Constant Communicator
Trainer Joseph Polo discusses the Basics of Arabian Halter Showing
By Lisa Broadwater

It isn't every dinner party I attend that the main topic of conversation is halter showing. Okay, to be honest, until recently I'd never actually had an in-depth conversation about halter showing — I'm a trail enthusiast, and it's completely outside my realm of expertise. So when Laura and Gene Graves invited me and my fiancé to join a small gathering of Straight Egyptian Arabian owners for drinks and dinner at their Big Flat farm, Round Mountain Arabians, to mingle with Joseph Polo, a well-respected Arabian halter trainer who was conducting a clinic the following day at Round Mountain, I didn't hesitate to accept. I'm always game to talk horses, especially when the topic is unfamiliar to me. As a journalist, that's often my job, and as a horsewoman, it's my passion.
So somewhere between the margaritas and the main course, I pulled the guest of honor aside for a quick crash course on Arabian halter showing.
In the Arabian halter-showing world, Polo is well-known, not just in the United States but internationally. Over the years, he's trained a number of national and international champions. Arkansans were first introduced to Polo several years ago, through his affiliation with Cadron Creek Arabians. The February weekend I met him, he was addressing a group of about 40 Pyramid Society members.
Although Polo got his start in the States at a very young age — as a child, his family raised Arabians in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania — it was in other countries that he first made a name for himself. When he was 18, he was introduced to an Australian woman who happened to be one of the largest breeders of Straight Egyptian Arabians in the world: Marion Richmond, owner of Simeon Stud. Shortly thereafter, he went to work for her as an apprentice halter trainer. ("She said I was hopeless," Polo told his clinic crowd the following day; "we laugh about it today.")
"While in Australia," Polo says, "I learned horsemanship, I learned how to show horses, I learned how to communicate with horses. From there I came back to the States and then went to Spain to work for a farm and apprentice in training. There I learned more about the breeding end of Arabians."
After about a year in Spain, Polo journeyed to France, Belgium, Austria and Australia to train, returning periodically to the States. When he returned for good it was to work at one of the largest Arabian training centers in the country: Midwest Training Center in Rogers, Minn.
At this point, Polo's career began to take off, he says: "I was getting a little bit of a name and was building some credibility."
That name continued to build after a stint in South America, where Polo trained several national champions. At his next American stop, Four Star Arabians in Fort Wayne, Ind, which he trained at and managed for about eight years, Polo picked broodmares for one of leading Arabian stallions in the country, Padrons Psyche — whose offspring began to win championships.
"That horse made my career," Polo says.
Today, Polo and his wife life on a farm in Indianapolis, where he directs and trains for Grace Stables. He spends a good deal of time traveling, showing client horses and helping find broodmares and stallions. He expects to show a number of horses at the Arabian nationals in Louisville this October.
What drew Polo to halter showing, he says, is "The beauty and art of teaching a horse to stand up and show at halter," the goal of which is "ultimately, to get the horse to show itself to the best of its ability without you doing anything."
He's spent his entire career focused on Arabians for two reasons:
"I was born and raised with it, and my life just went that direction," he says. "But, also, the Arabians are the beginning of all breeds. The history behind them, the beauty of them, the charisma, their presence — it's all of that that keeps me going with Arabians.
"However," he acknowledges, "every breed has its superior individuals, and I respect any horse that's a good individual of any breed."

A Halter Showing Primer
"Showing an Arabian horse at halter has become an art of finesse," Polo says. "Your movements as a handler are subtle, and that horse needs to respond to those movements. The art is in teaching the horse to stand up and present itself and have the confidence, air and elegance of a queen or king.
"As a trainer, you want to get into the horse's mind," he adds. "You want it to become your friend and to have a companionship and interaction with that horse that gives it the confidence. But when you're training, you're also teaching it what to do and what not to do. And sometimes the what-nots can factor into the interaction between you and the horse. The bottom line is your ability to communicate, interact and relate to your horse."
The most important criteria in judging Arabian halter horses, Polo says, is "Arabian type — meaning short back, big eyes, dish face with a small muzzle, well set-on neck, high tail carriage and good round feet that are in proportion to the horse's body — a good, substantial foot so that if you were going ride that horse, he would know there was something underneath him; you don't want a little tiny foot on a big horse's body."
The ideal American look, he says: "Right now, we want a long, scopy neck that has some reach and a well laid-back shoulder where the neck comes out very high. Movement isn't as important here, but when you go overseas, movement is very important. Movement and type — meaning it's the ideal Arabian type. In different countries, they're looking for different styles of Arabian horses."
As for disposition, "You want them to have presence — beauty and elegance — and to show their charisma."
As a judge, Polo says, "The last thing you want is to have a handler who is jumping around in front of the horse trying to get his attention. That's distracting.
"And even though you're supposed to be judging the horse," he adds, "it takes away from the whole picture. The handler is there to lead the horse, not to take away from the horse."
When presenting a horse, "I always recommend to my handlers that they dress in professional, clean-cut attire, with some of the trimmings — whether it's cuff links or a lapel pin," Polo says. "That's very important to me personally. Yes, you want to have a great individual as a horse, but you also want the whole appearance — the presentation — to be very pleasant as well."
The skills needed to excel at halter showing: "You need to be able to communicate with the animal," Polo says. "You need to be able to watch the animal and know what it needs when it needs it. Such as, if you're working that horse and it needs a day off, you need to know when to give it a day off.
"Or, frequently, I see a horse try to nip at somebody — maybe they're just being mouthy or they want a carrot or something. That person will push that horse away because they don't want to get nipped at, then they'll go pet the horse there. So they're sending conflicting signals."
Horses that are in training for Polo are worked six days a week. "After they're exercised (free-longed or ponied or even ridden, which helps build stamina and muscle tone) for an average of about 20 minutes," Polo says, "I'll school them for halter maybe later that day, and it will last maybe 20 minutes or less. We'll do that for four days on and then take a day off, again and again, until they start to get the routine down, then we'll back off a little bit."
One of Polo's biggest challenges, he says, "is getting a horse that was trained by somebody else that has habits I don't consider to be appropriate for what I want to do. So I'll have to work with that horse to get those habits untrained."
The best aspect, he says, "is working with the babies — you can train those babies to do what you want."
One of Polo's most memorable horses was a mare named SS Mystique Lady.
"I have a soft spot for in my heart for her," he says. "I worked with her as a baby and did well with her at a big show in Arizona, and she sold to someone in Brazil and went on to be a national champion in Brazil. Then she came back to the States, I showed her again and she went on to be a national champion mare."
What made her special, Polo say, was her attitude: "Her ability to be a show horse," Polo says. "She wanted to be a show horse; she enjoyed it very much. A lot of times, you might get a horse that's a good individual in terms of conformation, but maybe they don't want to be a show horse.
"They need to have that desire," he adds, "but you can help them present themselves even more by working with them and giving them the confidence they need to be a show horse."
You do that, Polo says, "by letting them be a horse. When you're walking in the arena, if they want to bounce or snort and blow, you let them do it. That's presence. That's the Arabian horse. "
During his career, Polo says, "I've made a lot of mistakes — I could tell story after story of mistakes I've made in training, grooming, showing, hauling. But the most important thing for me is that every mistake I've made, I've learned from. And I think those things have helped lead to my success today."
He's most proud, he says, that "I started with nothing in the Arabian horse world. Over the past years, I've matured and grown and experienced what it's like to win championships.
"I owe it all to the Arabian horse," he adds. "The Arabian horse has taken me all over the world, and I've met all kinds of people, seen all kinds of cultures, and I did it all without any financial support behind me. I don't come from money.
"My driving force has been my love for the horses, whether it be Arabian, Thoroughbred or Quarter horse — I love all horses. It just so happens that I started with Arabians, and it kept going from there. So the Arabian horse will always be where my heart belongs."

Arabian Halter Showing Tips From Trainer Joseph Polo

During his February clinic at Round Mountain Arabians, halter expert Joe Polo covered a broad range of topics. Below is a sampling of his suggestions.

* I typically start to train babies at 8 months, more or less. I work with them a certain amount of time and then give them time off and let them become wild, more or less. I'll teach them to tie, to whoa — basic things. Then I let them be a horse again so they can keep their attitude.

* The most important thing I teach a horse is that they whoa — and that they stand there and relax. If nothing else happens, that horse better stand still so the judge can see him and the crowd will have the opportunity to see him.

* With babies, I use only a barn halter on a lead rope — no whip or anything. I'll teach them to whoa and just to relax with me. I don't think they need to use their ears and use their neck right away. I just want them to know me; and when we're walking, I want them to relax and look at things.

* After I teach a baby to whoa, I'll teach him to walk. Some young horses won't let you walk in front of them because often when we teach babies to walk, we often stand next to them and put a rope around them or put an arm around them. So getting in front of them is entirely new, and they have no idea what to do. Some horses will stand there and plant their feet like they're glued into cement, and you've got to pull and tug to get them to come forward. If a horse stands there and fights me on it, I know I have to go back to square one: teaching him how to lead.

* To me, attitude is important. In the show arena today, some of the horses have the attitude taken out of them. There's a well-known Straight Egyptian stallion who went to Europe, but he doesn't win over there because he's too trained. There are a lot of horses today that are too trained. They've become mechanical. And when they become mechanical, they lose the attitude you want to keep in them.

* When a horse stands up, I want him to tighten up his body, elevate his head, watch me with his ears and stretch his neck. But sometimes you see horses out there who stretch their necks too far, and they hollow out their backs, they're on their forehand and they're falling off their hind end.

* I go from the barn halter to a schooling halter (a leather halter with a chain) before I start showing. If you were to go right from a barn halter to a show halter, it has a different feel to a horse. You're going from a wide halter to this skinny thing — and that gives a whole different pressure on their head and a different feel. I've done that but the horse has never shown for me.

* I don't do much vocal work with my horses; I use more body language — it's me moving a certain way. I want them to really understand me.

* When I'm in the show arena, before I show, you'll always see me walk a circle, for two reasons: for the horse to relax and for me to relax.

* I teach my horses that when I raise my arms up in the air, they start showing. That means, 'Shift your weight back yet come forward with your neck and use your ears.' And that's a very unnatural thing. But when my hand goes up, their head should go up — I shouldn't be lifting their head up.

* When I pet a horse, it's on the neck not the face. Because I want to promote keeping their ears forward; let that be a happy horse. When you're in the show arena, there are three judges in the arena, but a million judges sitting in the seats. If a trainer brings a horse in the arena and its ears are back and it's swishing its tail a bit, the first thing I think is, 'That horse isn't happy.' So, even if I have a horse I know is not going to win, I at least want the judges sitting in the seats to think, 'That horse is happy — it's got its ears up, it's relaxed.'

* The last thing you want to do when you're training a young horse is to get on them, get on them, get on them right from the beginning. Because if you don't make this experience good in the beginning, your horse is done.