FORHORSEPEOPLE • ABOUTHORSEPEOPLE
SIDELINESMAY 2014 43
when I met JoeyCasey Jr. for the first time. Joey helpedmewith
my video when I worked for him that summer. It all worked out
great and I madeTeamUSPA.”
Gatesgrewup inSouthbury,Connecticut,surroundedbyhorses,
thanks to his father, Timothy H. Gridley, who owned and trained
racehorses, did the jumpers, and also played polo professionally
(rated5goals). Gates andhis brother Timwent along for the ride,
literally, with their dad to Butch Butterworth’s Giant Valley Farm
Polo Club in nearby Hamden. They spent winters at Gulfstream
PoloClub inFlorida.
“I learnedso, somuch frommy father,”Gatessaid. “Hewasone
of the first to teachme about riding, whether for polo or jumping.
He taughtmehow important softhandsare.At first Iwasobsessed
about polo– I loved theadrenaline rushof thegame, but themore
I learn about training horses and get to see how they progress as
poloponies, themore I seehoweverything fits into the trainingof
the horses. The better the horse, the better you can play.”
When Gates met Joey Casey during his umpire certification,
hewas offered a job last summer inOklahoma. “Working for Joe
Senior and Joey Junior has taught me so much about training
horses,” Gates said. “Their method of breaking yearlings is
progressive, patient, gentle and safe. The Caseys do everything
the safest way possible and within two to three weeks they’re
riding them. They start all the horseswith the same basic training
– it doesn’tmatter if they’regoing tobe racehorsesor poloponies.
I’veseen thewholeprocess fromworkingwithyearlings to4-year-
olds tomade ponies playing high-goal polo inFlorida.”
Gates has four horses of his own. Two are older made horses
and two are young greenies he has been training for a couple of
years:AutumnandPumpkinare ready toplay.All four are for sale.
“At the end of the day you have to sell horses,” he said. “Selling
ponies I trainwill help to fundmy polo.”
Gates isn’t sure exactly what his future holds. Right now,
anything is possible from playing professionally to training and
selling ponies to using his degree in International Relations. He
started learning Mandarin Chinese in his second year at UK
and enjoyed practicing his conversational skills when he spent
six weeks playing polo in China. His immediate goals include
continuing tobuildhisskillsandplayingasmuchpoloaspossible.
When askedwhat players would be on his dream team, Gates
said, “My father,mybrother Timand JoeyCasey. That wouldbea
really special team– toplaywith family andmentors I look up to.”
Gates intends to work for the Caseys again this summer in
Oklahoma. “I have a lot more to learn from them and it’s great
because every day you work, you ride, you work, you ride,” said
Gates. “Normally, TeamUSPAgoes toWyoming, but I hadmade
the commitment to go back andwork for theCaseys before I was
accepted on the team. I’m finding that a sense of balance and
of loyalty in this sport is huge. After Oklahoma, I’ll go toAiken in
September andOctober to play polo and seewhere it goes from
there.”
Gateshadprettymuchfiguredout his longandshort-termgoals
in high school when he played USPA Interscholastic polo at Yale
whereLizBrayboywascoach. “Lizwasn’t hardonus, but itwasn’t
a soft approach either. I knew exactlywhat she expected,” Gates
said. “We talked a lot about my goals and it was a huge thing for
her to believe inme. It really helped. I want to fulfill my potential
as best I can, and see how far I can go in polo. I want to take
advantageof all theopportunities that have comemyway.”
About the writer: Lauren R. Giannini is an award-winning writer, specializing in
stories about the equestrianworld. Crazy about horses all her life, she cravesmore
stable time, especially in the saddle. Right now, she rides her belovedMacBook, a
genuinework-pony, and reads voraciously to escape the everydayworld. Her plans
for 2014: do more teaching and thereby share her love of books, reading, writing
and telling stories. Her big goal: to become a published author in the not-too-distant
future.
