We joined OC Polo club after our kids had a trial lesson. They were new to the horse polo sport and enjoyed their trial. Over time at this polo club they were mistreated by the coach and her grooms. The prices are more than any arena polo club in Southern California. The worst of it all was the poor treatment of the horses. It wasn't until we began to look for polo horses for our kids so they could play in tournaments that we started seeing their true colors. Their rental costs for renting horses is triple that of anywhere else. While we were at OC Polo our kids were always behind in their polo skills. This made us seek out other clubs to better their polo skills. We would use the polo arena here more for practice. The manager/coach is very controlling and wants to hold the kids back. In fact, I feel she wants to hold everyone back because she doesn't teach strong polo skills, teamwork and is very much one to favor certain club members that are her close friends and family. No one was allowed to work their horses when they wanted to even if they owned them.
The rules were so strict like a n**i regime. If you were caught enjoying your own horse there were consequences and oddly enough our horses and others would come up lame. The sad part was how skinny all the horses were and consistently lame. When we were trying horses, we spent extra money on health checks to make sure the horses the coach brought in were fit to purchase. After 3 - 4 sick horses that she brought us to try I went on my own to find horses and found a great thoroughbred for our kids of which we still had to pay her a finder’s fee even though she had nothing to do with it! When it came time for the second horse purchase sadly we let our coach handle that deal since we knew we’d still have to pay her finders fee. What a big mistake that was! We ended up with a horse with Navicular disease. Interestingly enough the coaches vet said she was one of the healthiest horses he'd had seen in a long time! That should have been a red flag as most polo horses will have some arthritic changes.
Our family really loved this horse and she is one of the sweetest horses, very talented but her previous owner played her into the ground and even let our polo coach know she needs a beginner rider of which our kids were no longer beginners. The pre-purchase radiographs and findings were never shared and I admit failure to request a physical copy as I had trusted this vet. It wasn't until her first week of owning her, on a simple trail ride she came up lame. Spent the rest of the polo season mostly lame and not fit to play. We love this horse though and our family is very attached to her so now she is a very expensive pet and we are out a polo pony for one of our kids. After spending beyond what we should to stay local as that was the only reason we stayed with this club for as long as we did because most of our kids great polo training came from other clubs at a farther distance, we didn't have a means to trailer our healthy polo pony to the farther clubs and we could at least get some good saddle time and we moved close to the OC Polo club for this reason. The address listed is their new address. Prior to that address they were in Coto de Caza which was where we moved to be closer to our horses.
Our kids and others endured much verbal and physical abuse. They were worked so hard at events that were supposed to be fun for them. OC Polo has paid grooms but they are the coaches best friends and nanny so she treats them more like members and even has them coach which some haven’t even played polo for more than a few months while we were there. They put the kids to work in what was like slave labor to the point one kid who was begging for a water break was not allowed to stop until he began vomiting. Then the next week the grooms ridiculed him in front of the other kids. No matter how much my kids worked for them they were still mistreated and bullied. Not bullied by their kid peers but by the adults!
This club is one big click. It's made up of a close clique of drinking buddies who smoke pot and drink themselves drunk. We put up with all that just because we owned polo ponies and our kids wanting to continue practicing a sport they have come to love. Since we weren’t the type to conform to their n**i regime or ridiculous rules they kicked us out of the club with little warning. They threw all of our kid’s expensive tack into garbage bags and did not even let them say goodbye to the kids that they had formed strong friendships with. The coach then threatened their friends that if they even speak to our kids they would be kicked out so our kids lost those friendships. I suppose they truly weren’t their friends to begin with or were just manipulated and brainwashed by this ridiculous coach. I think out of everything we endured that hurt me the most. What type of coach or adult would be that low to hurt kids like that? I reached out to other members who had been there long term and they all agreed that Heather was a perpetual child and if she didn't get her way then she threw you out like a piece of trash. No matter how much money you paid or items you donated or work you have done to help support the club. The owner of the club is no better as he supports this perpetual child.
We've moved on and healed but I would not want to wish this experience on anyone else. We work so hard to earn a living and to support something so expensive we do not want anyone else to have to experience the shadiness and rip off of a polo club like we have at OC Polo. That is the reason I'm sharing our story here. We tried to share it on Yelp but of course they paid their way out to have our reviews removed. I believe one of our reviews remained and that is truly the only truthful review posted. The others are all people they paid off or close friends. Leaving OC Polo was the best thing that happened to our famiy. Our kids are excelling in polo at another club whose values are strong and people are respectful of one another. They truly care about their horses. The saddest part was seeing the horses at OC Polo suffer, not get fed enough and between 4 - 5 horses died in as little as one year! So, beware as they have been kicked out of Coto and started a new club in Silverado which will be opening soon.
Orange County Polo Club Reviews
We joined OC Polo club after our kids had a trial lesson. They were new to the horse polo sport and enjoyed their trial. Over time at this polo club they were mistreated by the coach and her grooms. The prices are more than any arena polo club in Southern California. The worst of it all was the poor treatment of the horses. It wasn't until we began to look for polo horses for our kids so they could play in tournaments that we started seeing their true colors. Their rental costs for renting horses is triple that of anywhere else. While we were at OC Polo our kids were always behind in their polo skills. This made us seek out other clubs to better their polo skills. We would use the polo arena here more for practice. The manager/coach is very controlling and wants to hold the kids back. In fact, I feel she wants to hold everyone back because she doesn't teach strong polo skills, teamwork and is very much one to favor certain club members that are her close friends and family. No one was allowed to work their horses when they wanted to even if they owned them.
The rules were so strict like a n**i regime. If you were caught enjoying your own horse there were consequences and oddly enough our horses and others would come up lame. The sad part was how skinny all the horses were and consistently lame. When we were trying horses, we spent extra money on health checks to make sure the horses the coach brought in were fit to purchase. After 3 - 4 sick horses that she brought us to try I went on my own to find horses and found a great thoroughbred for our kids of which we still had to pay her a finder’s fee even though she had nothing to do with it! When it came time for the second horse purchase sadly we let our coach handle that deal since we knew we’d still have to pay her finders fee. What a big mistake that was! We ended up with a horse with Navicular disease. Interestingly enough the coaches vet said she was one of the healthiest horses he'd had seen in a long time! That should have been a red flag as most polo horses will have some arthritic changes.
Our family really loved this horse and she is one of the sweetest horses, very talented but her previous owner played her into the ground and even let our polo coach know she needs a beginner rider of which our kids were no longer beginners. The pre-purchase radiographs and findings were never shared and I admit failure to request a physical copy as I had trusted this vet. It wasn't until her first week of owning her, on a simple trail ride she came up lame. Spent the rest of the polo season mostly lame and not fit to play. We love this horse though and our family is very attached to her so now she is a very expensive pet and we are out a polo pony for one of our kids. After spending beyond what we should to stay local as that was the only reason we stayed with this club for as long as we did because most of our kids great polo training came from other clubs at a farther distance, we didn't have a means to trailer our healthy polo pony to the farther clubs and we could at least get some good saddle time and we moved close to the OC Polo club for this reason. The address listed is their new address. Prior to that address they were in Coto de Caza which was where we moved to be closer to our horses.
Our kids and others endured much verbal and physical abuse. They were worked so hard at events that were supposed to be fun for them. OC Polo has paid grooms but they are the coaches best friends and nanny so she treats them more like members and even has them coach which some haven’t even played polo for more than a few months while we were there. They put the kids to work in what was like slave labor to the point one kid who was begging for a water break was not allowed to stop until he began vomiting. Then the next week the grooms ridiculed him in front of the other kids. No matter how much my kids worked for them they were still mistreated and bullied. Not bullied by their kid peers but by the adults!
This club is one big click. It's made up of a close clique of drinking buddies who smoke pot and drink themselves drunk. We put up with all that just because we owned polo ponies and our kids wanting to continue practicing a sport they have come to love. Since we weren’t the type to conform to their n**i regime or ridiculous rules they kicked us out of the club with little warning. They threw all of our kid’s expensive tack into garbage bags and did not even let them say goodbye to the kids that they had formed strong friendships with. The coach then threatened their friends that if they even speak to our kids they would be kicked out so our kids lost those friendships. I suppose they truly weren’t their friends to begin with or were just manipulated and brainwashed by this ridiculous coach. I think out of everything we endured that hurt me the most. What type of coach or adult would be that low to hurt kids like that? I reached out to other members who had been there long term and they all agreed that Heather was a perpetual child and if she didn't get her way then she threw you out like a piece of trash. No matter how much money you paid or items you donated or work you have done to help support the club. The owner of the club is no better as he supports this perpetual child.
We've moved on and healed but I would not want to wish this experience on anyone else. We work so hard to earn a living and to support something so expensive we do not want anyone else to have to experience the shadiness and rip off of a polo club like we have at OC Polo. That is the reason I'm sharing our story here. We tried to share it on Yelp but of course they paid their way out to have our reviews removed. I believe one of our reviews remained and that is truly the only truthful review posted. The others are all people they paid off or close friends. Leaving OC Polo was the best thing that happened to our famiy. Our kids are excelling in polo at another club whose values are strong and people are respectful of one another. They truly care about their horses. The saddest part was seeing the horses at OC Polo suffer, not get fed enough and between 4 - 5 horses died in as little as one year! So, beware as they have been kicked out of Coto and started a new club in Silverado which will be opening soon.