NEW SHARON – The main challenge for riders competing in Pumpkin Head Polo at Long Meadow Farms was not the cold, their opponents or the difficult course.

Instead, competitors like Keely Padham, 14, of New Sharon found the greatest difficulty to be teaching their horses the rules of the game.

Padham and her horse, Pedro, stopped mid-course for a number of seconds while Pedro gazed perplexedly at the large blue dragon marking the midpoint of the race. “He thinks the dragon’s a horse,” she explained.

“He’s not interested in the competition,” said Megan McCarter, 13, of Avon said, as she coaxed her charger, Joe, across the finish line.

Padham and McCarter, along with about 20 other competitors, parents and friends, participated in the Long Meadow Farms Medieval Games on Saturday in support of Operation Santa Claus.

The event kicked off with a trail ride through the October foliage.

On the playing field, laughter and confusion ruled day. Even the most practiced show horses failed to understand that the main principle of Pumpkin Head Polo was to convey their riders quickly around the course and across the finish line.

Carmela Thompson, whose 10-year-old daughter, Jessica, is the proud owner of Remington, winner of its class at the Farmington Fair, said, “I can’t imagine how much work it takes to train horses to play real polo.” Remington stopped just inches from the finish line, sidetracked by the polo broom held in his rider’s hand.

Keely Padham won the event riding Rhett, who took the course at 36.69 seconds.

All participants received their choice of Halloween or equestrian-themed prizes.

After awards were given, riders moved on to the second event of the day, Behead the Monster, a joust-themed competition using easily decapitated scarecrows as targets. Riding free on the wide jousting field, both horses and riders were once again in their element – knights on chargers knocking tin heads off the targets with a Styrofoam mace to the wild cheers of their fans.