Where Polo, Jumping, and Dressage Meet
Creating a multi-Discipline Facility
At Rancho Agave Equestrian, the goal was always to create a space where polo, jumping, and dressage coexist seamlessly. As a family of horse lovers, we all as the Maloney family have always done different things, but had the common thread of horses holding us together. Managing a facility that supports all three was tricky, but with thoughtful planning (and a bit of desensitizing for the warmbloods), we make it all work together. Each discipline has its own unique requirements, and housing them all under one roof creates a dynamic environment where horses and riders thrive.
1. Tailored Facilities for Every Discipline
At Rancho Agave, we’ve designed the space with enough versatility to accommodate the specific needs of each discipline.
Polo: Our 15 acre grass field is perfect for polo. Technically a field and a half, we’re able to shift the boards on the field to rest the parts of the field that get the most use. With plenty of room to run, our polo field is maintained year-round to keep the footing safe for high-speed play.
Jumping: The jumping arena is spacious, giving our riders plenty of options to design a variety of courses and gymnastics. The footing is a premium, waterless footing from Attwood Equestrian Surfaces and gives the horses the perfect give and grip to jump and turn safely. We recently added a small grass arena with a bank jump to practice for grass show venues.
Dressage: Precision is everything in dressage, so we’ve created a specialized dressage court for our riders. This arena allows our dressage horses and riders a space without interruptions, as well as letters and mirrors (soon to come).
2. Dividing the Barn
The large, spacious barn at Rancho Agave offers nearly 50 stalls, so we made the decision to designate 2 sides: one for dressage and jumping, and the other for polo. While dressage and jumping horses share a lot of the same day to day requirements, polo horses have an entirely different routine.
Polo: The polo half of the barn remains quiet and vacant for most of the year, but in late spring and all through the summer it is full of horses. It is also large enough to accommodate 3 players’ strings of horses (typically in polo, each player has about 6-8 horses in their string, enough for 1 horse per chukker or period in the game). This side of the barn has 2 tackrooms, a feedroom, and a laundry room that is used by the whole barn. Our polo players prefer to have stall guards on each stall rather than opening and closing the stall doors. This gives riders easier access to the horses as they are often handling up to 6 horses at a time. Horses are also tied on the outside of their stalls in the 20’ aisleway while drying off after a bath, waiting to go out on a set, or staying out of the way when the grooms are cleaning stalls.
Jumping/Dressage: We changed the layout of the jumping/dressage side of the barn quite a bit from when we first purchased the barn. We added 2 tackrooms, 4 crossties, and 1 washbay. We also canceled one of the stalls in the middle of the barn to provide an aisleway to more easily access the outdoor crossties and walker. The jumpers and dressage horses in the barn get tacked up in crossties rather than the aisleway like a polo horse, so this was an important element to make the daily flow work well. We also added stall yokes on the doors to give it an elevated feel and also keep the horses from chewing on and destroying the wood of the stalls. The horses used for jumping and dressage are also a lot taller than the 15 hh and under polo horses, so we planned accordingly for the height.
3. Community of Well-Rounded Equestrians
Perhaps the most enjoyable part of having all of these disciplines in one place is the diversity of unique experiences and perspectives all with one common thread: an unwavering love of the horse. Rancho Agave is built on horsemen and women, who although come from very different backgrounds and places (from New Zealand to Argentina and almost everywhere in between), share this commonality with a lot of pride in what they do. Although the disciplines are very different, there is always a level of crossover that keeps even the professionals curious. Whether it’s swapping ideas on tack, feed, or training, there is a constant flow of ideas exchanged.
Where Different Disciplines Meet and Equestrians Thrive
What started as a dream to put all of our passions in one place has evolved into something even bigger than that. As riders and horsemen and women, we collaborate and cultivate a fully realized equestrian experience that pushes us to improve. Offering multiple disciplines allows us to celebrate the strengths of each while creating a community where every rider can grow, whether they’re focused on the field or the arena.