There are snow birds, and then there are snow ponies.

Dulce, Frozen, Campinetta, Victoria, Carmella and Princeapito are a regular sight each summer at the White Rock Farm in Little Compton, but will soon head to their winter home in Florida, where they compete in professional polo. They are owned by Ray Rafool, a noted polo player and captain at the International Polo Club in Wellington, Fla. Under the care of local trainer Sarah Rundquist, they have spent the summer training and getting into fit competitive shape.

Rundquist, who is also co-captain of the South Shore Beach lifeguard team, is Mr. Rafool’s horse trainer/manager, and every Spring brings the ponies to Rhode Island, where the weather is cooler.

Rafool rents a farm each year so the ponies can take the summer off, grazing and relaxing. That’s when Ms. Rundquist gets to tend to them while not working at the beach. 

Rundquist grew up in Chatham, N.J., and fell in love with horses as a youngster. She competed in hunter jumper competitions and turned professional before coming to Rhode Island and working with the Newport polo ponies and lifeguarding in Middletown. A friend introduced her to the Florida polo scene, where she met Rafool. 

“He treats his horses with the utmost care that they deserve,” she said. 

Their summer stay isn't all rest. After a lazy high season for the ponies, fall is go time.

“I slowly get them fit,” she said. “Horses are like athletes, they need to be brought back into fitness carefully.” 

Once the ponies progress, she rides them individually for an hour twice a day. In November, the horses and Ms. Rundquist make the trip down to Wellington. Then it’s more training until match time.