polo and I tell people that I play polo. I
feel like there is such a misconception that it's like
this they think of like Julia Roberts and pretty Woman.
It's like the stuck up society, and I have come

(10:01):
to find that that is not the case, not at all.
It's like the most laid back well for the most part.
I mean there's some ritzy, glazzy moments, yes, but the
people are so laid back, like you show up no
makeup and jeans, like very very casual for the most part.
And it's such a great tight knit community.

Speaker 1 (10:19):
It is. It is. It's a small community, but it's
definitely a tight knit community. And I do think there
is a part of the sport that has like the
big hats and high heels, and that's great because you
want people who enjoy that to have that. But I
would say that makes up like two percent of the sport.
Those are like exhibition matches that happen once a year

(10:39):
in big cities. But exactly the other ninety eight percent
of the sport is like people in T shirts and
no shoes at the polo field with young horses, training horses,
working their butt off day in day out.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
So it's a ton of work that goes on behind
the scenes. Yes. And the other really cool thing to
me is such a I mean, the biggest part, and
I'm sure I agree is the horses and taking care
of the horses. And there's so much care that goes
into taking care of these animals. Yes, And people don't
see that. I don't think I.

Speaker 1 (11:06):
Know, and they need to. And that's like a hard
thing to show too, because I feel like in a
lot of ways it's not sexy, so it's harder to
show that and like mainstream media, but it really is
the core in the foundation for the success of any
team or any player. It's their horses. And beyond that,
or coupled with that, is the people who take care
of the horses. Yes. So the professional polo players typically

(11:28):
aren't the ones day and day out throwing hay and
cleaning stalls. In some cases they are when they're like
really working their way up. But you have to kind
of have a good team in place. You need to
have your groom who's there day in day out taking
care of the horses. You need to have your vet
on staff. You need to have your p loto, which
is like your your horse trainer rider. You need to
have your pros, you need to have your coach. There

(11:50):
are so many people involved in the success of one player.
It's amazing when you have that breakdown. But the foundation,
in the core, in the most essential piece, without question,
in my opinion, is your horses and the person.

Speaker 2 (12:03):
Taking care of them, without question, your groom. Yeah, and
just for the listeners out there, when you go to
play a pole match, how many ponies does one player need?
Typically it's a good question depends on the chuckers. Let's say,
like really high goal, like the best players in the world,
how many are they showing up with.

Speaker 1 (12:17):
Let's let's go with US Open because time to open
is eight chuckers, so that's different. But US open six chuckers.
I would say, you go to the field with twelve horses.

Speaker 2 (12:24):
And a chucker just so out of my nose is
kind of like an inning. I would say, yeah, a.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
Period a period, yeah, six of them typically in the
US at the high level seven and a half minutes
each with a halftime. So three chuckers, sage, do you.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
Want me to let you out, say you're gonna go outside,
but then you're not coming back in. Do you hear that? Okay,
she's stuck up to her, she's back.

Speaker 1 (12:47):
Okay, So six chuckers, and I would say ten to
twelve horses. Twelve is a lot. Yeah, six is far
not enough, No, not enough, but anywhere kind of in
that in that area.

Speaker 2 (13:01):
And it's crazy, and I'm sure people are like, well,
why do you need so many horses if there's only
six chuckers? And really the reason being is because these
horses are going all out, they're flying, they're turning fast
or doing like they're just going full speed, and so
they get tired after three three and a half minutes
and then you have to go jump on a new
one exactly.

Speaker 1 (13:18):
And then the other thing too, is say you play
a horse for three minutes and the horse gets hurt. Well,
now you're down a horse. So you need to have
a backup plan. You need to have like a you
need to have a replacement for that horse. And how
about if you go into overtime, you know you need
to have a horse ready. And of course you can
bring back one of your horses that played in the
main game for overtime. You don't have to have like
an overtime horse designated, but you can't have those horses overworked.

(13:39):
So you never want to push them like beyond what
they're capable of, because you don't want to injure your
horses at the end of the day. So it's really
a big play in like horse.

Speaker 2 (13:48):
Management, a ton of strategy.

Speaker 1 (13:50):
Huge in terms of, like you want your best in
a perfect world, you'd play your best horse all six checkers,
but you have to like manage that horse and do
what's best by that horse in terms of like not
injuring them, get the most out of them without getting
them too tired stuff.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
Have you had any from the show, like any backlash
like from Peta or anyone like that that's like that
maybe don't understand how well these horses are taken care of.

Speaker 1 (14:13):
Not me personally, I mean my whole life. I'm on
Instagram and I have like a couple followers that are
like animal rescue people because I've done like the animal
rescue stuff in the past. But like I'll get messages
from people that are ridiculous being like how dare you
say you love horses and then you wear spurs like
oh my gosh, how dare you? But you carry a whip?
Like they don't understand the tools that you use in

(14:35):
the equine world and how to properly use them. Like, yeah,
I'm not a trust me my horses.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
I'm pretty sure your horses, I like, live on a
silver platter. I want to come back as one of
your horses my next life.

Speaker 1 (14:46):
Correct. So people don't understand that. But so there's just
been a steady flow of that forever. I don't think
the show added any of that to me personally. That's
good or to my knowledge, to the pole world. I
don't know anyone who's been affected by that. I'm sure
there are some people that are like, oh my gosh,
you ride horses that bust hurt their back or.

Speaker 2 (15:04):
Something, but it's usually coming from a place of them
just not knowing.

Speaker 1 (15:07):
Correct.

Speaker 2 (15:07):
Yes, I feel like for all the listeners out there,
and I have a lot of horse girls that listen,
horse girls are the best horse girls. We are a
little crazy, but we are the best.

Speaker 1 (15:15):
Are the best.

Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yeah, then you know like that, you know, sometimes you
need a spur, and that doesn't mean you're like jabbing
a spur like it's just like a hey, kind of
like when you walk your dog and you're like, hey,
let's stay focused.

Speaker 1 (15:25):
Exactly. It's more of like it's like like the callers
that have like the prong the prong on them, and
those are really controversial. Maybe cut that, yeah, but you
know what I mean a pinpoint command, yeah, exactly, it's
more of a direct command exactly.

Speaker 2 (15:39):
Yes, exactly, like hey, pay attention, but it's not painful
in any way exactly. And also they're fifteen hundred pounds,
so that's.

Speaker 1 (15:45):
Right, and they're sensitive they fill a fly land on
their skin, but can It's a more pinpointed command for
a highly trained animal, correct, Like the you know what's
a better example. You know the border collies that do
the sheep? Yeah, sheep? Yes? What is it? Yeah? Hurting?

Speaker 2 (15:57):
Yeah, hurting. I'm like, yeah, the sheeping, sheeping.

Speaker 1 (16:00):
They have a whistle and all the whistles have like
different tones that tell the dog like left, right, center, forward, back, whatever,
exactly like that, these tools that you use for the
horses are a more higher calibrated form of communicating with
the animal. So instead of just a kick, is it
a little bit back behind the saddle is a little
bit forward? What is the pressure point, Like it's just
a higher calibration in terms of the communication with your animal.

Speaker 2 (16:22):
Yeah, that's a really good look at you. I think
that's this is why I brought you here today. I'm
an attorney, you know, I have to say, yeah, that's
a good argument.

Speaker 1 (16:29):
I have to find these creative arguments.

Speaker 2 (16:32):
I think if Netflix, if you're listening, Milosh, if you're listening,
I feel like we need to do a show that
focuses on the care of the horses and the grooms
and like all of that, because people are so fascinated
by the animals themselves.

Speaker 1 (16:44):
So so I agree, and I bet Milosh would agree too.
But I think the first show about Polo kind of
had to be like an overarching broad introduction into like
this is Polo, and literally it's just called Polo for
that reason. But what I think Milo she did beautifully
is in Harry and Nacho is they they kind of
opened the door to Polo. And now, as you would expect,

(17:08):
there are a number of kind of spin off shows
and people are very interested.

Speaker 2 (17:12):
Now yea, now we've got your attention. So everyone, hang on, everyone.

Speaker 1 (17:15):
Hang on. We're going to be doing women. We're going
to be doing horses. We're going to be doing horse
care all of that.

Speaker 2 (17:20):
Oh my goodness, what was that say?

Speaker 1 (17:23):
We're doing dogs of polo.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
Would you like to say something? Here's the mic. Thank
you for contributing. Okay, speaking of women in Polo, you
are a new mom.

Speaker 1 (17:35):
We I am. We should probably put her outside though,
because she's gonna go to.

Speaker 2 (17:37):
Do you want me to?

Speaker 1 (17:38):
I think? So?

Speaker 2 (17:45):
Okay, we are back from our little little intermission. We
just let sage out.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
She was protesting.

Speaker 2 (17:50):
She was protesting. Okay, so back to women in Polo. Yes,
you're a new mom.

Speaker 1 (17:55):
I am.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
How many months ago did you have.

Speaker 1 (17:58):
Elena as of yesterday? Eight months ago?

Speaker 2 (18:00):
Oh my gosh, I know eight months ago, eight months ago?
And how was it getting back in the saddle after
I guess postpartum?

Speaker 1 (18:07):
It was tough. I'm going to be honest, it was tough.
It was it was necessary I think for me personally,
because it like had me set a goal to get
back in the saddle. So it was really something that
I was like driven to do. I was very focused
on doing it, but my body just doesn't respond well
to it in a lot of ways, Like I pulled
my back, I dislocated a rib. Didn't even know you

(18:27):
could do that.

Speaker 2 (18:28):
Wow, that is apparently like the most painful, horrible It.

Speaker 1 (18:31):
Was your Argentina. It was awful. More recently, I pulled
my glute like two days ago. So it wasn't like
that first day in the saddle was hard. It was
more like as training progressed, my body was just kind
of not keeping up as well as it normally would
because I'd been not a.

Speaker 2 (18:47):
Commission for so long. Well, and you lose I feel
like a lot of your core muscles. Yeah, well, y's
just everything and writing exactly.

Speaker 1 (18:53):
That's tough. So that had I had to train. I
trained throughout my entire pregnancy to make sure that I
wouldn't get like two far behind. Yeah, but even still
like the postpartum period and the hardest thing for me
above all else is not sleeping. I like, I need
my sleep at least six hours, but like that would
be if I can get six hours of consecutive sleep,
it would be amazing.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
Yeah, that's so funny you say that because I see
these moms. I have a lot of girlfriends, I have babies,
and they're sleeping like four hours and night, Like you
just make it work. I'm like, if I don't get
eight hours of sleep, I am not a nice lady.

Speaker 1 (19:26):
Right eight hours, I'm great. Six hours I'm functioning, you know,
but eight eight hours would be ideal. It's just that
that's like right now, too much task. But I think
that's the hardest part is not sleeping and then expecting
yourself to function because sleeping is when your body heels.

Speaker 2 (19:40):
Yeah, and you're such a high achiever, I feel like
in general. So you're like, I just had this baby
and I'm just gonna go back to riding. And I'm
sure it's been like an adjustment for you to kind
of like reframe your mindset.

Speaker 1 (19:51):
Yeah. Yeah, like my postpartumself like slapped myself in the
face thing like wake up, that is not happening.

Speaker 2 (19:56):
Oh wait a second, And I guess like we I mean,
I haven't had a baby, yeah, but we're talking about
it like we're probably not the youngest moms in the world. No,
I've waited a little while to have babies, and so
that's probably one of the downsides, I know.

Speaker 1 (20:08):
But I will say my mom didn't start until she
was thirty six.

Speaker 2 (20:13):
You have are you one a five?

Speaker 1 (20:14):
One of six?

Speaker 2 (20:15):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (20:16):
My gosh, and and just to like she's nuts. Six
kids in seven years.

Speaker 2 (20:21):
That's insane.

Speaker 1 (20:23):
By the way, my dad wanted zero, which is like
the best part.

Speaker 2 (20:25):
But here we are. Your mom is amazing. Connie. You
probably don't remember me, but I will never forget you.
You are the funniest person alive.

Speaker 1 (20:34):
I think she needs her own reality TV show, And
now that's something I should bring up to me. Losh,
I think so too. I think she was like the
number one number one from there.

Speaker 2 (20:42):
Oh yeah, she was on the document or docuseries. Oh
my god, she's amazing. But you played in the Open,
the US Open this year, yes, and did you? I mean,
I guess were you dealing with any of those injuries then?

Speaker 1 (20:54):
Oh yeah, I like that's when I dislocated my rib.
I like did some sort of something with my cartilage
my left side. It was really painful. Yeah it was.
It was. It was an uphill battle for sure. And
also like my riding would just wasn't there. Like I
was watching the videos of us playing and I just
looked terrible.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
I do not agree with that. I do think though,
as a total outsider looking in like you could see
as a tournament went on you got so much more
comfortable and you're crushing it at the end.

Speaker 1 (21:19):
At the end. Yeah, at the end, I got more confident,
but I was just slow, Like I mean, that's natural,
that's going to happen, Like I need to get back
to it. But I definitely felt like I was not
as quick to the ball. I just I didn't have
the same strength. And not to say that I won't
get there. I just think the tournament started like what
six months postpartum, so yes, you know, and you're expected.

Speaker 2 (21:40):
Yeah, absolutely. I mean the fact that you're even out
there is amazing, so thank you. Yeah, that was tough,
but it was important. Yeah, I mean, but you did it,
and I think you were like inspired a lot of
women like that's so amazing. You should be proud of yourself.

Speaker 1 (21:52):
You And that was the thing is that like I
didn't want I wanted like people to know too that
like you can be a mom and still the things
you love, you know, because there were so many people
and especially my mom because my mom had six and
seven years so a little different, but she was kind
of like, well once your mom, your mom, like don't
don't you shouldn't be worried about Polo you shouldn't. And
I'm not worried about anything, and obviously being a mom
is my first priority, but I wanted to show her that,

(22:14):
like I can incorporate my baby into this lifestyle and
like have her be a part of it instead of like, yeah,
I don't know, you know, staying at home all day
because I have to adhere to her nap schedule. I
do adhere to her nap schedule, but like maybe I
set up a crib in the attack room and she
sleeps in the tack room with me while I get
on my computer and get some work done. Or like
maybe she takes the bottle in the car at the
field side and she takes a nap in the car.

(22:35):
So we've kind of like figured out this hybrid way.
She's just like my little sidekick. She comes everywhere with me,
and it was a fun experience being able to do
that with her, and.

Speaker 2 (22:42):
Probably all the better. She'll be all the better for it,
you know, like make her adaptable and go with the
flow exactly.

Speaker 1 (22:47):
Yeah, you're like.

Speaker 2 (22:49):
Yeah, she's a difficult baby, but she is. She was collicky,
wasn't she She was just like horses?

Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah, I know. But by the way, this whole, like
make the baby come with you think that the first
three months I was on lockdown at my house, Oh Collague,
it was each sleeper cry. There was no intermission of
any sort, So like this conversation did not apply for
like months one through four.

Speaker 2 (23:09):
Probably were you like pulling your hair out during that
or were you like I.

Speaker 1 (23:12):
Was a conface. I don't remember. I think it all
just like I think it's blacked out. I think I
blacked out. Okay, I think I blacked out for four months.

Speaker 2 (23:17):
It's kind of crazy how your mind does that.

Speaker 1 (23:20):
Yeah, that was like traumatic, and now it's funny because
I want another one and it's like I totally forgot
that experience ever happened?

Speaker 2 (23:25):
Yeah, I think that's like I mean, I think childbirth
and all of that, Like you just start. We're built
to forget, so we do it again. I honestly, yes, Okay,
here we go. Do you find that as you're I
think as I'm getting older, like being on a horse,
I'm a little bit more like cautious. Like when I
was younger, I'd get on bare back and do some
stupid stuff. But now that your mom, do you find
that you're even more cautious I am.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
And when she comes to my games. I noticed she
came to like my first two Gold Cup games. It's crazy.
You can like hear her cry from across the field.
So I'd be in the middle of the game and
I could hear her cry and it would like freak
me out.

Speaker 2 (23:58):
You're like triggered. Yeah, You're like, you're literally the play
is happening, you like turn the other way and just
take off towards her.

Speaker 1 (24:03):
Yeah, exactly, like trying to look on the sidelines to
make sure she's okay. And it's just like her crying.
She dropped her passy and couldn't reach it, but like
the person helping me was able to like pass fine.

Speaker 2 (24:11):
But still that's kind of animal instinct. I think it's
very animalistic where we're just like, you know, we are
their protector, their moms. It's hormonal one hundred percent.

Speaker 1 (24:20):
So she came to the first couple of Gold Cup
games and then it was like, I think she's gonna
stay at home for my games. For my games, I
bring you to all that's fair games because that's fair,
their right. But she ended up staying home except for
the final. She came to the.

Speaker 2 (24:30):
Finals that's fair. I mean, I think you don't want
to be worrying about you got to stay focused.

Speaker 1 (24:34):
Yeah, it was tough. It was tough, but like I
wanted her there because you know, control freaking me like
once her close, but then I realized it, like wasn't
fair for the team that we're at halftime, I'm like, hey, guys,
my baby's crying.

Speaker 2 (24:44):
Let me go check on her, and like, can I
go breast being really Quie can't exactly. Hey, you know
what you do, what you whatever, you're comfortable with, you
make happen and you'll do it.

Speaker 1 (24:53):
So that's we did, and we got pretty far. We
didn't win, but clothes yeah close second.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
Oh my gosh, what a game. I know, I was
really rooting for you.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
Guys, Fatty and Naomi. They're phenomenal. I mean, so were
the Tarrizona girls and Million Kande. Those girls were like
just I was so impressed to be out there with them.
It was so fun.

Speaker 2 (25:10):
For those of you listening that aren't familiar with Polo,
it's really been a male I would say dominated's for
it forever, and now more than ever, I feel like
the women are just kicking ass. They are amazing.

Speaker 1 (25:19):
That's one hundred percent right. These girls are like coming
out like crazy Hope and Hazel and Mia Cambiasso and
Nina Clark and Millie Hine, Like, these girls are just incredible.
Like the horses that they're playing now, the level that
they're playing, the training that they have, the coaches they have,
the opportunities they're getting. It's just I'm blown away by
these girls and their dedication to the sport.

Speaker 2 (25:39):
YEP, they're amazing. Okay, we're gonna pivot a little bit too.
When we first met, which was in downtown Chicago, oh
my god, I like many years ago, I was your veterinarian.
You came in with your boxer Bella. Yeah, and you
had maybe hadn't had the best experience prior with your.

Speaker 1 (25:57):
Vironarium gaving review.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
I actually think I remember this, and I was like, oh,
I'm kind of scared of her.

Speaker 1 (26:02):
I wrote, so yes, it's so funny. I think about
this often. I was just telling someone about this the
other day. I was at the dog park right by
the BET clinic and by the way, normally I'm like
super peppy and nice and the only time I ever
write a review in my life is if someone's like, hey,
will your latest review. No, it's the opposite of it's
really good. It's like a small business or someone who
like I'm friends with being like will you write a

(26:23):
heck yeah, and I'll write like a beautiful glowing room.

Speaker 2 (26:26):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (26:26):
I think this was like the only skating review I've
written in my lifetime, and it was all because of
poor Bella.

Speaker 2 (26:32):
Well when it comes to our animals, don't don't at me. Yeah, seriously.

Speaker 1 (26:36):
Bella was at the dog park and which is right
next to the bet clinic, like maybe a quarter of
a mile away. Yeah, And long story short, She's playing
at the dog park and she like slid into the fence.
Something happened. Her foot was bleeding, and she was totally
three legged, completely three legged, and she's eighty pounds. So
I carried her, because you know, as one does. I

(26:57):
carried her, walking her from the dog to the vet
clin downtown Chicago with her bloody paw, just like bloody
what heck? She broke a toe is what it was.
But she also got a cut, so she was like
bleeding quite a lot. And she has white paws, so
the whole paw was like red. And I walk into
the vet clinic and I was like, help, I'm sweating
and carrying this eighty pound dog in the middle of summer.

(27:18):
I was like, my dog did something and they were like, oh, sorry,
we're booked today. I was like it's eleven am. Like
I'll wait, yeah, and they're like you can wait. So
I waited for like two hours and they're like, we
were booked. I was like, my dog is dripping blood
on your floor. Can you please just like help? And
they're like, mmm, I'm so sorry, but you can come
back tomorrow. And I was like, you know what, fine,
and I wrote I was sitting in the lobby like

(27:39):
I was like, you know what, try me and I
wrote as scathing, which is like so hysterical in hindsight
because that's so not me, but I love it. Yeah,
And then they the owner or someone called me and.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
Was like, I'm the owner.

Speaker 1 (27:51):
We have a lovely vet who would love to see
your dog if you're still interested in coming back. And
I was like I don't care my poor dog, and
they were like no, please give us a chance. And
then like the real me came back to life and
I was like, Okay, I'm so sorry, we'll come back.

Speaker 2 (28:04):
You came and one of the nurses was like, Okay,
we have this owner coming in. She just wrote this
really scary review. And I'm like, oh my god, like
my armpits are sweating before I even meet this lady.
And I walk in, I'm like, oh, you're so nice,
Like it's okay, but I get it. I feel like
when our animals or our babies, like I'm sure it's
just like you're seeing red and you want to be
That probably wasn't the best.

Speaker 1 (28:25):
And I went back to that day. I went to
like the er dog clinic and they were like, oh,
she broke her toe and she got two little stitches
and she's fine.

Speaker 2 (28:32):
Yeah, but still it's scary, so scary.

Speaker 1 (28:35):
White paw they called dren No.

Speaker 2 (28:36):
When they're actually leading, you like lose all sense of
every like being logical.

Speaker 1 (28:41):
Yeah. So that's how we met.

Speaker 2 (28:42):
That is how we met. And you actually came in
one of our first I think her very first visit.
This was after the fact, like after she had cut
our pall, I think maybe a couple months later, and
you're like, I feel like something's wrong with her. She's
just not getting around the way that she should be.
Like I want you to run all the tests, and
I was like, okay, I'll run all the tests and
so on my physical exam, and then through some testing

(29:02):
I diagnosed her with degenerative myelopathy I know, which, Yes,
for those of you listening, is a neurologic disease for
big dogs, and it usually it's incurable. It's progressive. Is
a disease that affects the spinal cord. It starts in
the back, so they usually start to get weakness in
their hind limbs and then it works its way forward.
But what was commonly they just slowly started to be

(29:24):
paralyzed in their back leg.

Speaker 1 (29:25):
Like the slow toe drag was the first sign. Yeah,
And it was like the full leg drag and then
it was like total paralysis of her hind end. Yeah yea.

Speaker 2 (29:33):
I you ended up moving to Denver with her, but
I really kept up with her through Instagram and you
got her a wheelchair.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
I did.

Speaker 2 (29:41):
How was it caring for a dog that's wheelchair bound?

Speaker 1 (29:44):
So it was one of those situations where I always
wanted her to have a quality of life and as
long as she was like happy Peppy Bella, I was
gonna let her be happy Peppy Bella. But the minute
I saw her like decline, you know, I had to
make that tough call for her. But of course she
was happy, Peppy Bella. She was and seventy five percent mobile.
The thing that she couldn't do was like run around

(30:05):
in a field. Like she could still get up, walk
to her food bowl, go outside, go potty, walk to
her bed and go to sleep. But we'd go out
to the polo fields and she was like not able
to run around. She'd get almost like so excited and
her back end would just give out. So that's why
I got the wheelchair, was to like facilitate those moments,
you know. So it was actually quite nice because I
would bring out the wheelchair when she got accustomed to it,

(30:27):
and she would get so excited because it was like
her freedom wheels.

Speaker 2 (30:30):
She got jazzed for her freedom wheels. I know, it's
gonna bring a tear to my eye. That's so beautiful.

Speaker 1 (30:36):
She got the zoomies and the first time I ever
put her in the wheelchair, she wouldn't move. She just
FROs and I was like, oh boy, this is not
going to work out. Yeah, So what I did was
I call my best friend Laura, who has a dog
that Bella was obsessed with Leila, and I was like,
I'm at the polo fields. I put Bella in the chair.
It's not working. She's just frozen. Can you please bring
Leila and maybe that'll like incentivize her. And I have
this amazing video I'm going to share with you.

Speaker 2 (30:57):
Yes, I want you to. I'll put it on my Instagram.
Everyone listening.

Speaker 1 (31:00):
It's so cute. So Layla comes to the field and
Bella just took off and that was it, like nothing more.
She just needed that a little bit of encouragement from
her buddy. And Layla's naturally like a nervous dog. So
I was a little bit worried that the wheels would
freak her out, not at all. It couldn't care it less.
Bella was like running around, zipping around, chasing Leayla in
her wheelchair, and it was exactly what she needed for

(31:22):
Like the last couple I think it was like three months.
Maybe we had the wheels before I had to make
the tough decision put her down, but it was like
three months. We'd go out there four or five days
a week and she'd have thirty minutes in her chair
and then she'd be exhausted the rest of the day,
and it was perfect. She was already twelve years old. Like,
that's all a lot, that's all you needed. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (31:38):
Yeah, I feel like I harp on this, or maybe
I just really emphasize it with this podcast that I
am so amazed by her animals that are air quoting disabled,
that they have no idea and we can learn.

Speaker 1 (31:51):
So much from them. Yeah, I agree, Like that's what
I mean is she was still happy Peppy Bella. There
was like that didn't change, which is amazing to me.

Speaker 2 (31:58):
Yeah, just out there. I need that video.

Speaker 1 (32:00):
I will send it to you.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
It's amazing, so cute, and it features.

Speaker 1 (32:03):
Leilah, which is even better because she's since past two
rip Layla. But the two of them are up there
together without wheelchair, no.

Speaker 2 (32:11):
Freedom wheels needed, no freedom wheels. How and now we
have Sage, who you all have heard coming in and
out and she spoke a little into the microphone earlier.
How so Sage is your like wild child boxer.

Speaker 1 (32:24):
Bella was an angel on earth. Never did anything wrong,
never had an accident, never had a hiccup, never took
a misstep. Bella was the family angel in every way.
Shape and form, and then we got Sage and she's lovely.

Speaker 2 (32:39):
She's like a little devil child, but like in the.

Speaker 1 (32:42):
Best way, in the best way because she's harmless, Like
she's just so naughty. But then she comes in with
her tail between her legs and looks at you like
I'm sorry.

Speaker 2 (32:50):
I just had to and that box her face. You
just can never stay mad at them. No did it?
Wasn't it your dad or a mom's dog. And then
they were like, we can't take care of this puff.

Speaker 1 (33:00):
Yes, So in twenty right after Bella passed. So Bella passed,
was it twenty twenty one? I want to say it
was January of twenty twenty one. My dad was obsessed
with Bella, loved Bella. I remember Bella passed in January.
He got cleared of cancer in I want to say
May of twenty one, so like he did the whole
ring of the bell like it was this big thing.
My oldest brother thought it would be amazing to get

(33:22):
him like a congratulations gift. So my oldest brother, who's
like a little out of touch with reality, got him
an eight week boxer puppunks or puppy for an eighty
five year old man. Okay, great, not ideal, no, very
well received by my father. Lasted about ten days.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
I was going to say, that's ten days. That's impressive.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
Honestly, my dad cried tears of joy though, when my
mom cried tears of sorrow. Really also have a video
of that. And Sage was very well received until you
know she was inn a week old boxer puppy. What
do you expect, right, So she's been a little bit
of a naughty muffin.

Speaker 2 (33:59):
I like the videos of her. You'll see the videos.

Speaker 1 (34:02):
On should we close the TikTok oh?

Speaker 2 (34:03):
Is that a lot more?

Speaker 1 (34:05):
I mean totally your call. I know we're at a barn.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
I know this is part of and it's hot in here. Guys,
we're just gonna leave it open more. We'll talk into
the micros line. Okay. I just want to make sure
I watched those videos online and I love them. Of
like the dogs getting loose on the baseball field or
the football field, I feel like Sage is that for polo.

Speaker 1 (34:23):
Are like literally again, we have a video of this.
Thank god we have all this amazing content. But Sage
was running across the field in one of Louie's finals
in New York and they have an incredible video of it,
like just bee lines across the field, referee blows the whistle,
we get a fine the whole like you.

Speaker 2 (34:39):
Get a fine.

Speaker 1 (34:40):
Oh yeah, okay, lovely, lovely, So we have Yeah, Louis
was my husband was curious.

Speaker 2 (34:45):
We'll take that out of her paycheck exactly. Okay. So
one thing I wanted to ask you about that I've
always loved watching from AFAR is your work with animal
rescue in general, but the horse rescue, Yes, is that
what it's called? The horse rescue.

Speaker 1 (35:05):
I don't really have a name for it. It's just
kind of like my thing. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (35:09):
I feel like when I it's so interesting because I'm
really involved in dog rescue and people don't realize, like
we have this exact same situation with horses.

Speaker 1 (35:18):
Yes, big time, big time. There's a huge and it's
actually changed quite significantly in the last I want to say,
like six years or so. But there's a huge problem
of unwanted horses. Like what do you do with an
unwanted horse with a dog? You can bring it to
a shelter and hope for an adoption, and that's actually
like a really great outlet horses don't have. There's there
are not a lot of shelters that take in unwanted

(35:39):
horses because of the expense associated with maintaining them. So
it's kind of been this issue where it's incentivized people
to then take those unwanted horses and sell them across
the borders for horse meat, which is kind of started
this kill pen trade where the kill pen buyers would
go and round up all these unwanted horses, and a
lot of times under the pretense of like, oh, I'm
giving it to my daughter, I'm giving it to my knees,

(36:01):
my granddaughter's gonna love this horse, and then they sell
it across the border for fifty cents a pound. So
I got into this because it was shortly after law school.
I had no money because I hadn't started working yet,
but I really wanted to stay involved in horses, so
I started looking online and polo generally. I started looking
online for like cheap horses I could maybe train myself
to play polo, And I came across a horse that
was like four hundred dollars and it was like sound young, beautiful,

(36:24):
So like red flags go up, you know, like why
is this horse four hundred dollars kind of thing? And
so I called the ad and the guy in like
a very Southern accent and was like, well, she's fifty
cents a pound and this horse about nine hundred pounds.
We have four to fifty. And I was like, fifty
cents of what I've been horses a long time. I
never heard anyone pricing them out by the pound like
this bizarre, And he kind of gave me the general

(36:45):
rundown of the way that that works. Since then, kill
pens have kind of taken advantage of that, and they've
upped those like four hundred dollars prices to like four
thousand dollars. Otherwise we're shipping the horse tomorrow, and that's misleading. Yeah,
don't do that. Yeah, But that's kind of how I
got involved in it initially, and it's still a problem today.

Speaker 2 (37:06):
It's interesting because you know, we get dogs to like
have them as companions. A lot of people get horses
to a for a hobby or to do a job,
and then once they're no longer, you know, oh, I
can't jump this horse anymore. Oh I can't you know,
do barrel racing on this horse. These horses a lot
of times get dumped.

Speaker 1 (37:23):
Yeah. Absolutely, And that also ties into the discussion about
people being like, we shouldn't have polo because it's abusive,
we shouldn't have jumping because it's abusive, we shouldn't have
all these things. Well, those things are what provide horses
with a job. And when a horse has a job,
nine out of ten times that horse is being well
cared for because it's expected to perform or do something.

(37:44):
You want horses to have jobs. You want horses to
have opportunities if you will. There are some people that
just have them as like pasture pets, and that's amazing,
credit to them. But the minute you start taking away
these disciplines and these opportunities for horses, it complicates things.
I mean, I'm a big believer in having like better
regulations in place to ensure that they're treated fairly. Like

(38:05):
with the carriage horses, I think there should be like
an an hour an hourly weekly hour criteria. Yes, there
should be regulation.

Speaker 2 (38:13):
Caps at x amount of hours.

Speaker 1 (38:15):
If it's above eighty five degrees you can't or whatever
the numbers are, right, whatever the vets recommend, right. But
what I don't think is a good thing is to
take these things away entirely, because then guess what happens
to all those carriage horses They have no job, especially
the big heavy ones icho for fifty cents a pound,
they go straight to Mexico or Canada for dog meat.
So would you rather have them be dog meat on

(38:37):
the other side of the border the border, or would
you rather them have a job and put regulations in
place to make sure they're well cared for.

Speaker 2 (38:44):
And I feel like unless you spend a lot of
time around them, you may not realize generally most horses
like to do a job.

Speaker 1 (38:51):
Yes, like dogs, they're just.

Speaker 2 (38:53):
Like dogs, same thing. Yeah, they want to have they
have drive, and they're competitive and they want to please
their heale and so they really do well with having
a job.

Speaker 1 (39:02):
Absolutely, I couldn't agree more.

Speaker 2 (39:04):
That's a big, big part of it.

Speaker 1 (39:06):
You want them to have those opportunities.

Speaker 2 (39:08):
I think the cool thing is you have rescued Stella. Yes,
and Barbie, right, Barbie's the rescue.

Speaker 1 (39:13):
Barbie is Maggie's horse who is here actually this is
her farm. But Sonny Sonnykalike kalminos Sonny Barbie.

Speaker 2 (39:20):
Yeah, and you've read I don't want to say a repurpose,
but you have trained them and turned them into pull
a book.

Speaker 1 (39:25):
No repurpose is a perfect word. Yeah, they were just
both of them were kind of like discarded, little muddied
misfits as I call them, because they come so like
ugly and hairy and bullet and then suddenly out. Yeah,
and you put a little TLC into them and some
training and some like actual effort behind it. And Stella
played with me in the US Open in twenty nineteen
and Sonny was supposed to play with me in twenty

(39:47):
twenty three, had attended injury. I turned her out. She
had a baby a year later. Her and I are
both new moms, and we both came back this year
and played the US Open together. You played Sonny in
the US Open the first game. Yeah, that is such
a full story. And she's here. We can go see
her after this.

Speaker 2 (40:01):
Hey, we're going to go see her.

Speaker 1 (40:02):
And she had a baby and may too, so like
got to give her extra credit for that. Wow, So
I didn't put closely for a few minutes. POSTPARTU Mom's
a postpart.

Speaker 2 (40:10):
And girls just taking over the world. I love that.
And where were they going? Were they in kill? Pens.

Speaker 1 (40:16):
Yes, so Stella was in. They were both in killpens
in Louisiana, different kill pens, both headed to Mexico.

Speaker 2 (40:23):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (40:23):
Yeah, and both of them were in the four or
five hundred dollars range. And I say that because it's important.
If you're buying horses from the kill pen that are
like three thousand dollars, newsflash, They're probably not going to
Mexico for slaughter. Like there, it's just not happening. You're
paying a kill pen buyer to you know, pad their pockets.

Speaker 2 (40:40):
It's interesting.

Speaker 1 (40:41):
Yeah, but if a horse is four or five hundred dollars,
six hundred dollars even, like, the reality is that horse
is probably going to the kill pen.

Speaker 2 (40:48):
They're hours away from being shipped to.

Speaker 1 (40:51):
Yeah, and its changed a little bit in the last
couple of years. Now. What I recommend people do, because
people ask me all the time, is go to these
like verified rescues, not like the rescue, but actual verified rescues.
Like the Right Horse has an organization online where you
can find rescues that have horses available. There's a place
called Polo Pony Rescue, and she takes in horses that
are kind of like unwanted discarded if you will. There's

(41:14):
a girl here that does replay polo who takes polopony
specifically and rehomes them when they have like a little injury,
can't play high goal anymore. And they are I mean
hundreds of them. I don't know them all top of head,
but top of mind. But yeah, there are so many
organizations that kind of take those unwanted horses, rehab them,
get a real understanding of what their issues are, and
then we'll rehome them, which is a lot less risky

(41:35):
for buyers and rescuers.

Speaker 2 (41:37):
And just people in general. I feel like when they think, oh,
I'm going to get a horse or I love horses,
I want to like, they don't realize their life expectancy,
like this is a potentially thirty year commitment.

Speaker 1 (41:46):
Yes exactly. It's like three times a dog.

Speaker 2 (41:49):
Yeah, three times a dog. And they are expensive.

Speaker 1 (41:52):
They're very expensive.

Speaker 2 (41:53):
My husband Cody says that horses they don't eat Hey,
they eat dollar bills.

Speaker 1 (41:57):
Yeah, no, it's true's not a different form of green.

Speaker 2 (41:59):
I guess, yeah, exactly. So I just feel like, you know,
the general public before you go out and purchase a horse,
like need to understand the implications of that stage is
now back with us, and her breath smells. Does she
horsemen were frequently? Okay, I'm smelling with some horsemen.

Speaker 1 (42:17):
One of her favorite delicacies.

Speaker 2 (42:19):
Wow, that's so nice.

Speaker 1 (42:21):
These are this is our problem. She's smiling so big.
You are so naughty. I don't know what you were into,
but you're so proud to have been into it.

Speaker 2 (42:30):
So nice. Okay, we're going to wrap it up. Usually
with these episodes, I wrap up with something called paw
an order, where I would tell owners what I would
not do as a veterinarian. We're going to do hoof
and order, and I want to know something that you
would not do as a horse owner, what I would
not like, like something or something that you think is
just really important as a horse owner.

Speaker 1 (42:51):
I guess not pushing your horses too hard.

Speaker 2 (42:53):
Okay, I like that.

Speaker 1 (42:54):
Because you want them to have longevity. So one of
the things that I noticed with the teams that are
really really successful in polo is they don't just have
great horses. What you'll notice is all these guys have
like five to six great horses. They have a deep bench,
like that's a football term. Yeah, So let at us
go sports. They have a deep bench. So what what
you find they do is the minute one of those

(43:16):
horses has a little bit of an injury, something even
seemingly insignificant, they pull that horse, They treat that horse,
they rehab that horse. That horse doesn't step foot on
the field until it's one hundred percent. And I think
that's something a lot of pole players could learn from.
It's a luxury. Not a lot of people have a
twenty top horses. Of course Ladelphina might, or some of
these top teams. But I think it's a really important

(43:37):
thing to reiterate to players is not to push your
horses because is it more important for your horse to
play that next game or is it more important for
you to have that horse the entire next season? Right,
And for me, I think you should be thinking next season,
not next game.

Speaker 2 (43:48):
Yeah, exactly, don't push your horses.

Speaker 1 (43:50):
I love that.

Speaker 2 (43:51):
That's a really good one. I was going to say,
don't let them get fat. Oh yes, outside of poll obviously,
polo ponies are really it's hard for them to get fat.
But lot of like pasture pets and even like the
hunter jumpers, they just go out and they get so
chunky and then it's so hard.

Speaker 1 (44:05):
To pull the ponies. It's a big deal. Though. I'm
gonna be honest.

Speaker 2 (44:07):
Mineor a little chubby, that's okay, but I mean like
fat fat, No.

Speaker 1 (44:11):
Like fat fat. Manager even tells me Mine a little chubby.
But I have to say it is so true in
polo because you'll find a lot more tendon injuries with
a fat horse.

Speaker 2 (44:18):
That exactly, their joints just have to bear more weight.
They get metabolic disease. So keeping them on the slender side.
We're gonna skip the barn tour now. Oh and after
this I will be going and doing body on all
of Ham's horses.

Speaker 1 (44:33):
Show you SPI that I'm just kidding. They're not fat.
They're plump.

Speaker 2 (44:36):
Yeah, they're thick. You'll see two seas.

Speaker 1 (44:38):
They're fit.

Speaker 2 (44:39):
That's uh, that's okay.

Speaker 1 (44:42):
They're like wrestlers more than they are like ballerinas.

Speaker 2 (44:45):
I mean, like the ponies that are like real like
that has to be muzzle, you know, like you're talking
about like sumer wrestlers. Yeah, yeah, the most born you
know which, by the way, I have had a fat horse,
so I'm not fat shaming any of the horses out there.
There are some that are just more prone to it
than others. War sure, and then and once they get fat,
it's really hard to get them unfat.

Speaker 1 (45:02):
So no fat shaming, yeah, no, no, no no, You'll
have all animal body taps at this podcast that are
fat than skinny though.

Speaker 2 (45:09):
That's true, especially if you have harsh winters.

Speaker 1 (45:11):
We have to pick.

Speaker 2 (45:12):
Absolutely. I will take a little chunk over skin and bones.

Speaker 1 (45:15):
Yeah, fair any day? Fair? Yes, okay? Fair? Fair point?

Speaker 2 (45:19):
How is speaking much? Now? We're going on down a
tangent here. How has I have never bred my own horses?
How is that?

Speaker 1 (45:25):
I mean, it's fun. I do it with the you know,
the assistance of experts, if you will.

Speaker 2 (45:31):
Right.

Speaker 1 (45:31):
There's a lady I work with in Ake in South Carolina.
Her name's Beth, and she is like the horse breeding whisperer,
and she I really rely on her a lot for
like giving me the right information about what crosses will work,
what's best for the mayor, what's best for the full
I keep all my babies with her. She's just been
an incredible resource and she's like one of those people
that has been involved in this for a very long time.

(45:52):
So I rely on her a lot. But for me.
It's really fun. And here's the cool thing about this
baby I just had, not my actual baby, like horse baby.

Speaker 2 (46:00):
Yeah, is a Sunny's baby.

Speaker 1 (46:02):
Sunny's baby. Okay, Sonny's baby is super cool because I
played his dad in the US Open.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
It's a gelding or a cult it's a stallion.

Speaker 1 (46:10):
Yeah, cult. I going to keep him a stud too, Okay,
so god willing, he's like talented and behaves well and
earns the right to maintain his manhood.

Speaker 2 (46:19):
But sorry not to interrupt you, but just fi have
all the listeners, the majority of I would say, the
majority of horses that played follow our mares. Yes, that's
why I was surprised when you said he exactly Okay, yes.

Speaker 1 (46:28):
And the thing is is like, you don't want necessarily
a boy unless it's a really good one, right, So
fingers crossed. He turns out to be a really good one.
Cool thing about him though, few things. I'm a colored
genetic freak. Yes, his dad is a Palomino, his mom
is a Palomino. And what ended up happening twenty five
percent chance he'd inherit like the cream gene from each
of them, uh huh, And he did.

Speaker 2 (46:49):
So he's a crimelloly recessive miracle.

Speaker 1 (46:53):
Yes, a cremello, a cremello stud which is even cooler
because now he's just got a white coat, bright blue eyes.
No matter who you cross him with, most polo ponies
are Bay or Chestnut, he will throw either Palomino or
a Buckskin every time, guaranteed, every single time. So pick
best polo mare in the world. Quarteta Adolpho. If you're listening,

(47:13):
I'd love to do this one day.

Speaker 2 (47:16):
Collus Callus.

Speaker 1 (47:18):
But if you were to theoretically cross him with Quartetera
in this Crimelo stead, you would get a Buckskin. Baby,
you would have a Buckskin Quarteta or a paint.

Speaker 2 (47:26):
No, you said paint, did you see paint or a Buckskin?
Just buckskin, Palamino, I'm like, or paint, okay, Palomino, No,
no pee, Palomino, paint same thing, yes, Palomino. Okay, that
makes sense.

Speaker 1 (47:43):
That makes sense because really the only difference there both
of them have a cream jean. But the only difference
between those two colors is a Palomino's bass color is chestnut,
a Buckskin's bass color is bay. And then you have
that cream jeans, and.

Speaker 2 (47:56):
Then the Buckskin has like that dorsal line down its
back and the darker main dark lean.

Speaker 1 (48:00):
Yes, dorsal line is typically caused by the dunge gene,
so if they have that, it's usually the dungeon that's
contributing to their coats.

Speaker 2 (48:07):
So not all buckskins have that.

Speaker 1 (48:09):
Not all of them have that. Okay, Now people are
gonna be bored by this, so you can cut this.

Speaker 2 (48:14):
But Sonny is a dune alino, Okay.

Speaker 1 (48:18):
So she's actually chestnut with a Palomino jane called the
cream Jene and a dung.

Speaker 2 (48:23):
Jean, so she has a dorsal line, she does, but
she's a palomino.

Speaker 1 (48:28):
That's why she has like the golden main and tail.

Speaker 2 (48:30):
And you just know, like you know this from looking
at her or have you done genetic testing?

Speaker 1 (48:35):
I did genetic testing on her. But at this point
you can look at her and you'd be able to
you would now figure that out too.

Speaker 2 (48:40):
Yeah, Okay, we're going on a barn to her. Oh
I gotta go see these ponies, okay, and.

Speaker 1 (48:44):
It'll become a lot more interesting once you know, like
they're base colors and they're what the crosses are. But
Midas is the name of this little.

Speaker 2 (48:50):
Cold Okay, Midas.

Speaker 1 (48:52):
That's a good name because everything he touches will turned
to cold.

Speaker 2 (48:54):
Oh this is amazing.

Speaker 1 (48:56):
You got it.

Speaker 2 (48:56):
Yeah, I got it. This is amazing. Well, thank you
so much for coming today. Thank you, and guys, as always,
please rate, review, subscribe, let us know what you thought
of today's episode.

Speaker 1 (49:08):
I'm going to give you a glowing review.

Speaker 2 (49:11):
Thank you, no scathing reviews. It's not five stars. We
don't want it, and we'll see you next week.