TENGOAL | Groom of the Month


An almost invisible army of grooms ensures that polo ponies arrive at each and every game – regardless of match handicap – fit and ready to play. Some though stand out even in this field of excellence and are rewarded with the Tally Ho Farm Guards Polo Club Groom of the Month Award. Club vet Holly Baird looks back at the 2019 winners


T


he spectators at Guards Polo Club are treated to extraordinary displays of speed, agility and endurance by sleek athletic ponies. Performance


of this calibre is impossible without the behind-the-scenes effort of our amazing grooms who work long and unsociable hours to ensure their charges are in peak condition come match day. These often unsung heroes begin the season in early March. Scruffy ponies, fresh from their winter holidays, start exercise in icy spring conditions, are stripped of their winter coats by curry comb and pure elbow grease, and are transitioned into pony perfection by the hands of


these


dedicated workers. Tally Ho Farm and Guards Polo Club


created the Groom of the Month Series, now in its fourth year, to reward those equine guardians who are observed to display excellence in their field. The coveted prize has shone the spotlight on the exemplary standard of equine care and welfare that we already have at the club and recognises those demonstrating excellence in their work. Ten goal players are the first to concede


polo players are nothing without their ponies. For ponies to perform at the elite level their management is finely tuned. A precise combination of nutrition and exercise is required to ensure peak fitness for the duration of the high goal season. Juan Martin Nero, Argentine 10-goaler


Team Harper with Twitter Team Harper with Skiff


is a familiar name in high goal polo circles around the world. This year he has been the lynchpin of Jean Francois Decaux’s La Bamba De Areco high-goal team, in action at the Club throughout May and June and winning the Cartier Trophy, the subsidiary final of the Queen’s Cup competition. “Juanma’s” ponies stood out for their superb performance and his grooms Raul Rodriguez, Roque Rodriguez and Luciano Núñemn were presented with this season’s first Tally Ho Groom of the Month Prize for their hard work behind the scenes. June saw an unanimous vote for James fabulous


Harper’s four, Lucy Taylor, Charlotte Waddy, Beckie Cronin and


Luke Wiles’s team has


worked with a


specialist equine nutritionist to


devise a match- day regime


whereby they arrive a little


earlier and offer the ponies some chaff for a pre- match nibble


96


JUNE 2019 Lucy Taylor, Charlotte Waddy, Beckie Cronin and Ellie O’Malley


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