All four teams (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom) arrived in the Highlands late last week and were allocated their tournament horses on Saturday.

Each team was assigned to a pool of 12 horses and have spent the weekend getting accustomed to their mounts.

Players are only allowed to ride the horses for an hour per day to keep them fresh ahead of the competition that starts on Thursday.

Australia was allocated pool D, which included Thomas’ horse Renegade.

“It’s just a relief to finally get the horses and we can now let the serious preparation begin,” the Australian skipper said.

“I’m really happy I have one of my own horses in our pool but I am not allowed to ride it so one of my team mates will get him.”

Polocrosse Association of Australia’s vice president and quad series horse coordinator, Gil Mathie said the horse coordinators had done their best to make the four pools as even as possible.

Mathie said each horse was graded on its own and then assigned to a pool.

For the full story see the Southern Highland News, Monday, April 13

sport.highlandnews@ruralp ress.com