Glo Most Hot plays polo, teaches kids

Glo Most Hot and Millwood

Not many people could look past the angrily pinned ears and flashing teeth, to see a racehorse transformed to a future polo pony, or even a lesson horse for school children.

Even Beth Millwood, upon her first meeting the red mare, was briefly nonplussed by Glo Most Hot’s aggressive, stall-protecting moves.

“She snaked her head around and bared her teeth like she was going to bite,” Millwood says. “I was going to get in the stall with her, but was told she was too aggressive.”

But, Glo had received high recommendations from both the Maker’s Mark Secretariat Center, where she was training for a post-racing career, and from the Exceller Fund, which owned her.

“I was told she’d be a good polo prospect, so we pulled her out of her stall, walked her to a wash stall, where we tacked her up, and I got on,” Millwood says. “She was a great ride!”

In the seven years since she first took the “big faker” home to Georgia, Glo has proven herself to be the smartest horse she has ever owned. And so much more.

Race name: Glo Most Hot
Sire: Globel Sports
Dam: Hot and Ingorant
Foal date: March 4, 2000
Winnings: $12,556On the polo field, she was agile and able to turn on a dime. Yes, it took a little time for the fiery mare to get used to the quick stops and starts, and to horses suddenly charging toward her, before turning off quickly in another direction.  But she picked it up with ease.

And, stick a little kid on her back for a riding lesson, and she’s the kindest, most patient schoolmaster.

“My friends couldn’t believe I’d use her as a lesson horse because she seemed so aggressive, but she’s smart as a tack,” Millwood says. “You show her three times how to do something, and she’s got it.

What Glo seemed to need, besides ample assurances that nobody would burst into her stall and steal her food, was variety. This is a horse who wants to do new things and not get bored.

“The first time I put polo gear on her, with a heavy Pelham bit, she didn’t care. And the first time I put her in a bit-less bridle, she didn’t care about that either,” she says. “She likes stimulation, she likes something to think about.”

What a good girl!

Millwood has spent the last seven years lavishing her favorite redhead with all the love, and fawning attention she needs. She is provided regular chiropractic care to help with a slight hip misalignment, and generally fitted with a bit-less bridle so that heavy-handed beginners can’t yank on her mouth.

“I use her in summer camp for children, and everybody falls in love with her,” Millwood says. “Her gaits are nice and even, and when you say whoa, she stops.”

With Glo, some students may feel a little intimidated in their first lesson, but once they see the world from her eyes, as a creature more frightened of people than people are of horses, they begin to sympathize with her ways.

“If she’s threatening in her stall, I explain that staring right at her is a challenge, and I ask them to turn their backs to her,” she says. “As soon as they do, she’ll nuzzle up and hang all over them.”

Glo has also learned to turn her back on Millwood to achieve the ultimate in belly rubs. “She’ll come running up to me and put her belly right up near me. My friends say she’s turning her back to me, but she isn’t. She wants to be scratched!”

Now, the horse who once bit the air and pinned her ears when people got too close to her, is the first one to greet Millwood.

Glo is Beth’s favorite mare

“Whenever she sees me, she comes thundering up the hill.

“My friends say it’s as though she’s thinking, ‘Here comes mommy!’ and I correct them. She’s really thinking, ‘Here comes my waitress!’ ”

But the racehorse with 49 starts in her short but hard-knock career is her absolute favorite, bar none.

“When I come to the farm and she comes running to see me, it’s like Christmas morning for me,” she says. “I’m living the dream I’ve wanted since I was a kid, and Glo is a big part of that dream.”