POLO Magazine - April 2024

Cambiaso leads Valiente to victory

Tendon Trouble

Early diagnosis and treatment vital to success

Path to 10 Horses are key to increasing handicaps

In the Pink Buena Vibra commands Women’s U.S. Open

THE OFFICIAL BI-MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF THE UNITED STATES POLO ASSOCIATION

Editor & Publisher

Gwen D. Rizzo

Contributing Editors

Sarah Eakin, Lucas Noel, Alice Gipps, Dan Harvey Pedrick, Cristina Fernandez

Editorial Board

Robin Sanchez, Tony Coppola, Tom Biddle, Dawn Weber, Ami Shinitzky

Art Director

Gary Lattke

Designer

David Beverage

Prepress

Walsworth

Advertising & Editorial Offices

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VOL. 28, No. 2

POLO magazine (ISSN #1096-2255) is published bi-monthly by U.S. Polo Association, 9011 Lake Worth RD, Lake Worth, FL 33467. Periodicals postage paid at West Palm Beach, FL and additional mailing offices. (USPS: 079-770).

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Save the Date: Spring Meetings

The USPA Spring Board of Governors, Committee and LLC Meetings will take place April 16-20. Meetings will be held at the National Polo CenterWellington in Wellington, Florida, and the National Museum of Polo in Lake Worth, Florida.

The chairman’s cocktail reception will be held on Wednesday, April 17, at the National Polo Center, and the board of governors will meet on Saturday, April 20. The U.S. Open Polo Championship final will be played Sunday, April 21. A limited number of rooms have been blocked at the Fairfield Inn in Wellington for those traveling to Florida for the meetings. Members can also attend meetings virtually via Zoom. Check uspolo.org for up-to-date meeting schedules and locations.

Visiting Member Program Offered

Whether in Wellington, Florida, for the season or visiting from out of town, there are multiple ways for USPA members to experience and enjoy the National Polo Center.

During the week, USPA members can stop in for lunch at the Pavilion Café on the terrace overlooking U.S. Polo Assn. Field One or reserve dinner at the 7th Chukker restaurant Wednesday through Saturday. In addition, members are welcome to attend the poolside victory party at the Mallet Grille following each Sunday’s trophy presentation.

For those visiting from out of town, NPC has developed the USPA visiting member program, which provides

members the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of the private Polo Club at NPC during their stay. Subject to availability, and once per season for $250, a visiting member can have access to the Polo Club’s Mallet Grille, 7th Chukker, tennis facilities, gym, pool and spa for any eight consecutive days during the season. USPA members will be responsible for all charges incurred at NPC. Restaurant information and a link to purchase Sunday tickets can be found at nationalpolocenter.com. For USPA visiting membership program details contact NPC Director of Membership Carole Thompson at cthompson@ nationalpolocenter.com.

Equine Medications Testing Reminder

The United States Polo Association

began testing horses for prohibited medications in 2011. In 2018, the USPA board of governors approved an in-house testing program with all samples being processed by an independent laboratory. Testing takes place year-round, and all clubs are subject to testing.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Who can be tested?

Any event (USPA event, club event or USPA-supported activity) can be selected for testing. Once an event is selected, all participating players are subject to having their horses tested.

Who is responsible?

Both the owner and player of a horse that is tested are defined as responsible parties in the USPA medications rules. This means that even if you lease a horse, you could be held responsible for a positive test result.

Chrissy Brahney

David Lominska

Yerba mate contains high levels of caffeine. If added to a horse’s feed, it will result in a positive test.

How does testing work?

The USPA contracts licensed veterinarians to take samples from horses being played in selected events. An hour prior to a selected game, a USPA representative, the sampling veterinarian(s) and the technician(s) meet with the teams, explain the testing process and answer any questions.

At least one horse will be selected from each period of the game. A minimum of eight horses must be selected in a six-period game and a minimum of six horses must be selected in a four-period game. These horses are selected at random based on the period they are playing in.

The USPA reserves the right to choose a specific horse or horses for testing, such as a lame or injured horse, in addition to the randomly selected horses. During the game, the selected horses will be identified by the technicians, who will take

photos of them and prepare written descriptions. The groom is also informed that the selected horse will need to be brought to the specified testing location after the game.

At the end of the game, all horses selected are required to come to the testing location to have three vials of blood collected. Each vial will hold a maximum 8.5 mL of blood, so a total of 25.5 mL will be collected. The tubes are then marked with a preprinted barcode and sample number that corresponds to the paperwork. The owner, player or a designated representative must accompany each horse and sign as a witness to the sample collection.

How long do results take?

Results typically take less than two weeks. Samples are sent to the laboratory as soon as possible after they are collected. Samples are packed in a locked cooler and shipped to the laboratory. Once

received, they are unpacked and tested. If a positive test occurs, the laboratory alerts the USPA. The USPA then contacts the owner or player (or both), who is charged with an equine medications rules (EMR) violation.

What is a designated representative?

The person who brings the horse to the designated testing area will be the one signing as witness to the testing process. This person can be the player, owner, groom or any individual trusted by the owner and/or player to act as witness.

Are some medications allowed?

Players should review the equine medications rules in the USPA rulebook to become familiar with the permitted and restricted medications lists. Permitted medications are allowed at any time. Restricted medications are only allowed up to a certain level, and there is a chart in the rules which provides the suggested latest administration time

David Lominska

that the medication should be given prior to a game. If a test shows a restricted medication is present over the allowable blood level, it will be treated as a positive test.

Are some medications banned?

All medications that are not listed as permitted or restricted are prohibited. These types of medications include tranquilizers, anabolic steroids, corticosteroids without an approved medication report form, antihistamines and respiratory drugs.

What is therapeutic medication use?

There are certain situations that allow for immediate medical attention within the 24-hour period before a game. These include minor injuries, colic or other non-lamenessrelated conditions. In case one of these situations occurs, a licensed veterinarian can submit the USPA medication report form to alert the USPA that he or she has administered certain medications, which may then be present in a tested sample, and verify the horse is still in a safe condition for playing. The USPA medication report form is not a “free pass.” If a positive test occurs, it will be used to assess whether a violation has occurred.

What is the penalty for a positive test?

An alleged violation will be processed under the EMR violation procedures, which include the possibility of a hearing, and penalties that include probation, suspension and fines. An alleged EMR violation may be contested by the responsible party.

For further information regarding the equine medication rules or the testing program, please contact the USPA by email: equinewelfare@uspolo.org.

UNDERSTANDING YOUR HORSE’S DIET FOR EQUINE MEDICATION TESTING

It is important to know who has access to your horse(s) and what they may be feeding them either intentionally or unintentionally. Equally important is a precise understanding of the contents of the supplements, treats or human food fed to your horse as contamination could result in a positive test.

The USPA would like to provide the following best practices to help members understand the risk of possible contamination.

For all hay, grains, supplements and horse treats:

• Ensure items are purchased from a reputable source.

• Maintain a detailed list of the types and quantities of all feed provided.

• Store all feed carefully. Be mindful that open containers can lead to accidental contamination, including certain types of molds which can create naturally occurring contamination.

For medications:

• Store medications carefully, allowing access only to those proficient in proper administration.

• Clearly label medications with the name of the respective horse receiving them.

• Exercise caution when opening medication containers to prevent accidental spillage into other feeds or medications.

• Wear gloves when administering medications or applying topical medications.

• After handling any medications, remember to wash your hands.

• Properly dispose of empty medication packaging.

For herbal/natural products:

• Products containing CBD or hemp could result in a positive test.

• Be mindful of additional products, such as (but not limited to) valerian, kava kava, passionflower, skullcap, chamomile, vervain, lemon balm, leopard’s bane, nightshade, capsaicin, comfrey, devil’s claw, hops, laurel, lavender, red poppy and rauwolfia.

For human food:

• If you ever share your favorite snacks with your horse, it is essential to know the ingredients to ensure they are not only safe for your horse, but also free from anything that could result in a positive test.

• While some believe that adding the remnants of yerba mate to a horse’s feed can stimulate its appetite, it is crucial to note that yerba mate contains extremely high levels of caffeine, which would result in a positive test.

For environmental contaminants:

• Naturally occurring plants, such as poppies, crocuses, nightshade and lupins could lead to a positive test.

• Coffee plants could lead to contamination of caffeine, paraxanthine, theobromine and theophylline.

• Clean stalls and buckets between horses, especially horses that are being stabled temporarily.

• Only use buckets that can be properly disinfected.

• If you are uncertain about anything being fed to your horse, consult your veterinarian.

Chairman: Stewart Armstrong

President: Charles Smith

Secretary: Chrys Beal

Treasurer: Steven Rudolph

Staff Spotlight

Cristina Fernandez Communications Manager

Polo has been a central and continuous thread in every era of my life. I originally grew up in Washington, D.C., spending time with my parents in Maryland and Virginia. During summers and holidays, I visited my dad, Daniel Fernandez, who played professionally across the country. My mother Theresa King also played, competing extensively on the international women’s circuit. Despite having access to horses and growing up riding and grooming for my parents, it was not until high school that my spark for the sport developed.

I began my polo career at Garrison Forest School, an all-girls boarding school in Maryland, that I attended for four years. Starting as a beginner, I went on to win the Girls’ National Interscholastic Championship. I continued my polo career at the University of Virginia, captaining my team to a national championship in 2009.

After graduation, with a B.A. in Spanish and Latin American Studies, I applied for and was accepted to the inaugural Team USPA class. Out of the 20 members, I was one of only three women, allowing me to gain invaluable insights into the importance of representation and diversity in the sport. Similarly, having been involved in almost every USPA program and facet of the industry in some capacity from junior polo to high goal, I am passionate about representing the sport in a way that resonates with the polo community.

I am proud to have joined the

Association eight years ago, during a period of growth, when I saw an opportunity to contribute and make a meaningful impact to the sport I love in a new capacity. Managing communications for both the USPA and National Polo Center has been both fulfilling and challenging. From capturing historic moments on the sidelines of a U.S. Open win to navigating the intricacies of marketing a venue, each day presents

unique opportunities to showcase the sport. It is rewarding to play a role in preserving the sport’s rich history by documenting the wins, while also contributing to its growth and accessibility.

Communications at the USPA is a fastpaced environment and balancing the demands of social media, overseeing the e-newsletter “This Week in Polo,”

acquiring horse lists, facilitating interviews, managing photography, coordinating graphic design projects and other responsibilities, can be daunting at times. Yet, I thrive knowing that every task contributes to shaping the larger polo narrative.

People may be surprised to know that my grandmother was an opera singer and I sang opera as a teenager. I was part of the Washington Opera’s children’s chorus that performed at the Kennedy Center. I also play the acoustic guitar and used to write my own music and perform at open mic nights.

Aside from the occasional set or stick-and-ball session, I do not play or ride as much as I would like. However, I stay connected to the sport through my work, cheering on friends and showcasing players and events field side. My role as a board member of Virginia Polo also allows me to give back to an institution that played a pivotal role in my polo journey.

My puggle, Lola, celebrated her 14th birthday this year and has been my partner in crime since my first winter season grooming in Wellington, Florida. She flies around the country with me during the summer on work trips and is often seen following me field side on the livestream when she is not busy scouring the sidelines for tasty treats.

Outside of polo, I play tennis and relish traveling adventures off-thebeaten track, often venturing to hike remote waterfalls. Most recently, I explored Patagonia in both Argentina and Chile. In the future, I look forward to crossing items off on my bucket list, such as trekking the W trail in Torres del Paine, experiencing the beauty of the aurora borealis and hopefully exploring on an African riding safari.

Varsity Letter

Interscholastic players who competed in the I/I tournament season this year, along with completing 100 hours in the saddle, participating in four I/I games, and in good academic standing, are eligible for an Interscholastic Varsity Letter! For more information on the program and application please go to the interscholastic program page on uspolo.org or contact Ali Davidge.

Scholarship Program

Six $4,000 scholarships will be available for the 2024 cycle. Eligible players include current intercollegiate players and interscholastic seniors who plan to attend a school with an intercollegiate polo program. Full eligibility requirements can be found on uspolo.org. Contact Amy Fraser for more details.

Fundraiser Program

Is your I/I club planning on hosting a fundraiser this year?

Teams are able to apply for up to $2,000 in fundraising reimbursement through the two-tier system. Staff and committee support is available during the process to plan your event and maximize your revenue.

Please note, the fundraising deadline is rolling and open to both interscholastic and intercollegiate teams. To learn more about the program, check out the new guidelines and the evolving ideas document at uspolo.org.

If you have any questions about the fundraising program, please contact Ali Davidge.

Thank You!

Thank you to all the intercollegiate and interscholastic host sites, horse providers, coaches and volunteers for all their hard work on another successful I/I season.

Middle School

Do you have a group of youth players in 5th-8th grade? If so, sign up now to host a middle school tournament at your club, now available to be played anytime throughout the year. Contact Emily Dewey for more information or to secure your tournament date.

If you are interested in participating in a Middle School League, look for the schedule at uspolo.org to find a

tournament near you. Tournament dates are being added as they are scheduled so check back often.

New this year is the Middle School point system. Players earn points for participating in tournaments and receiving team and individual awards. Achievement awards will be given as well as prizes for high-point players by grade and overall.

I/I Contact Information:

Amy Fraser, Director of I/I Polo afraser@uspolo.org

Ali Davidge, I/I Program Coordinator adavidge@uspolo.org

Emily Dewey, I/I Tournament Manager edewey@uspolo.org

David Murrell

Maui’s Jade Hiltbrand at the Girls’ National Interscholastic Championships in March

STILL SHOT

A wooden horse can provide useful practice if done right

With Corky Linfoot

While there is nothing better than being on the back of a horse, sometimes it just isn’t possible. Corky Linfoot said that is what led his father Billy “Doc” Linfoot to design a hitting cage with a wooden horse, known as the Mak-Linfoot hitting cage.

Professionally, his dad was a veterinarian and never had his own string of horses. Regardless, he went on to earn a 9-goal rating and compile an impressive winning record, including three Coronation Cups, four U.S. Opens, three Butler Handicaps, five National Twenty Goal Championships and other titles.

“There was a limited amount of time when he could practice because he would come back from veterinary work and wouldn’t be able to stick and ball,” Linfoot said. “He got together with this carpenter, Jud Mak, who was a one-goal player at Menlo Park and they brainstormed the cage. The original backstops were mattresses.” While he was an incredible instructor, Linfoot says he doesn’t remember his dad ever teaching hitting at all, it was always on horses, horsemanship and a basic understanding of the game. Part of that may have been a serious injury that kept Doc Linfoot from completely straightening his arm. The hitting cage was used strictly for him to practice rather than for teaching others. While the hitting cage seemed to work well for Linfoot’s dad, it is

important to know the pros and cons of using one.

There are some positive aspects to using a hitting cage, such as access to practice regardless of the weather or if there are no horses available; to practice positioning of the ball and body for certain shots; and the ability to repeat shots often.

If you want to improve your hitting, work on creating angles, distances and speeds with the ball. You can work on angles and speeds, but there are some limitations. You are not on a moving vehicle, so you are unable to position the horse to create extreme angled shots and you don’t know the distance the shot actually travels, so it is more of a guess.

To get started, it is helpful to use a wooden horse with a decent saddle on it and a set of reins to simulate being on a horse as much as possible.

“It’s always good to have reins on the wooden horse to give you an idea that you should not be trying to use the horse’s neck to balance yourself while hitting,” Linfoot said. “And I am absolutely 100% for adjusting your stirrups in a manner that is comfortable. You should find the stirrup length you need.”

Something else to think about is that you will probably hit more balls in a 20-minute session than you would in a month of practice games, and at least twice as many as you would

stick and balling.

“Like any other form of exercise, overdoing it can cause more harm than good,” Linfoot explained. “It will cause, not just physical harm, but repetition of an incorrect or less efficient manner will create inefficiencies to a greater degree.”

There are a few common mistakes players make with their bodies when they attempt to strike the ball. For example, some people may not even realize how much motion their body has during the swing. Linfoot often sees people attack the ball with their swing: their head goes down and forward, their butt goes back, shoulders dive toward the ball and the mallet hand retrieves back to their face instead of them pulling their hand to the desired target.

Work to have as little motion as possible with your head from the time your mallet moves toward the ball until the ball has left.

“Consistent controlled hitting requires an understanding that your body should move as little as possible during the swing,” Linfoot said. “Also, the swing speed should not accelerate. When riding a horse, your swing speed at contact with the ball is determined by the amount of time the horse’s foot is on the ground.”

Bad habits are hard to break, so it is better to have a knowledgeable individual working with you in a hitting cage to ensure you are using good techniques. Otherwise, you will be repeating bad hitting techniques and that will carry over when you are on the playing field.

Linfoot says that if people want to understand more about hitting, watch the head movements of the best players when they hit the ball.

“Their head doesn’t move. Once the mallet is in position to strike the ball,

unless the ball changes flight, their head does not change,” he said. “They might turn their body along with their face, but their face doesn’t go up or down, in or out, forward or back.”

Another mistake players make is they don’t position the ball where they will have the most effective manner to hit it. Generally, they put the ball too far forward to hit an offside forehand shot.

“One of the major aspects I would have somebody work on in the cage is ball position,” Linfoot said.

When making an offside forehand shot, ideally the ball should be in line with your stirrup iron when you’re just sitting in the saddle, and, for an offside backshot, you want the ball four inches behind your knee.

For the nearside forehand, the ball

When you watch good players, they keep their bodies still while swinging and control ball distance, things you can practice in the hitting cage.

should be four inches farther in front of your knee than on the offside since your shoulder will likely be four inches in front of your knee when you rotate your torso, and you want the ball directly under the shoulder. For the nearside backshot, contact the ball when it is directly under the outside of your left foot.

You can also work on controlling your swing for a desired distance. When you watch good players, like Adolfo Cambiaso or Facundo Pieres, very seldom do you see them swing as if they are trying to crush the ball. They control each shot they make, because hitting the ball to nowhere is just that. The less yardage you want, the more you drop your hands before starting the swing so the arc of the swing is smaller. Distance and power are

controlled by the arc of the swing and how far you are attempting to drive the head of the mallet through the ball. Hitters have large arcs to their swing and drive the head of the mallet through the entire ball. Runners have small arcs to their swing and hit only partially through the ball. The smaller the arc, the quicker the swing because you have less time. The cage allows you to get an understanding of these two forms of hitting.

A full swing starts with your hand level with your shoulder. To create the most power, don’t just try to make contact with the ball, hit through the ball, which requires good follow-through. Often, players attempting to create power, swing too fast and pull the mallet hand back to their face before the swing is completely finished. This

David Lominska

compromises follow-through. Ideally, you want to imagine the entire mallet going to the same place as the ball. All shots are basically the same as a standard offside forehand shot. All you’re doing is either changing directional swing of the mallet or the position of your body and the ball. If you can get the forehand shot down on the offside, then you can do the other shots.

“Basically, when you finish the forehand shot, your follow-through puts you in a position to make a

Finally, when making a neckshot, so many times you see a player’s hand and shoulder behind their hip. If you truly want to make a 90-degree shot from right to left, position the ball directly under the horse’s throat latch. Position your shoulder as close as possible over that spot and point the mallet head directly where you wish the ball to travel.

Generally, on a stationary horse, the amateur’s number one shot is the 45-degree neckshot. If they put the ball where it is supposed to be—under the horse’s neck,—they put their body where it is supposed to be and make the swing. Their hand and swing are forced to be almost perfect because the horse’s neck stops them from doing things wrong.

On a moving horse, making an angular shot of more than 45 degrees requires you to ride the horse in a manner other than a straight line. Extreme angles require finesse in both horsemanship and hitting. When attempting to make an angled shot, be sure you aren’t turning the mallet in your hand to create the angle.

The hitting cage can be a useful tool to build your hitting skills only if you have proper technique. Again, it is best to have an instructor there with you to correct any mistakes.

Kerri Kerley

backshot. And when you get through making a backshot, you are in position to make a forehand shot,” Linfoot explained.

Be sure you are looking at the correct side of the mallet head when making a backshot. Some players look at the front of the mallet and under their armpit instead of over the back of their elbow. On the nearside, look at the knuckle side of your hand for the forehand and the palm side of your hand for the backshot. It is the mirror image of the offside.

“I feel strongly that once a player creates a poor habit, it is most difficult to change to a better outcome,”Linfoot said. “If you wish to improve your hitting, get coaching from an established individual who can help you in this area.”

Corky Linfoot has been bringing people into the game of polo for nearly 50 years. A former 7-goal player, he won two U.S. Open and four Pacific Coast Open titles, among many international tournament wins. He has coached several teams and, with his wife Kathy, teaches polo clinics throughout the year. They have also trained and sold several top performing polo horses.

A full swing starts with your hand level with your shoulder.

TENDON TROUBLE

Early diagnosis and treatment vital to success

With John Pigott, DVM, MS, DACVS

With most tendon injuries, walking, stretching and controlled exercise are helpful to keep the healing tissue as elastic as possible.

Tendons are a structure that connect muscle to bone. They are made to move and stretch during exercise. Generally, injuries occur when there is some type of overload in that area. Sometimes there can be inflammation in the tendon from wear and tear or chronic repetitive use, especially in higher-end performance horses.

Anytime you have horses galloping close to one another, there is also a risk of tendon trauma, which can cause inflammation and bruising.

If a horse has inflammation in the tendon and that load continues, it can make them predisposed to fiber tearing.

You want healing tissue to be as elastic as possible. If a tear occurs, scar tissue does not stretch as well as healthy tendon or ligament tissue, so the risk of reinjury increases.

Dr. John Pigott, the hospital director at Cornell Ruffian Equine Specialist in Elmont, New York, discussed tendon injuries and treatments.

Can you explain the different types of tendons?

The superficial digital flexor tendon is the most superficial tendon running down the backside of the distal limb. If you are looking at the back of the horse’s leg between the carpus (knee) and the fetlock (on the front leg) or the tarsus (hock) and the fetlock (on the back leg) , the superficial digital flexor tendon is the first one you will see. It has almost a semi-C shape to it.

The deep digital flexor tendon is slightly more oval, almost circular in some instances, and is the next one in.

The deep digital flexor tendon goes down and attaches to the backside of the coffin bone, whereas the superficial digital flexor tendon branches in the back of the pastern and attaches on the back of the pastern bones. That has functional implications as far as how each tendon interacts with the horse in normal locomotion. With severe injury of one of those structures, clinically they present differently because of the different attachment points.

Are horses with bad conformation more at risk for tendon injuries?

Absolutely. When it comes to flexor tendons, horses that are over at the knee can be contracted in some of their flexor tendons.

Some young horses grow really quickly and their tendons can’t adjust, predisposing them to tendon injuries. And horses that are a bit straight through the hock and stifle have a bit of a drop in their fetlock, predisposing them to suspensory injuries.

How can you prevent some types of tendon injuries?

Always try to work on as good a footing as possible. Slippery footing increases the risk of tendon injuries. For horses that are not fit, don’t do too

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much too fast when the horse’s body is still trying to catch up and redevelop some of the tone in the muscles. As it is going through that process, if you push the limit too quickly, they could overstretch some of those areas that could lead to tendon injury.

Anything that involves increased load on the limb can result in tendon injuries. Performance horses are susceptible to tendon injuries in the foot, particularly to the deep digital flexor tendon. It is one of the most frequently diagnosed issues and is most likely repetitive load.

Do bandages and tendon boots help protect the tendon?

Bandages and boots probably offer more external protection than truly preventing tendon ligament injury, but there is probably a low degree of support. If you have a horse that overreaches with its hind legs or has a circular flight pattern where they

hit the inside of their ankles with their other foot, boots are a good idea.

What are the signs that your horse might have a tendon injury?

Lameness is one of the first signs, but that is not all the cases. You can have an obvious tendon injury, but the horse may not be significantly lame or not lame at all.

Depending on the location, they may have visible external swelling, particularly injury to the superficial digital flexor tendon or the deep digital flexor tendon.

With tendon injuries in the foot, there may be not clinical signs except lameness. You can’t see swelling because it is contained within the hoof capsule. The same applies for tendons that might be present in the upper part of the limb, that might not be as obvious to see because they are under different muscles and pieces of anatomy that prevent it from being

as superficial as in the back of the cannon bone area.

Would there be heat in the area?

Heat is very common and the hallmark of inflammation. So, heat, pain and swelling are all very typical.

When you notice inflammation, what can you do to prevent further injury?

Once you notice swelling, the best thing to do is to stop working the horse until you know what’s going on. Again, a mild tendon injury may manifest as only a little bit of swelling, but they are not lame on it. If you continue to work the horse, it can turn into a much bigger problem. Recognize that even a little bit of swelling is important to investigate.

In the meantime, there is nothing wrong with cold-hosing, icing it or applying a stable bandage just for a little bit of pressure. Some people like to poultice it and that is fine too.

Tendons

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With some tendon injuries, inflammation may be present, but the horse may not be lame.

If it’s appropriate for your horse and the rest of their health and veterinary status, giving an anti-inflammatory per your veterinarian’s advice is fine in a lot of cases as well.

If the swelling goes away the next day and looks totally normal, you can feel better about that case. Study that to say, if I do some light exercise, does the swelling return? If the swelling comes back, it is a red flag that you should have this evaluated by a veterinarian.

What tools are used to diagnose tendon injuries?

Ultrasound is the hallmark of tendon ligament diagnosis in most areas of the horse except inside the hoof capsule. You can’t accurately ultrasound inside the hoof capsule, so MRI is the best thing for any kind of tendon or ligament injury inside the hoof capsule.

That being said, there are plenty of cases where ultrasound can give you an idea that maybe there’s an injury in that area, even around the fetlock, for example. But, sometimes the ultrasound will underestimate the degree of actual injury that is there. MRI can really elucidate the full extent of the injury.

Are tendon injuries more likely to occur in the front legs?

Overall, in sport horses we probably see tendon injuries more frequently in the front legs, but I’ve certainly seen plenty in the hind legs as well.

How do you treat tendon injuries?

Treatment depends on the severity of the injury. If you have mild tendonitis, for example, where there is inflammation in the tendon, but no obvious fiber tearing or disruption on ultrasound, frequently treating the

inflammation will help. Sometimes, that is icing and a little bit of rest from exercise; sometimes that is anti-inflammatories with something like Bute, Banamine or Equioxx; sometimes that is a topical antiinflammatory we use called Surpass; and sometimes its poulticing the leg. All of those things focus on the same idea, which is to try and remove inflammation from that area.

Additional therapies include shockwave therapy, laser therapy and high-frequency ultrasound therapy. Of those, shockwave and laser are probably the most common, but there are plenty of practices that use highfrequency ultrasound therapy. They target slightly different things.

The analgesic or painkilling effects of shockwave are well documented. There is some thought that you can get a bit of stimulatory effect in the tissue by creating almost microtrauma and then stimulating that area to heal.

Cold laser is the same idea. There are different classes of laser, one through four. Typically, class four lasers are higher intensity. The higher the class the more power and penetration strength, meaning the more energy they provide to the area.

What if the injury involves a tear?

If you are dealing with fiber tearing, it all comes down to severity--mild, moderate or severe. Everything I’ve mentioned still applies with a severe tendon injury, but then you consider some kind of orthobiologic. Platelet rich plasma (PRP) or stem cells are frequently utilized for tendon ligament injuries.

Platelet rich plasma is basically a blood draw. You take the blood, place it in a specialized centrifuge to concentrate the platelets in the blood, and then inject a smaller

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volume of that into the lesion. There are a lot of great growth factors and anti-inflammatory properties inside platelets that help with healing.

You can get stem cells from a number of sources. The most common are from bone marrow or fat from the horse. You take a sample of the horse’s bone marrow, which are the most tried and tested stem cells, and send it to a lab. It takes three to four weeks to isolate, grow and expand stem cells in the lab and then they send you back a dose of those stem cells to inject back into the lesion.

Some people will inject platelet rich plasma in the acute phase to help draw inflammation out and then come back and inject stem cells three or four weeks later, once some of the acute inflammation is out.

The reality is, for most prominent tendon ligament injuries, you are looking at a significant time off for a lot of those horses. There is evidence to support the use of both platelet rich plasma and stem cells, but clients often think its going to do a lot more than it does. There are some antiinflammatory factors and it helps to improve the initial quality of healing, but it is not going to speed healing or regenerate new ligament or tendon tissue.

Is surgery an option?

Surgery is very much dependent on the location of the injury. It there is injury to a tendon inside, for example, the digital sheath, we can go in there with a small camera and clean up any frayed tendon fibers. If you leave frayed fibers inside a synovial cavity, you will have ongoing inflammation and delayed healing.

Will surgery make the tendon like new?

Anytime you are dealing with injury, plus or minus surgery, we are worried

The deep digital flexor tendon (shown) goes down the back of the leg and attaches to the back of the coffin bone in the foot. The superficial digital flexor tendon lays on top of it and runs from below the knee or hock to the pastern bone.

about scar tissue. You are never going to make the tendon completely normal with surgery or any product you inject in there. Depending on the severity, you can get pretty close in a lot of cases. There will always be some degree of scar tissue.

Whenever you do surgery in an area of the tendon sheath, you always have to evaluate if there will be surgical trauma just from going in there and will it increase the likelihood of scar tissue forming in that area versus the perceived benefit you get from cleaning up that area surgically. You weigh the pros and cons when deciding if it makes sense to surgically approach something or not.

Are there any other options?

There is a new product that we started using a couple of years ago called

10X. Basically, it is an ultrasound debridement device. It is the size of a medium gauge needle with a little needle inside of it. A rapid pace needle goes in and out, debriding away any damaged tendon or ligament tissue, while injecting a little bit of fluid and sucking up damaged tendon fibers. I have done that on a number of more prominent injuries and the results have been really encouraging. Frequently, we combine that with some kind of biologic, whether that is PRP or stem cell. It is something that can be done standing with just some local anesthetic. It is always done ultrasound guided so we know exactly where the lesion is.

Theoretically, it is not supposed to damage the normal fibers of the tendon or ligament and only targets the damaged, abnormal fibers.

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Is turning them out and doing nothing an option?

Without knowing the extent of the injury, you may give the horse eight months off and maybe it only needs 30 days off. Imaging will help define the severity of the injury.

If the injury needs treatment, early intervention is better. Once there is a bunch of scar tissue, your hands are tied as far as realistic options for treatment and outcome.

What is involved in rehab?

Ninety-nine out of 100 cases, we want the horse walking, stretching and doing controlled exercise. We want them moving from really early on in the process. You want the healing tissue to be as elastic as possible. Rehab and physical therapy generally include controlled exercise for a prescribed amount of time, then a gradual return to riding exercise. Some people like to use treadmills or underwater treadmills in their rehab protocols. Controlled exercise and load on the injured area is critically important throughout the process.

How does shoeing play a roll?

Shoeing comes into play, especially with injuries in the foot, pastern and even the back of the cannon bone region. Shoeing can be protective and help support some of these injuries as the horse is getting back to exercise. Shoeing, foot balance and foot biomechanics are a critical part of soft tissue injuries. How the load goes up the horse’s leg is important, and trimming and shoeing is ultimately intertwined with that.

How can you prevent reinjury?

The best way to prevent reinjury is to optimize the healing after the first injury. It is all about minimizing scar tissue and keeping it as elastic as

possible.

Exercise modification for the really bad injuries is more important than just icing it or bandaging after exercise. Recognize that the horse had a bad injury and pick and choose how much and when it is played. Modify the athletic expectation of the horse by decreasing frequent loads and potentially overstretching that tendon.

If the horse does reinjure the area, will that end its career?

It depends. Some horses can reinjure it, but it may be much less severe the second time. Some horses may tear a bit of scar tissue and it might have a shorter recovery period. If you have the same type and level of injury as the first time, a change of job is sometimes indicated for those horses.

How long does healing usually take?

This is where imaging really helps. Imaging and level of lameness come

Ultrasound

into play with accurately defining the severity of the injury. Some horses are 30 to 60 days, some are four to six months and some are a year plus. The imaging can define the extent of the injury and dictate how much time off you need.

I recommend following the healing on ultrasound, sometimes as frequently as every week or two when the horse is returning to exercise. Sometimes you will get clinical changes before the horse tells you the area is sore. During rehab, sometimes I’ll follow up with ultrasound every month or two or three, depending on how fast I expect some of the changes to occur.

If a prepurchase exam shows signs of an old tendon injury, is that a deal-breaker?

Not always. Getting an ultrasound is important because otherwise you are just guessing about what it is.

It also depends on the athletic expectation for the horse.

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FRIENDLY COMPETITION Kentucky team travels to Lahore, Pakistan

A team of players from Kentucky recently traveled to Pakistan to play polo at the Lahore Polo Club in the northeast region of the province of Punjab. It is the second largest city in Pakistan.

Midstates Circuit Governor Jorge Vasquez received the invitation from a friend whom he had taught to play almost 20 years ago. While the student’s family had been involved in polo in Pakistan for a long time, he had never really played. Vasquez taught him the game and when he moved from Kentucky back to Pakistan, he contacted Vasquez and extended an invitation for a men’s team to come for a visit.

Vasquez and Carter Carnegie from Commonwealth Polo Club (Lexington) and Will Boland and Mike Frank from Louisville Polo Club (Louisville) flew to Pakistan in November.

“It was one of the most incredible trips I’ve been on polo wise. They were great hosts, and the horses were really good,” Vasquez said. “It was cool to see how much polo culture is there.”

When the team arrived, they stick and balled the horses on the first day and chose what horses they wanted to play.

Overall, Vasquez said he was impressed with the horses, who were well cared for. Some of the horses

are bred there, some are off-thetrack Thoroughbreds and others are imported from Argentina.

They played at the Lahore Polo Club, which dates back to 1886 and has over 400 stalls, a clubhouse, an exercise track, an arena and three grass polo fields. There is also a tack shop with boot and mallet makers, along with three restaurants.

With many members, the club has a waiting list for those wanting to join. Some players ship in because there are not enough stalls at the club.

Aside from polo, the visitors went sightseeing to places like the Lahore Fort, Himalayan salt mines, some mosques and a private club in Nurpur Noon.

“There is so much history in that part of the world and they are obviously very proud of their culture,” Vasquez said. “It was great to be there and play polo on their historic polo fields.”

In the first of two exhibition matches Lexington took on Lahore (Alman Jalil Azam, Faisal Shahzad, Taimur Mawaz Khan, Qadeer Ashfaq), ending in a 5-5 tie. For Lexington, Boland and Vasquez scored two goals apiece while Frank scored one. For Pakistan, Azam and Shehzad scored two each and Mawaz Khan scored one.

The second game had two Pakistanis and two Americans on each team. Lahore had Adil Tiwana, Carnegie, Vasquez and Taimur Ali Malik, while Lexington was Frank, Boland, Abu Baker Siddique and Adil Sultan Rao. Lahore prevailed 4-3.

Pakistan hopes to send a team for a reciprocal visit this summer and the Americans were invited to come back again later this year.

Vasquez looks forward to a return trip. “They wined us and dined us like you wouldn’t believe. We had the feasts of a lifetime, and the food was incredible,” he said.

Mike Frank, Will Boland, Carter Carnegie and Jorge Vasquez

LEARNING THE ROPES Scholastic players attend annual polo clinic in CA

By Helena Bache

Jared not only pointed out mistakes, but stopped to talk about how we could have improved our play. Even weeks after the clinic, my team and I joked that we can practically hear him guiding us through his set plays.

Sheldon has a way of making the clinic not only enjoyable, but memorable. Although I have attended the clinic three times, each year I am

Every December begins the same: the sweet desert air mixed with the voices of a group of interscholastic athletes, ready with excitement for the annual Jared Sheldon arena clinic at South Bay Polo Club in Gilroy, California. This year, players from South Bay and Lakeside interscholastic teams participated. The clinic spans three days, each split into two parts.

The first morning, Sheldon set up drills, focusing on the horse before ball control. He showed us how to utilize the horse while being gentle and considerate and in better communication with our mounts, something he demonstrated on one of his tournament horses.

Practicing everything from switching leads to stopping and turning, Sheldon gauged each player’s skill level before moving onto ball control exercises.

He coaches firmly yet kindly, making sure the learning process is valuable and memorable. After, we connected with each other during a group lunch before playing afternoon practice chukkers.

Sheldon divided the players into even teams. He umpired and coached under an ever-scrutinizing eye while Kathy Linfoot videoed the chukkers. Occasionally, he stopped the action to point out areas someone needed to improve upon, or used mistakes as learning opportunities for the entire group. His feedback is often directed to individual players as he amazingly remembered their similar mistakes earlier in the day.

We gave the horses a break the next morning while we reviewed the chukkers from the day before. Laughing at the silly plays we made,

able to build upon the last, increasing my knowledge and ability in a very short time frame. Since Sheldon knows me and most of the players well, he builds upon our skills rather than repeating what we learned the previous year.

As the clinic went on, he increased the difficulty, honing in on skills specific to each individual. I am amazed how he divides his attention to make the clinic valuable for each player. He also cultivates cohesion, reminding us that your only friends while in the arena are your teammates.

We are all bummed when it comes to an end and are looking forward to next year’s clinic. Thank you to the USPA, South Bay’s Francesca Finato and Jared Sheldon for making this possible.

Lee Mullins, Helena Csiki, Faris Hanna, Woody Dunham, Luca Abboud, Lili Busch, Helena Bache, Jens Lermusiaux, Ava Abboud, Emily Rubin, Matthew Werner, Fae Krauskopf, Morgan Manos and Jared Sheldon

HIGH HONORS I/I players, supporter recognized at ceremony

Several students and a supporter were honored by the Polo Training Foundation at the National Museum of Polo in Lake Worth, Florida, on Feb. 19. The ceremony recognized outstanding student players at the intercollegiate and interscholastic level. In addition, a lifetime achievement award was introduced.

The inaugural Daniel W. Colhoun Jr. Lifetime Achievement award was given to its namesake, Dan Colhoun, who played an enormous role in growing the intercollegiate and interscholastic program, including creating the I/I awards and establishing the Girls’ National Interscholastic Championship in 1991. Colhoun currently serves on the USPA Armed Forces Committee and is a PTF honorary director. Previously, he served as USPA treasurer and a member of the board of governors. He was awarded Arena Umpire of the Year (1992), PTF Distinguished Benefactor (2003), Hugo Dalmar Trophy (2002) and Gen. George S. Patton trophy (2015).

Dan Colhoun

Daniel W. Colhoun Jr.

Lifetime Achievement Award

Elise Pardue - Lakeside Polo Club

Lynn Thompson Interscholastic Player of the Year

Maya Tantuwaya - U.C. Davis

Daniel J. Wallace Jr. Intercollegiate Player of the Year

Will Mudra - Houston Polo Club

Russell A. Sheldon Interscholastic Player of the Year

Parker Pearce - University of Virginia Stephen A. Orthwein Intercollegiate Player of the year

David Murrell

David Murrell

Kaile Roos

Kaile Roos

Alex Pacheco

SLUSH FUN Unseasonably warm temps force penalty shootout

With six teams in place for the highly-anticipated Snow Polo World Cup in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Jan. 26-28, warm weather left puddles on the frozen lake. With the safety of the horses and players in mind, CEO and founder Reto Gaudenzi opted for a series of penalty shootouts to determine a winner.

After weeks of below-freezing temperatures, ice on the frozen lake measured over 15 inches thick, however, the week of the tournament temperatures were close to 50 degrees, melting the surface. Deeming conditions unsafe for galloping horses, players took their turns from the penalty line instead of playing chukkers.

Each player shot two penalties from 30 yards and two from 50 yards. On a sunny day with 25,000 spectators in

attendance, the pressure was on.

In the final round, World Polo League (Melissa Ganzi, Adrian Laplacette Jr., Alejandro Novillo Astrada, James Mann) edged FlexJet (Santos Bollini, Marc Ganzi, Martin Jauregui, Nic Roldan), 11-9.

In the match for third place, St. MoritzTop of the World (Jonathan TidswellPretorius, Tito Gaudenzi, Pelon Stirling, Niclas Johansson/Pelayo Berazadi) defeated Perrier-Jouët (Nick Van Oppen, Philipp Mueller, Nacho Gonzalez, Hissam Hyder, Max Charlton), 14-11. The players added some flair, using backhands, nearside forehands and air shots to score.

In the final, Mackage (Lidia Gauss, Jack Hyde, Isidro Strada, Ryan Pemble) prevailed over The Kusnacht Practice (Eduardo Greghi, Hugo Taylor,

Gonzalo Ferrari, Nico San Roman), 109. Jack Hyde was named MVP as the only player to make all his penalties. Ginny, a 7-year-old New Zealand mare ridden by Ryan Pemble, was named Best Looking Pony.

In addition to the polo action, players and guests enjoyed a sold-out gala dinner at Badrutt’s Palace Hotel and danced until dawn in the King’s Club.

Pelon Stirling

A sold-out crowd of 25,000 watched the penalty shootout.

fotoswiss Images of Polo

OUR APOLOGIES! Tony Coppola celebrates 55 years of USPA membership

In the last issue, we honored those members who have been with the association for 50 or more years. Regrettable, we did not include Tony Coppola, who has been a member since 1969.

How could we forget? Coppola has devoted his life to the sport. He is currently a USPA governor-at-large and a member of the Executive, Horse Registry, Safety, Sunday Field and Tournament Committees. Further, he

is a member of the USPA Sunday Field LLC and NPC Hospitality Operations Inc. He served as USPA president from 2017 to 2022 and has been a member of the board of governors since 2007. He also serves as president of the Polo Training Foundation, vice president of the National Museum of Polo and a council member and member of the Executive Committee of the Federation of International Polo.

He received the PTF’s Distinguished Benefactor award in 2011 and Volunteer of the Year in 2003.

Tony Coppola

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

Young players join 10-goal champs in Women’s Open

By Caroline Blang • Photos by Tatiana Frayssinet

Hanan Fadil and Naomi Tachibana Marlough, both 17, are the newest additions to the La Fe women’s polo team, playing and training alongside lifelong role models and 2023 U.S. Open Women’s Polo Champions Hazel Jackson, Hope Arellano and Pamela Flanagan Devaleix.

“Say yes to every opportunity the polo community offers,” says Fadil. Nodding in agreement, teammate Tachibana Marlough adds, “The polo community is so generous and

Naomi Tachibana Marlough

Naomi Tachibana Marlough

accommodating; everyone wants to help you. Polo has a lot to give, and there are so many different paths to take to reach your goals.”

Flanagan Devaleix has been instrumental in the strengthening of women’s polo in the United States. Though unable to play this year, she felt it important to continue to support the tournament and created a oncein-a-lifetime opportunity for two young players to compete alongside Jackson and Arellano.

Intent on setting the girls up for success, individual coaching and strategy sessions with Julio Arellano and a personal trainer were organized in the months leading up the tournament. Once in Florida, they participated in 16-goal mixed practices, allowing them to try over two dozen horses to get properly mounted.

“We worked really hard to get them up to speed and grow their game in a very short period of time,” explained Flanagan Devaleix.

Both girls’ polo journeys began recently, coinciding with the disruptions of the 2020 pandemic. When summer plans were abruptly canceled, Fadil pivoted and secured an opportunity as a working student in Virginia under Kylie Sheehan’s guidance. Hours were spent on sets, riding and learning the basics. Fadil

was then introduced to Lou Lopez at Virginia Polo (Charlottesville, Virginia), where she now proudly represents the Virginia Juniors team. Reflecting on her journey, Fadil expressed gratitude for the supportive environment at Virginia Polo.

“Without Virginia Polo, I wouldn’t be able to play polo year-round. Being

Hanan Fadil, right, plays at Virginia Polo, which helped elevate her game.

Hanan Fadil

surrounded by collegiate players is such a good influence, and practicing with both the women’s varsity and club teams has significantly elevated my game,” she said.

Tachibana Marlough was introduced to polo three and a half years ago through the Yale Polo program, where she quickly advanced from the junior varsity to the open varsity I/I teams. She credits instructor Paul Kuhn’s guidance at NYC Polo (Patterson, New York) with her recent success.

Tachibana Marlough now spends her summers at Mashomack Polo Club (Pine Plains, New York) under Michel Dorignac’s mentorship. This past year, she met Flanagan Devaleix field side, leading to her eventual position on the La Fe team. She recalls a pivotal moment when Flanagan Devaleix invited her to play in a 12-goal game, which eventually led to an opportunity in the U.S. Women’s Open.

Flanagan Devaleix asked Tachibana Marlough’s parents less than 24 hours

before she jumped on unfamiliar horses and played at a level she had never played before. Little did she know at the time, Flanagan Devaleix was watching to see if she would be a good fit to play the U.S. Open Women’s Polo Championship with the La Fe team.

Tachibana Marlough leaned on the Dorignac family to source horses for the prestigious tournament.

“I love their horses. They are unlike anything I have ever ridden,” said Tachibana Marlough.

Fadil and Tachibana Marlough have both participated in I/I and NYTS events throughout the year. They emphasize the importance of the NYTS program as a space for junior players to come together and grow.

Tachibana Marlough says it is the highlight of the summer, emphasizing its significance in providing opportunities for players like her who may have limited access to junior programs at their home clubs.

Fadil, meanwhile, sees the tournaments as a platform to mentor younger players, regretting only that she didn’t start playing sooner now that she is approaching the age limit of the program.

Throughout the interview, Fadil and Tachibana Marlough couldn’t help but smile when discussing their veteran teammates.

Fadil remarked, “Being around them is surreal, and playing with them is even more so.”

The juniors’ faces light up at the prospect of inspiring future generations of polo players, similar to the inspiration they draw from players like Jackson and Arellano.

As they continue their polo journey, Fadil and Tachibana Marlough look forward to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead, eager to make their mark in the world of women’s polo.

La Fe’s Hazel Jackson, Hope Arellano, Pamela Flanagan Devaleix, Hanan Fadil and Naomi Tachibana Marlough

TEXAN THREE-PEAT

Houston’s dominance earns third consecutive NIS title

Photos by David Murrell

Six teams representing top youth arena talent from across the country arrived at Brookshire Polo Club (Brookshire, Texas), on March 8, for their chance to claim the coveted Open National Interscholastic Championship.

Battling over three days of competition, the finale on March 10, pitted two-time defending champions and current Central regional winners Houston (Judah Altic, Lily Lequerica, Joe Bob Lequerica, Tomas Tejera, Asa Gangjee) against Wisconsin’s wildcard contender St. Croix (Robert Pizarro, Sophia Pizarro, Camila Pizarro, Chance Miller).

Featuring nine sibling competitors throughout the tournament, the finale included the experienced duo of Houston’s Joe Bob and Lily Lequerica going head-to-head against the trio of St. Croix’s Robert, Sophia and Camila Pizarro. Excelling in open play, the Lequericas combined for nine goals, as Houston’s hot start and formidable defense ultimately earned it the Open National Interscholastic Championship for the third year.

Kicking off quarterfinal action, a contest between the tournament’s two newcomers resulted in St. Croix securing their spot in the semifinals over fellow wildcard entry Waiki’i (Charles Tang, Benjamin Tang, Ethan

Houston’s Asa Gangjee, Judah Altic, coaches Mark Prinsloo and Shane Rice, Joe Bob Lequerica and Lily Lequerica

Matsui, Paxton Best). In the second match of Wednesday’s doubleheader, Western regional champion Lakeside (Faris Hanna, Kylie Matthews, Luca Abboud, Cameron Munteanu, Sebastian Lopez) prevailed after going head-to-head against Southeastern regional champions Maryland (Jonathan Dingus, Kylie Williamson, Mya Quarcoopome, Russell Calkins). St. Croix faced Northeastern regional champion Yale (Naomi Tachibana Marlough, Sophia DeAngelis, Malachi Light, Phillip DeAngelis) in the first semifinal of the tournament. Tied at halftime, St. Croix broke through in the third chukker to score four unanswered goals, ultimately sending the team from Wisconsin to their first tournament final.

In a rematch of last year’s final, Houston was pitted against Lakeside for the remaining finalist spot. Leading by two goals entering the third, Houston separated themselves from their familiar foes in the second half. Assembling an impressive run of six unanswered goals, a dominant Houston galloped their way back to the championship game.

Houston’s Joe Bob Lequerica and St. Croix’s Robert Pizarro

Gangjee said, “We put in a lot of work to be as fluid of a team as possible. We were lucky enough to play multiple very fast-paced games against other teams leading up to the nationals. This allowed us to get used to the fast nature of national games, so we could perform our best under pressure. Also, practicing frequently allowed our team to gain a more homogeneous play style so we could work better as a team and cover one another’s weaknesses.”

Assembling for the finale on a crisp Sunday morning, the two determined teams quickly turned-up the heat in the arena. St. Croix’s trio of Pizarros took to the saddle, with Camila striking first for the wildcard team. Joe Bob Lequerica fired back for the team in green, but St. Croix’s Robert Pizzaro quickly answered to keep the score tied 2-all. Finishing the chukker with a statement, back-to-back goals

from Lily Lequerica allowed Houston to take a 4-2 advantage.

The second chukker was a game of defense, as both teams worked to quell their opponents’ opportunities. Limiting St. Croix to a single conversion from Robert Pizarro, Joe Bob Lequerica would add two goals to the scoreboard, giving Houston a 6-3 halftime lead.

“St. Croix is very similar to our team dynamics-wise,” noted Lily Lequerica. “We met before the final to watch film and we knew we had to keep the ball away from Robbie Pizarro as much as possible. I was tasked with lining up with Robbie whenever he went in the lineup on their set plays, and most of the time, Joe Bob would send me to pick him. We also knew we had to really capitalize when we had our [Houston Polo Club] horses. We knew we could beat them in transitions on

our horses, so we made sure to move the ball a lot during those chukkers.”

Strong riding and quick mallet work opened the second half, keeping it close, but Joe Bob Lequerica began to pad Houston’s lead, contributing four goals in the third chukker. Remaining in striking distance, two conversions from Robert Pizarro allowed St. Croix to keep themselves within four goals at the end of the third.

St. Croix kick-started the last chukker on a penalty shot off the mallet of the team’s leading scorer Robert Pizzaro. Securing two penalty goals in response, Joe Bob Lequerica hit his fourth conversion of the day, as older sister Lily drilled a final goal to secure the 13-7 win.

The last time a team won three consecutive titles was Toronto, from 2006 to 2009.

St. Croix’s Chance Miller, left, comes in to challenge Houston’s Lily Lequerica.

Altic said, “It felt unreal winning nationals three times in a row. It meant the world to me getting to play with Lily one last time before she goes to college. Lily and Joe Bob are two amazing, devoted and hard-working polo players.”

Leading Houston with 10 goals in the final, Joe Bob added, “A lot of hard work allowed for the three-peat this year. It means a lot to me because my sister has always been my best teammate and we play so well together. It felt really good to send her off with a win.”

Gangjee added, “This was the culmination of many hours of hard work. We pushed ourselves extremely hard to get here and are very proud of everything we achieved. As the interscholastic season comes to a close, we are looking ahead to next year. We hope to continue to improve and fight for the national title next year.”

All-stars were awarded to Joe Bob

Lequerica (Houston), Robert Pizarro (St. Croix), Lily Lequerica (Houston) and Sophia DeAngelis (Yale). The Sportsmanship Award was presented to Robert Pizzaro for his continued positive attitude, fairness and support for his peers on and off the field. Demonstrating consistent riding ability and equine care throughout the week, Joe Bob Lequerica received the Horsemanship Award. Best Playing Pony went to Jaguar, owned by George Dill, and Best Playing String was awarded to Houston Polo Club.

Horse providers for the tournament included Mark Prinsloo, Houston Polo Club, George Dill, Texas A&M University Polo Club and Javier Insua.

Ending her final year of interscholastic polo with a championship, Lily Lequerica said, “My I/I experience was nothing short of amazing. I got to play with and against close friends, got to ride some amazing horses and was a part of two national championship wins. I wish my team the best of luck in years to come and to always rise

above the obstacles in their path, may that be difficult horses, tough competition or just a bad day in the arena. I’d advise them to listen to our coaches Mark Prinsloo and Shane Rice. They know what they’re doing!”

A regular competitor in the National Youth Tournament Series, Lily Lequerica elaborated on the difference between I/I and NYTS.

“NYTS is great to play outdoor polo with teammates you’ve never played with before, but it’s just a weeklong tournament,” she said. “I/I polo gives a better opportunity to build relationships with your teammates all season through practices and team meetings. The relationships I have with my Houston I/I teammates are lifelong friendships that were built through arena polo.”

Girls’ National Interscholastic Championship

Played concurrently to the Open National Interscholastic Championship, the Girls’ National Interscholastic Championship saw

Maryland’s Kylie Beard, Sierra Blevins, coach Kelly Wells, Rory Knox and Izzy Brockett

Maryland capture its 10th national title with a final score of 23-1.

Several days of competition culminated inside the boards of Brookshire’s arena, with Maryland (Kylie Beard, Sierra Blevins, Aurora “Rory” Knox, Isabelle “Izzy” Brockett) and Hillside (Olivia Schmidt, Kendall Nackers, Kylie Lieven, Leilani “Lala” Biondich) going head-to-head in the final. In a stunning performance, Maryland dominated, allowing Hillside only one penalty conversion in the final chukker.

The girls’ competition kicked off with a quarterfinal match between Western regional winners, Maui (Jade Hiltbrand, Emily Coflin, Leah Melzer, Elizabeth Miranda) and St. Louis (Holly Goen, Bryn Swope-Bell, Winifred Branscum, Lillian Wardlaw, Kelsey Bray), that earned a spot as a wildcard team.

St. Louis opened the game with three consecutive goals and maintained a six-point lead by halftime. Matching each other goal-for-goal in the third chukker, St. Louis galloped away with

the lead in the fourth, tallying three unanswered goals to advance to the semifinals.

The semifinals pitted Northeastern regional winner Kingswood (Ava Croce, Finley Guenther, Brooke Henehan, Brynn Whitten) against Central regional winner Hillside. A game decided on penalties, Hillside’s Schmidt maintained precision from the penalty line, which ultimately secured the win and a trip to the final for the first time in the program’s history.

In the second semifinal, St. Louis faced Southeastern regional winner, Maryland. Maryland wasted no time with six unanswered goals in the first chukker and held the lead at halftime. In the second half, goals from Blevins, Brockett and Beard increased Maryland’s lead to eight, sending Maryland to the championship game with a final score of 15-7.

Blevins said, “We have made great progress over the season, from the way we talk as a team on the field and work together, to the way we have

progressed with our skills with the mallet and riding the horses.”

Ahead of Sunday’s final, Maryland finalized plans to execute specific team plays against newcomers Hillside.

“We wanted to dominate every chukker and be supportive of one another,” explained Brockett.

The young ladies had also been preparing throughout the year, anticipating their appearance in the championship.

For the first time in Hillside’s history, the Midwesterners entered the arena for the final, a proud moment for coach Margie Paur.

Maryland held Hillside scoreless until the last chukker when Schmidt took to the penalty line. Blevins ended the game as the top scorer with nine goals, helping to secure Maryland’s first national title in five years.

Beard said, “I was feeling so excited, but also, I felt like a big weight was off my shoulders, like all those early

Maryland’s Rory Knox outpaces Hillside’s Kendall Nackers in the final.

mornings and late nights paid off. I felt like the little girl who started at Kelly Well’s pony camps all those years ago would be so proud of where she is now.”

Beard and Blevins have played together over the last four years and represented Maryland during interscholastic competitions throughout their high school careers.

“This win means a lot because, as a team, we have lost in the finals three years in a row,” said Beard. “This was also Rory Knox’s last year and I really wanted her to graduate with a national title.”

The win marks another victory for Maryland coach Kelly Wells, who now holds the record for the most Girl’s National Interscholastic Championship wins—10 with Maryland and four with Garrison Forest School. The record includes 2001 with Garrison Forest when Brockett’s mother Arabella Brockett, née Knox, was on the team.

All-stars were awarded to Maryland’s

Blevins, Beard and Knox and Hillside’s Branscum. Blevins, the top scorer in the final, credited her fellow teammates for her scoreboard success.

“Even though I was the highest scorer in the final, my teammates were the ones to provide me the space and time I needed to succeed at scoring,” said Blevins. “I couldn’t do it without them, they sent up amazing passes, amazing backshots and we played as a team, not individually.”

The Sportsmanship Award was presented to St. Louis’ Kelsey Bray for her continued positive attitude, fairness and support for her peers in and out of the arena. Knox received the Horsemanship Award for her outstanding and consistent riding ability and attention to equine care throughout the competition. Winnie Branscum’s Vida was Best Playing Pony and was part of St. Louis’ Best Playing String.

“My experience in I/I has been phenomenal,” said Knox. “The best part about being an I/I player

and a member of the USPA is the bonds I have created, not just with my teammates, but also with my opponents. The I/I program has allowed me to travel across the United States and make friends at every stop along the way.”

Knox now looks ahead to the next phase of her I/I career: this fall, she will attend the University of Virginia, where she intends to continue her polo career and compete on the intercollegiate stage.

“This win means everything to me for my high school polo career. It is the goal that I have been working towards ever since Kelly put a mallet in my hand,” Knox said. “Winning a title for her has been my goal since I became a varsity player. Kelly provided me with the skills and drive to be a national champion and I am extremely lucky to have the opportunity to win a national championship under her tutelage.”

Winnie Branscum’s Vida was Best Playing Pony and part of St. Louis’ Best Playing String. Branscum, shown with her mother and coach Anne Branscum, was named an all-star.

CAMBIASO SHOWDOWN Valiente defends C.V. Whitney Cup title in father-versus-son battle

Photos by David Lominskia

The C.V. Whitney Cup kicked off the Gauntlet of Polo series, Feb. 9-25, at National Polo Center–Wellington in Wellington, Florida. Eight teams filled the rosters for the tournament, but as luck would have it, Adolfo Cambiaso faced his son Poroto in the final. After an impressive display of talent and quality horses from both teams, it was experience that won the day.

There is always level of excitement at the start of the Gauntlet, as fans get a glimpse of the new lineups and fortified strings and this year did not disappoint.

Preliminary matches got underway with defending champion Valiente taking on Coca-Cola. Gillian Johnston was back with her Coca Cola team after injuries kept her off the field last season. The team, with Polito Pieres, Keko Magrini and Julian de Lusarreta, showed well as it faced Bob Jornayvaz’s Valiente with Cambiaso, Peke Gonzalez and Paquito de Narvaez. A well-tuned Coca-Cola held the lead from start to finish.

Both teams played with substitutes in the first match with Magrini and de Narvaez on the sidelines. In fact, six of the

Adolfo Cambiaso faced his son Poroto in the C.V. Whitney Cup final.

eight teams used substitutes at some point throughout the month. Notably, Pilot’s Facundo Pieres was out with a back injury, returning for the semis of the consolation. For Park Place, Josh Escapite replaced Andrey Borodin throughout the tournament and the team switched between duos Jose Mierelles and Juan Britos and Toly Ulloa and Cody Ellis, assisting Hilario Ulloa.

La Fe’s Robi Bilbao fell in the consolation semifinal match and was replaced by Mackenzie Weisz. In the same match, Dutta Corps’ Tomas Garcia del Rio was replaced by Torito Ruiz. Out of an abundance of caution, Bilbao sat out the consolation final, as did teammate Fran Elizalde, who was suffering from a sore groin.

As the preliminaries progressed, Valiente found its groove in its second outing against Tamara, winning 11-9. Giving it his all, Gonzalez broke a rib stretching back for a ball that was just out of reach in the sixth chukker. While he finished the chukker, he had to sit out the semis, so Jesse Bray was called to take his place. Playing Gonzalez’s horses, Bray seemed unfazed by the pressure and made the most of the opportunity.

For Gonzalez, it was difficult having to watch from the

sidelines. “It was probably my first time I had to sit down and watch somebody else play my spot and my horses,” he said. “I usually don’t get nervous when I play, but watching from the outside, I got nervous. It was a combination of nerves, anxious and sadness because, obviously, I wanted to play and I wanted everything to go well.”

Bray worked hard for the team and went on to contribute four goals. Valiente led Park Place throughout the match and with a four-goal cushion to start the last chukker, held on for the 11-10 win to advance to the final.

“I think Jesse played an amazing game ... and he was very comfortable in the position that I put him in. ... I loved playing with him,” Adolfo Cambiaso told USPA Polo Network.

The other semi saw La Dolfina take on Coca-Cola. As much as Adolfo Cambiaso has played in the United States, it was the first time a team played under his La Dolfina brand in the United States, and it was not with him, but his son Poroto Cambiaso as captain. The team rolled through the preliminaries unscathed.

Poroto Cambiaso was joined by Tomy Panelo, his teammate

La Dolfina’s Quinn Evans holds out Jesse Bray, allowing Poroto Cambiaso space to run with the ball.

from last season, and Dillon Bacon, making his Gauntlet debut. Quinn Evans rounded out the team.

The 24-year-old Evans, from Union, Oregon, was given an opportunity to tryout for a spot on the team earlier this year. A fourth-generation player, he grew up playing low-goal polo around the Pacific Northwest and most recently, has been working young horses for Coca-Cola. He seemed to fit the team well, helping open spaces for Poroto Cambiaso and Panelo.

La Dolfina took an early lead and after a 6-0 third chukker, went into the half ahead 10-2. Coca-Cola slowed the bleeding, outscoring La Dolfina 4-3 in the second half, but it was too little too late and La Dolfina advanced.

Final

The final would pit a resilient 48-year-old Adolfo Cambiaso against his 18-year-old son Poroto, both sporting the highest rating and wearing the captain bands. The teams were essentially managed by the same organization, both with a seemingly endless supply of the best polo horses in the world and top talent, promising a competitive game.

For Adolfo, while it was strange to be playing against his son, he was happy to see La Dolfina make the final, and ultimately, no matter which team won, it was a win for the organization. But, like any true competitor, he told USPA Polo Network that despite going head-to-head with his son, he was going to try just as hard to win.

Gonzalez, who was vital to the team’s success last season, was still not able to play, so Bray was back in his

saddle. Gonzalez, pacing from the sidelines, contributed as much as he could, helping with the horses and offering strategies.

“Jesse is a great player, great horseman and he played each horse the way they need to be played. He read them well and knows which play to do on each horse,” Gonzalez explained. “He played amazingly for the horses and for the team. He did an amazing job.”

Bob Jornayvaz was unable to play the semis but fortunately, was back for the final. He and de Narvaez worked hard, contributing to the effective team effort.

The teams were tied after the first seven minutes but Valiente soon took control and held a two-goal lead throughout the next three chukkers. The teams matched each other in the last 15 minutes, but La Dolfina was unable to get any closer and Valiente took the title and the $50,000 prize for the second year in a row. De Narvaez was high scorer with six goals, including four penalty conversions.

Adolfo Cambiaso shows no signs of slowing down. He out-played his much younger opponents and utilized his entire team with precision. He earned MVP for his efforts and his Dolfina Carola (Carla x Dolfina Guitarrero), a fast 7-yearold bay mare, was named Best Playing Pony.

George Miller Memorial Subsidiary

This year, a consolation tournament was introduced for the C.V. Whitney Cup. Teams that did not make the semis, played for the inaugural George Miller Memorial. Miller was a polo-playing horse dealer in Texas who founded the Austin Polo Club. He introduced many young men, including Hall of Famers Cecil Smith and Rube Williams, to the sport. Miller himself received the Hall of Fame’s Philip Iglehart Award for lifetime achievements in 2017.

The trophy for the tournament is an antique silver tray, honoring Miller after his death in 1946. An engraving on the front reads: George Miller Memorial; To Be Played For Each Year; Open to Any Team Under Handicap. The first winner was an Austin Polo Club team in March 1948. There are dozens of winners engraved around the tray’s edges, with notable names like Cecil Smith, Harold Barry and John Armstrong.

The trophy continued to be played for in the following decades with engravings as recently as 2017. It was donated to the National Museum of Polo by Stewart Armstrong in 2019.

There was $25,000 in prize money up for grabs to the subsidiary winner. In the semis, La Fe edged Dutta Corp, 109, and Tamera advanced over Pilot, 12-11. Tamera and La Fe would meet in the final, a rematch of their first game in the tournament when Tamara took the narrow victory.

Whitney Miller Douglass and Royal Douglass III present the C.V. Whitney Cup to Valiente’s Adolfo Cambiaso, Peke Gonzalez, Paquito de Narvaez, Jesse Bray and Bob Jornayvaz.

La Fe was hoping the game would end differently this time, but entered the final with the heart of its team unable to play. Robi Bilbao and Fran Elizalde sat out and Tolito Ocampo and Jero del Carrill took their places. Further, the team’s No. 1 Lucas Diaz Alberdi played in the final of the Ylvisaker Cup, finishing up less than a half hour before this final began. In truth, the 12 chukkers of competitive polo didn’t seem to take a toll on him as he gave his full effort until the final bell sounded. Adding insult to injury, Louis Devaleix took a tumble during the match, but fortunately, was able to continue in the game.

Tamera was intact and after a choppy, foul riddled 15 minutes began to open up the game, taking a 6-4 lead into

the half. It dominated the fourth, adding five goals while La Fe was scoreless. The teams traded goals in the fifth and La Fe outscored Tamera 2-1 in the sixth, but it was not nearly enough and Tamera took the 14-8 victory.

Tamera’s Alejandro Poma was named MVP after scoring three goals from the field, the most of any player. He had a great afternoon, making several crucial runs to goal that helped keep the team ahead.

Best Playing Pony went to Diego Cavanagh’s Dolfina Lan (Dolfina Lapa x Dolfina Cuarteto), a pretty 11-year-old bay mare with a blaze.

Best Playing Pony Dolfina Lan helps Tamara’s Diego Cavanagh keep the ball out of Lucas Diaz Alberdi’s reach in the subsidiary final.

IN THE PINK Buena Vibra commands Women’s U.S. Open

Photos by David Lominska

For 13-year-old Valentina Tarazona, playing in the U.S. Open Women’s Polo Championship was something she had always dreamed of. This year, those dreams came true as she not only played in the tournament, but won the title.

Tarazona started riding at about 7 years old, but admits she didn’t like polo one bit. Her sister Giuliana, who is a year older than her, was the polo player in the family. She was introduced to the sport by their neighbor Facundo Obregon.

Tarazona says her feelings for the sport changed once COVID-19 hit. She started playing regularly, and when she was 11, played her first women’s tournament, a 16-goal with Hope Arellano and Kylie Sheehan.

That year, she ending up meeting Pamela Flanagan, who asked if she’d like to be the substitute for the Hawaii Polo Life team in the Women’s U.S. Open. She didn’t end up

having to substitute that season, however, last year, she was watching the first game of the Women’s U.S. Open when Sarah Siegel-Magness was injured. Tarazona was called in to finish the match for her.

Since then, she competed in some international women’s events under her team name, Buena Vibra.

“My sister was like, ‘how about we make an official polo team?’ She was in the car one day and was like, ‘how about we name it Buena Vibra because it’s good vibes.’ So, that’s how it came together. ... And then my sister made everything. She designed the butterfly [in the logo] and everything,” Tarazona explained.

She played in the 16-goal British Ladies Open Championship at Cowdray Park (Midhurst, Sussex, England) with Milly Hine last summer. The pair played together again in the Thai

Buena Vibra’s Valentina Tarazona, Cory Williams, Clara Seppe and Milly Hine

Polo Cup in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in November, along with Clara Seppe.

Tarazona decided to put a team in this year’s Women’s Open with Hine, Seppe and Cory Williams rounding out the team. Toly Ulloa agreed to coach.

They got to work doing strength training with Cristina Parr from Helix Performance Recovery and practiced when they could. The team also signed up for the Shady Lady women’s tournament at Port Mayaca Polo Club in Okeechobee, Florida, to get ready. Once the games got underway, they would watch the competition and have team meetings with Ulloa the night before their games.

The Shady Lady really helped us gain confidence with each other and get to know each other better on the field. That let us come in strong to the first game of the Women’s U.S. Open.”

VALENTINA TARAZONA

The team won its first two games to reach the final against a strong La Fe squad (Naomi Tachibana Marlough, Hanan Fadil, Hope Arellano, Hazel Jackson). In the final, La Fe, with 10-goalers Arellano and Jackson guiding the team, proved to be a tough competitor and went on to win, 14-8½.

“Hope and Hazel’s horses were very fast and very strong. That tournament showed us that we needed faster horses, especially if we were going to compete against a team like that,” Tarazona explained. “And it made us realize we had to be stronger on defense because Hope and Hazel would get away sometimes.”

“The Shady Lady really helped us gain confidence with each other and get to know each other better on the field,” Tarazona said. “That let us come in strong to the first game of the Women’s U.S. Open.”

There were eight teams divided into two brackets in the Women’s Open. Buena Vibra started out with a narrow, 7-6 victory over BTA/Lazy 3 (Jordan Fikes, KC Krueger, Anna Palacios, Sarah Wiseman). They had another close win,

Buena Vibra’s Valentina Tarazona duels with La Fe’s Hazel Jackson in the semifinal. They are followed by Cory Williams and Naomi Tachibana Marlough.

edging Work to Ride/Grand Champions (Caitlin Cregg, Shariah Harris, Maddie Grant, Nina Clarkin), 9-8, in their second outing. They won their last preliminary match against Iconica (Winifred Branscum, Maureen Brennan, Sofia Rivas, Cande Fernandez Araujo), 6-4, putting them at the top of their bracket and advancing them to the semi.

All of the games were tough. Our first two games went into overtime. It wasn’t like one was easier because [they are all] such amazing players ...”

VALENTINA TARAZONA

just knew what to do.”

In the semis, Buena Vibra faced La Fe, the only team to beat them so far. They knew it was not going to be easy.

“All of the games were tough. Our first two games went to overtime,” Tarazona said. “It wasn’t like one was easier because [they are all] such amazing players and amazing teams. I feel like all of them were equally tough.”

In the last game, Tarazona was injured and her sister had to finish the game for her. She fit on the team seamlessly and even scored a goal.

“Most of the horses I rode were actually hers. She lent me all her horses to play so I would be mounted the best as possible,” Tarazona said. “It was tough, but I am so proud of my sister. I love her and I’m just so happy for her that she was able to make her goal. My sister is always at the team meetings and watching the games with us so she kind of

“We know Hope and Hazel are machines offensively and defensively. We knew we would have to put a stop to them because it is not like they are going to miss the ball,” she said. “There is a low chance they would miss the ball or the goal, so we had to be really tight on defense and always beat them to the play. When we had the ball, we couldn’t wait or doubt ourselves. We had to just hit it and play so they couldn’t steal it from us.”

It was a fast, tough game from start to finish but Buena Vibra managed to hold onto the lead to the end, finishing 10-9.

In the other semifinal, 90210 Polo (Sarah Siegel-Magness, Meghan Gracida, Cata Lavinia, Mia Cambiaso) faced Work to Ride/Grand Champions. Both teams were 2-1 and had a tremendous amount of talent, but 90210 managed to take the lead to win 10-7.

That set up a final between Buena Vibra and 90210, two

90210’s Winnie Branscum stops Buena Vibra’s Valentina Tarazona mid-swing in the final.

teams that had yet to play against each other. Sarah Siegel-Magness was unable to play the final, so Winifred Branscum, who had played for Iconica, took her place.

“We knew they were well mounted ... and it was going to be like it was with La Fe, we would have to be really strong on defense. We didn’t know Winnie was going to play, so it kind of changed everything,” Tarazona said. “We had to be strong on our men and when we had the ball, just run and hit strong and not doubt ourselves.”

The match bogged down in the first two chukkers with penalties, almost all in Buena Vibra’s favor. Hine sunk a trio of Penalty 2s in the first and a Penalty 3 and 4 in the second, giving the team a 5-3 advantage. 90210 came within a goal, 6-5, by the half. Ulloa offered words of encouragement and tried to keep them on track.

“They had made back-to-back goals, so he was telling us to be stronger on our defense. Winnie was really messing up Cory, so my job was to go to Winnie and clear the way for Cory, so she could do her job. And if we had the ball to pass to Milly and Clara because they are machines offensively,” Tarazona explained.

Fouling slowed the game in the next two chukkers with Hine capitalizing on three more open goal penalties, but Buena Vibra was catching the umpires’ whistles too and Cambiaso was deadly accurate from the penalty line. She sunk a pair of Penalty 2s and a Penalty 4 added to a field goal. Gracida also scored one and a Penalty 1 in 90210’s favor put the team ahead, 11-10, going into the last seven minutes.

Seppe wasted no time, scoring back-to-back goals to give Buena Vibra back the lead. Williams and Tarazona continued to work hard on defense and 90210 was unable to reach the goal. With less than a minute on the clock, Tarazona jumped on a pass from Seppe with Gracida on her hip. The ball bounced over her mallet at the 60-yard line but Williams was following. When she was unable to control it, Seppe was behind her riding out the line as Gracida tried to turn it. The ensuing Penalty 2 in Buena Vibra’s favor was the final nail in the coffin for 90210. The final score was 13-11.

Tarazona was so focused on the job at hand, she didn’t realize right away that her team had actually won. It wasn’t until she saw Gracida stop that she figured it out.

“I didn’t know the buzzer had gone off. ... I had to take a peek at the score board and saw there were nine seconds left,” she said. “I just started crying and yelled ‘Clara’ because she was the one who got it and she was just laughing. I just couldn’t believe we had won.”

Milly Hine, who scored nine goals from the penalty line, was named MVP. She took home a vintage Rolex watch from Wind Vintage for her efforts. La Dolfina’s Ceniza, played by Mia Cambiaso, took home the Best Playing Pony blanket. As a testament to the quality of horses Cambiaso played, her father, 10-goal Adolfo Cambiaso played two of the horses a

few days later in the final of the C.V. Whitney Cup. Tarazona, the youngest player to ever compete in the tournament, said the best part was her teammates.

“Playing with Milly, Clara and Cory, they’re like big sisters to me, so to be able to play with them and win was just such a blessing,” she said.

With such a big win already under her belt, Tarazona has set her sights pretty high.

“I really want to play Palermo, but the men’s 40-goal. That is my biggest dream, but obviously there is a very low possibility that might happen so maybe the women’s [Argentine Open] for now,” she said.

Buena Vibra’s Valentina Tarazona, Milly Hine and Valentina’s father Pedro “Gato” Tarazona celebrate after the team’s victory.

SPORT SUPPORT Sponsorships for women’s polo teams are increasing

Photos by Tatiana Frayssinet

Support for women’s professional sports is at an all-time high. According to SponsorUnited’s latest Women in Sports Marketing Partnerships report, the number of sponsorship deals in women’s professional sports has increased 22% in the past 12 months. The LPGA leads the way, with 1,100 deals. Now, polo is getting in on the action.

The advent of professional women polo players is relatively recent, most notably with Sunny Hale, who was raised to 5 goals in mixed polo in 1991. Hale was a big proponent of women’s polo and founded the Women’s Championship Tournament. The WCT increased the number of women’s tournaments around the country, driving up participation and creating a market for professional women players. This season, La Fe was the first women’s team to be fully sponsored by independent companies for the U.S. Open

Women’s Polo Championship. Team sponsors included Eastern Hay, Gladiator Equine, Theory, Sol de Janeiro and Leviate Air Group. Team owner Pamela Flanagan Devaleix solicited sponsors, closed the deals and managed the sponsorships. Recently, she explained the process and offered tips to others looking to support their teams.

Is it easier to approach companies you have a relationship with?

Yes and no. The best forms of sponsorship are mutually beneficial. I am not just looking for companies to fund our team or give us money, I find ways they can benefit from the relationship as well. For example, with Eastern Hay, we knew they had great hay, feed and shavings. They are based out of New York where we are in the summer, so we were able to generate a mutually beneficial relationship with them. It benefited us in terms of a great quality product, but

also the sponsorship benefited them in terms of exposure to the polo world and having a client like us.

Are there certain types of companies you target?

Yes, I put them in two different categories. The first category is sponsors that are relevant, polo specific or could benefit from having exposure in the polo world. The other category is companies that are looking to target the specific demographic that polo attracts.

What is the best way to approach a potential sponsor?

You can’t approach a company and say, ‘hey, would you sponsor our polo team?’ And if you just send them an email or text, that isn’t the best sales pitch. I’ve created a pitch deck that shows the demographic, our team record and packages we’ve curated. That package is our foot in the door. They see that the ask is more realistic and professional than simply asking for a favor.

Of course, if you know somebody within the industry, ask for a personal contact. We’ve had friends make wonderful connections.

What are you selling?

For the sponsor we can benefit right off the bat, I have a conversation with them and ask, ‘look, if we sign up to use your product or buy x-amount of product, would you be willing to consider sponsoring our team for a percentage of our purchase or for some sort of mutual agreement?’

In some cases, I have gone to startup brands that need exposure and say, ‘I’ll invest x-amount into your company for a percentage of equity, and kick back that amount to sponsor the polo team and we’ll give you exposure.’ It’s mutually beneficial because I have incentive to see that company grow and do well.

For the ones that want the specific demographic and exposure, I share my deck and make the pitch that it’s a very small pond full of big fish. You’re not getting a lot of eyes like football or soccer, but you are getting a very specific set up eyes and that is not very easy to accomplish with various types of advertising and marketing.

The biggest selling points for this category is Field One exposure, the ESPN broadcast, the experience of going to the final and having a box. Whether we play or not, it’s still something those sponsors really enjoy.

Part of our sponsorship agreement with Theory was to have a few boxes for them at the final, whether we made it or not, so they could bring some of their top customers in the Palm Beach area to watch the game.

Many companies use social media to market themselves. How do you incorporate social media into the sponsorships?

I have a small social media following, with 45,000 or so followers, and I leverage my platform. It is a very specific demographic and Instagram allows you to have a breakdown of that demographic. I share my insights, statistics and demographics and post whatever content we

Always undersell and over deliver. Give them more than what you promise, be timely and be communicative.”

PAMELA FLANAGAN DEVALEIX

generate for them on my personal social media, not just our team page. And I don’t require it, but I tell my players if they want to post or tag to support these companies, that’s great.

Are you offering different levels of sponsorships?

In my deck, I have four different tiers. The lowest tier is $25,000 and the highest tier is $150,000. There are different deliverables with each tier. Some of them provide 30 second commercials, which our content team produces, some provide 15 second commercials. They have a different number of required posts on my Instagram and our team Instagram. We provide Dropbox folders at the end of the season with a certain amount of content, focusing on their logo and their branding on our jerseys. Some of them prefer to be more horse focused, so their logo is on the saddle pads, some prefer to be on the front or back of the jersey and others are more player focused so I put their logo on whites. Every contract is a little bit different. It is a creative process where you ask the sponsor what they are looking for and then model the sponsorship around what they are trying to get out of it. Most importantly, always undersell and over deliver. Give them more than what you promise, be timely and be communicative.

All too often, the company gets a name on a jersey that nobody does anything with. There is a big element of activation that is your responsibility to execute. Content is king, so provide them with quality content, both still photography and video, either horizontal for commercial spaces or vertical for social media spaces.

Is it best to have a written contract?

A contract is absolutely essential because you never want the sponsor to walk away unhappy. Outline on the front end what you intend to provide. You can’t promise things you can’t control, like the weather, game days or a winning team. What you can promise is social media posts, commercial content with all the rights to use it on their own platform and box seats.

The social media platform is mine, so it’s easy for me to control what I put out there, and buying boxes is easy as long as I purchase them early on to ensure they have access to them throughout the season.

Be creative with your deliverables. Gladiator Equine is a horse therapeutic brand. I can tell the players in our organization that their products are excellent, but if they don’t know what the product is, that isn’t helpful. We had their team come make a presentation to all our players about the product. They got a 30-minute sit down with our players, vet and organization to discuss their products and explain what they do. That helps spread the word from within. That was a unique deliverable.

A lot of people overlook the activation portion. Always approach a sponsor with intention and a plan to properly activate the sponsorship. Find ways to benefit the sponsor to do that activation. Oftentimes it is a creative process and isn’t always black and white.

I talk to my friends and teammates with certain products, saying, ‘look, call them, get a quote and see if it works for you. If it doesn’t, it’s not a problem but give them an opportunity.’ You have to be a spokesperson because, in a way, you are a hired gun that is marketing on their behalf in this small world. When [my husband] Louie has to travel for work, he uses Leviate Air Group. They have a great service, but because they are supporting our team, he wants to repay them by using them as a main provider.

The key is you only want to align yourself with sponsors you believe in and feel good about promoting to friends and family around you. It takes time, effort and money to push their products and you don’t want to be pushing a product or service you don’t believe in.

Is it necessary to have a budget for your deliverables so you know how much the sponsorship will cost you?

I am completely transparent with my sponsors. I show them the breakdown of what their funds are going towards and after the tournament, I send them an Excel sheet showing all the funds that were raised and how those funds were spent. It is never my intention to make money on sponsorships, so showing them exactly how the funds are spent gives them a level a comfort that I am not pocketing the money. We use the funds to buy gear, have the appropriate logos put on, rent the best horses, hire the best players and hire the best content team to be able to deliver on the promises.

The content deliverables are very specific to what the brands want and they are very unique. It is very logo focused with great music showing the player and some polo action.

What are the best ways to showcase the sponsors?

Prior to the tournament kicking off, I scheduled a media day for the players. I set up a practice tent with three sets of jerseys, each with a different title sponsor. All the girls’ whites had different sponsor logos. The girls had their hair and make-up done how they wanted to. I invited all the photographers to take photos. They were able to take closeup shots of all the various sponsor logos on the jerseys and whites while they were clean and fresh. Then we did a team workout in all our sponsor logo apparel gear so we could have quality content of those images. This way, once the tournament kicked off, we weren’t having to focus on getting the right shots. And sponsors could use that content to promote their sponsorship of the tournament.

How

do you make the sponsor feel involved?

At the beginning of the season, I send my sponsors game times and game schedules so they can attend the matches. I also send updates, if any, when schedules change. For those that can’t attend in person, I send them live links before every game.

If a sponsor were to show up and the game was canceled, that would be a failure on my part. I am directly responsible for that. I am diligent about communicating with them. Usually a representative from each company has my direct cellphone number so they can ask me questions. Organizing the sponsors requires a lot of time and effort, but it is very much worth it.

I’ll even try to get them on horses. I’ll offer to have them bring their clients, friends or family to get on a horse and give it

a try. In fact, Leviate Air Group wants us to organize a day where they can bring their top clients for a polo lesson as a thank you gift to them.

When we purchase boxes in the main stadium, it isn’t just for one Sunday game. We give them access to those seats throughout the season. In the event more sponsors are attending than we have seats for, I purchase another box.

When a sponsor comes to a game, I do my best to be a gracious host, entertain them and educate them on the play, fouls, etc. If my team is playing and I’m helping with horses, I explain that I won’t be available, but I’ll find someone else who can answer questions for them.

What type of follow-up is required after the sponsorship ends?

When the tournament ends, I go into execution mode, getting the deliverables out in a timely way. I have an end-of-season package for them with their own specific Dropbox folder. I always order an extra jersey in every color. At the end of the season, I send out jerseys along with thank you letters signed by all the players to all the sponsors. That goes a long way.

How can others get sponsorships?

I want to help create a basic sponsorship deck for all the girls to be able to use to generate their own sponsorships for their Women’s U.S. Open teams.

There are a million companies that can sponsor teams, from apparel brands, to cars, equine products and services. The more people cultivating corporate sponsorships, the more corporate sponsors will see the value in participating in this sport.

PATH TO 10 Horses are key to increasing handicaps

By Stewart Armstrong

During my formative years in polo, the San Antonio Polo Club was home during the winter months to some of the best horsemen in the polo community. Many of the best were retired high-goal players who made their living as

horse dealers. Horses, in fact, were their real vocation. The polo was a marketing channel. As they aged, they thought nothing of their handicaps descending down the handicap scale. They were making a living the same as before,

Today, Western ranches tend to favor Quarter Horses over Thoroughbreds.

Hustler is a young colt by Hilario Ulloa’s Argentine polo stallion Machitos Mesquite. Today, he is about 21 months old.

selling horses, but they also served another purpose. They were the reservoirs of knowledge in regard to becoming a high-goal polo player and they attracted young players interested in learning more about horsemanship.

Today, Thoroughbred polo pony prospects in the USA are in short supply. The ranches no longer raise Thoroughbreds in favor of Quarter Horses, which are easier to train and generally more docile. Breeding for Thoroughbred racing has declined markedly over the last three decades from 40,000 to 18,000 foals registered per year. Without high quality prospects in relative abundance, the polo pony trainers lack the livestock with which to compete with Argentine imports and sustain themselves in a business of buying and selling horses for polo. As a result, about half as many trainers remain when compared with a decade ago. Without trainers and training centers, we have lost a key part of our ecosystem.

This is why the USPA sent out the survey recently to assess interest in breeding polo ponies. One need only look to Germany and its preeminence in producing top riders to see that their focus on breeding the best sport horses has created the worldwide demand for Warmbloods that drives

their success.

The same is true for Quarter Horses in the USA. The quality and aptitude of the horses being produced for cutting, reining and roping have made the American Quarter Horse ubiquitous the world over and it has elevated professional cutters to international prominence. Polo is no different. Argentina has developed the Polo Argentino, a Thoroughbred phenotype that is gentle and relatively easy to train as compared to Thoroughbreds bred for racing. In all three instances, top quality riders are a byproduct of these breeding programs.

We all know that breeding horses in the USA is more expensive than breeding in the Argentine. But without the horses, the USA cannot complete what I like to call a pathway from 0 to 10. Horses in abundance lead to trainers, which lead to training centers. These training centers are a key element in creating a pathway for young enthusiasts to develop as good riders and horsemen. And without a pipeline of ponies on which to mount themselves, a professional player cannot reach the top of the handicap scale.

In order to reduce the cost of producing quality made

The cost to ship a horse from Argentina is about $11,000.

Alamy Stock Images

ponies in the USA, and be competitive with Argentine horses, the quickest and best option is to breed horses that are easier to train and shorten the training time necessary to get them to the polo field. It costs $11,000 to ship a horse from Argentina to the USA. If an American pony can be competitive as a 5-year-old, then the cost of an Argentine pony is about the same. The Polo Argentino blood represents a short cut. We have Thoroughbred mares and the Argentine horses have polo aptitude. The combination of the two is a good strategy for breeding. This is why the survey spoke of breeding to Argentine stallions.

The U.S. Army had a dilemma in the early 1900s when cavalry horses were in short supply. They inaugurated a remount program to address the problem. The U.S. government purchased and accepted top quality

Thoroughbred stallions, which they loaned to ranchers as part of a government administered program aimed at breeding the best horses for the military. Government agents circulated among the ranches to inspect mares, which had applied for breeding to the free stallion seasons. The result was the production of large numbers of quality Thoroughbred horses for use in the cavalry. Many of the offspring found their way into polo and helped fuel the USA’s rise to prominence internationally.

The USPA could create its own version of a remount service by purchasing or leasing a handful of proven Polo Argentino bred stallions and American Thoroughbreds. They could be housed at a stallion station in the central part of the country and their fresh or frozen semen could be provided to American USPA members as incentive to breed a top retired mare utilizing artificial insemination. The cost to the breeder might be for the semen collection from the stallion and delivery to the mare owner’s veterinarian via FedEx.

Having access to proven genetics would encourage breeders of both high- and low-goal prospects. More polo prospects would result each year and this would gradually lead to increases in the number of horses, trainers and polo training facilities across the USA. The training venues would attract young players interested in polo. This in turn would improve their grooming and riding skills, help them source ponies from which to maintain a string and position them to become competitive players with a goal of traveling to Argentina where the competition will hone their skills further. This initiative will take time and may require additional programs in the future, such as prize money for Best Playing Pony awards (funded by foal nomination fees paid by the breeders), an annual breeding stock auction and possible investment by the USPA in polo pony training facilities to help reduce training costs.

There is no way to predict whether such a plan will be successful unless it is tried. As chairman, my duty is to lead. What I have attempted to do in this article is to outline, as best I can, what appears to be a possible strategy to make polo better for all of us.

Thousands of horses at Camp Kearny remount station in 1917. The remount program helped increase the number of quality Thoroughbred cavalry horses.

Training venues would attract young players interested in polo and help improve their horsemanship.

Kerri Kerley

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, PAN 6a30074

HAPPY ENDINGS Horseman Buck Brannaman

helps horses and people

Humans have been training horses for over 5,000 years, but it was only in the last 50 years that a new, kinder approach has been employed. Horseman Buck Brannaman learned these methods and shares his knowledge with others.

Brannaman attributes these “new” training methods to Tom Dorrance and later, Ray Hunt.

“Tom’s mission in life was to try to figure out a way to work with a horse, that it was the horse’s idea how you’d get him to understand,” Brannaman explained. “And the way Ray used to put it, he’d say, ‘I’m trying to see what I can get a

horse to do for me without being troubled to do it.’ So, that really went against the conventional wisdom of what people had been doing for thousands of years.”

As a young kid, Brannaman learned the art of trick roping. At just 6 years old, he turned pro, appearing on TV shows, in commercials and on cereal boxes. To the outside world, he appeared to be living a charmed life, but no one knew what was going on behind closed doors.

His father was physically abusive and when his mother, who he called his protector, died, things only got worse. Finally,

at 12 years old, he was removed from the home and sent to live with a foster family on a farm. The foster family provided him a loving home. He was able to work with horses there, though he admits it was using some of the older methods because it was the only information they had at the time. Because of his upbringing, he found safety and companionship with the horses, saying it was a peaceful place where his life wasn’t threatened.

Later, as a young man who thought he knew all he needed to about horse training, he begrudgingly attended a Hunt clinic. Something clicked with Brannaman, leading him to attend clinics every other week or so for the next several years.

During that time, Brannaman learned a gentler way of teaching horses, allowing the horse to feel like it was making the rules and by earning the horse’s trust. He is not a fan of the terms natural horsemanship or horse whisperer.

“The concept of natural horsemanship was kind of a marketing phrase brought on by people trying to commercialize the work of Tom Dorrance and Ray Hunt,” he said. “I know you are all familiar with the term natural horsemanship, but it is all a bunch of crap because there isn’t anything natural about crawling on the back of a prey animal and asking him to trust you. Oh, after you’ve strapped the hides of other dead animals around him and then you are going to call that natural horsemanship? I call it just the opposite. They certainly have to have an unusual amount of trust to let you do that.”

The number of people offering horsemanship clinics has ballooned over the years. And they are not all created equal. Some will work the horse until it is so tired, it gives in just to stop working.

“People have been trying that for years. ... And the problem with trying to just wear them out is the horse gets more fit and pretty soon you have a 50-miler ... That’s caveman stuff. It’s stupid,” Brannaman said.

“I try to keep it as close as I can to what Tom Dorrance and Ray Hunt taught me. I pretty much tell people that anything I’m doing that looks good to you, you could attribute that to Ray Hunt,” he quipped. “And anything that maybe doesn’t look good, I probably came up with that on my own.”

Brannaman, who grew up in Wyoming, was involved in the polo world back in the late 1980s. He spent the winters in Lake Worth, Florida, making young horses and introducing them to the sport for Jorie Butler Kent’s and Geoffrey Kent’s Abercrombie and Kent polo team.

Occasionally, he would demonstrate his trick roping skills during halftime of the Sunday, 3 p.m. matches at Palm Beach Polo and Country Club.

His time in polo didn’t last long, but he continued to work with horses. He was pretty established doing clinics out West by then. He says the polo players weren’t interested in getting much advice from a cowboy, but they liked his horses and he sold them to high-goal players like Memo and Carlos Gracida and Alfonso Pieres.

Nicole Poyo

Thousands of horses have gone through Buck’s colt classes, including many he handled himself.

In the late 1980s,

“If you had a string of young horses, about 10% will end up high-goal horses. The last year I was there, I brought 18 with me and 17 made high-goal horses. The 18th, probably one of the nicest ones, just couldn’t run fast enough. So, I had a pretty high percentage of success,” he said.

He eventually bought a ranch in Sheridan, Wyoming, and got to know some of the polo people in the area, including Tommy and Rosie Wayman. The Wayman’s ended up buying a neighboring ranch and the families continue to be neighbors and friends to this day.

Brannaman initially started doing his own clinics to overcome his shyness. Since that time, he says 26,700 colts have been through his colt starting clinics.

In the early days, he did all the training himself. “I wouldn’t let people work with their own horses. I would say, ‘bring your horse in, put your saddle on the fence and then walk out of the pen.’ So, I got them ready. I worked them all and got them prepared and that was tens of thousands.”

Eventually, he decided to teach people how to work with their own horses, using methods he had used for decades. “Then that got the people better, when they had to figure out how to fix all the garbage they’d put in there before I met them,” Brannaman said.

In his colt classes, Brannaman says he gets a lot of people coming with horses that have been started at home, are not going well and they come to the clinic to fix it. The horses

with baggage are generally more difficult than one starting fresh. Brannaman says that even when someone brings a horse that is a hot mess, most people have good intentions and are doing the best they can at the time.

No matter how bad a horse may seem, he sees value in all of them. While he says certain breeds may not be good for some jobs, they are generally good for something else.

“It’s a form and function thing,” he says. “I treat every horse like an individual. We raise Quarter Horses here, but as you know, I’ve rode a gillion Thoroughbred horses. And if I had to pick, I’d say the cross between a Quarter Horse and a Thoroughbred is about as good as you can get. A Thoroughbred mare and a Quarter Horse stud would be something I’d prefer.”

Brannaman says, when it comes to training, there isn’t much difference between mares and geldings.

“It’s true the polo world prefers riding mares, yet other horse activities, whether it’s cow horses, cutting horses, reiners, jumpers ... they much prefer geldings. Horses are horses, it doesn’t make any difference,” he said.

He says, he hasn’t yet met a horse he couldn’t train. “I’ve been looking for him my whole life and I’ve never seen him. I’ve seen horses in the clinics before that it was clear to me that the person that brought the horse, they weren’t hand enough to do it,” he explained. “But, that doesn’t take anything away from the horse. That just means the human wasn’t able to give the horse what they needed.”

David Lominska/PolographicsCourtesy Mary Brannaman

Buck demonstrated his roping skills during halftime at Palm Beach Polo, including roping dignitaries Jorie Butler Kent, author George Plimpton and others.

Buck cut back on his clinics to spend time working cattle in the spring. It is also good experience for his young horses.

Brannaman raises horses on his ranch, and the training begins early on.

“When they’re weanlings, we start halter breaking them. We work with them a week, maybe 10 days, and they’re pretty good on the end of a lead rope,” he explained. “During their yearling year, we might catch them for a week or so here and there, so by the time we start them and ride them as 2-year-olds, it’s not a big drama because they’re already really handy on the end of a lead rope and quiet.”

I don’t really approach people any different philosophically than I do horses ... You’ve got to want the best for people too.”

BUCK BRANNAMAN

so many times people just ride the piss out of those really young horses and they are finished physically before they’re ever grown up,” he said. As far as how long it takes to train a horse, Brannaman says you have to use your best judgment.

As 2-year-olds, he rides them for no more than a week. Once they walk, trot and lope and you can swing a rope on them and ride them outside in the hills a few times, they are ready to be turned out. They aren’t ridden again until late into the winter when they are what is referred to as a long 2-year-old and are ridden for about a month.

They are ridden again in the spring as 3-year-olds, and will get about 75 rides during that year. At 4, when they are getting more grown up, he rides them a little more. They are a mature horse at 5. Doing much more than that, can burn out or break down a young horse.

“We don’t crowd them a lot as a 2- and 3-year-old because

“You are trying to get them to just turn loose and relax and enjoy what you are doing,” he said. “Each day, you try to challenge the horse. You’re trying to advance him and raise the bar, but you don’t ask something so complicated that he can’t be a winner. And that’s a decision you make every day when you get on one.”

Brannaman says he sees a lot of people make the mistake of riding a horse as if it should already know, rather than helping it to understand. And, if a horse does something particularly good one week or month, then has trouble with it, the rider often gets angry or frustrated. He says, like young kids, young horses may not remember or understand something from one week to the next.

Brannaman sees other parallels between raising horses and kids. “Working with a young horse and trying to get him to understand what you’re doing, and basically the notion of

A.J. Mangum

making the wrong thing difficult and the right thing easy and shaping things up to where your idea becomes their idea, that’s not so different from raising kids,” he said.

Training polo ponies is no different than any other horse. You want to operate like the horse is an extension of your legs and body and you are an extension of its body.

“Then you can call him whatever you want. Call him a dressage horse, jumper, cow horse or polo horse. It’s all a dance,” Brannaman explained. “It’s the same, you just happen to be playing polo on one. If that horse operates like he’s an extension of your body, I think you’d be pretty satisfied with him.”

His work with horses led to consulting on “The Horse Whisperer” movie (1998) with Robert Redford, who said Brannaman was a huge part of the fabric of the movie. One of Brannaman’s horses, Pet, also made an appearance in the film. Nicolas Evans, who wrote the story, said that while many others claim the movie was about them, the main character was inspired by Brannaman.

Since then, Brannaman has authored numerous books and appeared in several commercials. In 2011, a documentary was made about Brannaman’s life. When it was being filmed, Brannaman wanted to be sure it would speak to anyone.

Brannaman said, “The message was not so different from

my book “Far Away Horses” that things may be dark for you right now, but it’s not a foregone conclusion that it’s going to be that way your whole life. There are still happy endings out there.”

Philosophically, Brannaman approaches people the same as he does horses. “This year will be 42 years since my first clinic. You really do need to love people too, you can’t just love horses. You’ve got to want the best for people too.” And what, if anything, have horses taught him over the years? “To live in the moment. That’s the most important thing,” he said. “Everybody has a past and you can allow that to be an excuse for failures in your future, but I don’t buy into that. I’ve learned from my past the best I could, took the knowledge I needed, but I don’t wallow in that one way or the other. I live in the moment, and that’s exactly how a horse lives.”

For many years, Brannaman spent nine months of the year on the road giving clinics. Now 62, he is doing less clinics, but he still travels all over the country. He also hosts “The Buck Channel,” offering a library of horse handling videos accessible with a subscription. He tries to carve out some time in the spring to rope and brand calves while he can still do it, something he really enjoys. He also enjoys fly fishing and playing golf when time allows.

Courtesy Mary Brannaman

Buck with his horse Pet, who portrayed Pilgrim in “The Horse Whisper,” a film he consulted on.

BEAUTIFUL BOND Young Californian shares her father’s polo passion

Words and photos by Kerri Kerley

Micaela Saracco was practically born in the saddle. A third-generation polo player, she could be seen cantering around the Eldorado Polo Club (Indio, California) on her pretend horse where she was just 3 years old.

Her father Luis Saracco and uncle Ignacio Saracco are professional players. Her dad came to Florida from Argentina to groom for Gabriel Crespo in 2001. In 2006, he got a job as a player and manager for Cotterel Polo in California. Micaela was born the following year.

Obsessed with horses, as a young child, if her dad went to the barn without her, she would cry. While she never had a pony to call her own, she always had horses in the barn she could ride. Now 17, her favorite childhood memories are of riding with her dad.

“He taught me everything. I admire him because he has worked his way from having nothing to having almost everything today,” she said.

She started in the junior polo program at Santa Barbara Polo Club (Carpinteria, California) when she was 7. She went on to regularly compete in Eldorado’s junior program.

In 2019, Saracco and her dad, playing for the Left Hand polo team, won a 6-goal tournament in Colorado. That was a turning point for her and from then on, she was completely hooked on polo, playing every chance she got.

She said, “[The best part about polo is] you make good enemies and you make good friends.”

Three years later, she played in and won the NYTS Girls’ Championship. She led the tournament with eight goals and was named MVP. She also went home with the Best Playing Pony blanket for her 15-year-old mare

Micaela Saracco and her dad Luis

Micaela Saracco on her favorite horse Sorpressa, a 9-year-old gray mare from Argentina.

ChapaleufÚ Polola, a horse her father had given her and the family had owned since its birth. It was the last game the mare played before retiring in Argentina.

“She’s super agile, quick and I feel my most confident on her. We want to get as many babies out of her as possible,” Saracco said at the time.

The mare was Saracco’s first polo horse and she played her steadily for six years. She won quite a few best playing pony awards over the years. Today, Saracco has three of her babies in Argentina and three more in California.

In 2023, Saracco was invited to play on the Western team in the NYTS Championship, one of only two females competing in the Open division. She got to play with Ryan Kerley and Piers Bossom, who all grew up playing together. Not only did her team win, but she won the horsemanship award.

She proved to be very disciplined on the field and showed a great sense of the game.

Playing in back-to-back NYTS championships are memories that will always be special to her, she says. However, the most memorable tournament she has played in thus far is the 6 goal at Eldorado when she was 14. She played with her father, Bob Gray and Maco Llambias. Though the team lost in the semis, Saracco says it was one of the most fun tournaments she has ever played.

[My dad] taught me everything. I admire him because he has worked his way up from having nothing to having almost everything today.”

MICAELA SARACCO

Saracco comes from a closeknit family. She has two younger brothers, ages 14 and 8, who play polo as well. The family follows the polo circuit, spending winter months at Eldorado Polo Club, spring and summer in San Francisco or Santa Ynez and fall in Argentina. Currently a high school

Miceala Saracco and her NYTS teammates have some fun with coach Jesse Bray. The team won the event and Miceala won best horseman.

senior, homeschooling accommodates the family’s busy travel schedule.

The family has a breeding operation in Argentina, providing Micaela with many wonderful horses to play and ride. Her favorite horse today is a beautiful, 9-year-old gray mare from Argentina named Sorpressa.

When you first meet Saracco, she is quiet and shy, but once she gets to know you, she has a great sense of humor and opens up, becoming quiet talkative.

She has her sights set on playing in both the Women’s U.S. Open and the Argentine Women’s Open.

Micaela will head back to Argentina after the Eldorado season to play tournaments there and work on improving her game.

[The best part about polo is] you make good enemies and you make good friends.”

Aside from polo, Saracco loves art and painting. She does not have plans to attend college and would instead like to play polo. Though she enjoys playing in mixed polo, she feels there are better opportunities in women’s polo for her so that is her main focus. She is currently rated 1 in mixed polo and is going to 5 in women’s polo beginning next month. She would like to see her handicap increase as much as possible.

--MICAELA SARACCO

She admires a lot of the professional female players, but Hazel Jackson is her favorite.

“I got to play with her in Argentina in 2023 and she is a force,” she said. “I would love to play on a team with Nina Clarkin to see how she would coach me on the field.”

A hard worker, when she isn’t on the back of horse, you can find her in the barn.

Micaela looks forward to seeing where polo takes her. If her past is any indication, her future looks bright.

Micaela Saracco has been obsessed with horses since she was a little girl.

LEGENDS OF THE GAME Induction ceremony honors great individuals and horses

Photos by Krystal Zaskey Photography

Nearly 250 guests attended the 35th annual National Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame awards dinner and induction gala, honoring the newest inductees into the museum in Lake Worth, Florida, on Feb. 16.

Being honored were three-time U.S. Open champion Jeff Blake and the late Rube Williams, star of the 1933 East

vs. West series. Receiving the Philip Iglehart Award for lifetime contributions were Dick Latham, Vicki Armour and the late Don Beveridge. Finally, Royal Diamond, owned by Harry Payne Whitney, and Sweet Be, owned by both Latham and Charles Smith, were recognized as Horses to Remember.

Nacho Figueras, Marc Ganzi, Melissa Ganzi, Juan Bollini and Delfina Blaquier

Dick Latham and Charles Smith

Fred Williams, Brenda Lynn, Heather Williams and George Dupont Jr.

Maria Flora, Penelope and Whitney Miller

Dr. Madison Richardson, Jackie Armour and Alan Armour

Agustina and Carlucho Arellano

Jeff Blake, center, with parents Dave and Lynne Blake

Stewart and Cece Armstrong

Mary Jo and Hector Galindo

Amanda and J. Michael Prince

Red and Louise Armour

Craig and Roni Duke

Heidi Hamilton and Jimmy Newman

Billy Kaynor, Olexa Celine and Laura Kaynor

Margaret, Stevie and Ginny Orthwein

Kim and Chip Campbell

DOCTOR’S ORDERS

How Adolfo Cambiaso stays in peak physical condition

By Lucas Noel • Photos by SLphotosports.com

Ten-goal Adolfo Cambiaso is always surprising us. He is astonishing, not only for his formidable number of triumphs, but also for his voracity for glory, and the enormous physical demand he exposes himself to at 48 years old (he will be 49 on April 15). With more than three decades traveling the world, the man from La Dolfina and Valiente has a sturdy, muscular physique that has allowed him to overcome repeated adductor pulls, sciatic pain, groin strains, low back pain, problems in his right wrist, discomfort in his shoulder and clavicle and more.

Fundamental to moving forward has been his personal work team, especially his orthopedic surgeon Walter Mira, who has been accompanying the best player in the world for years and developing a plan so that, at an age when other polo players have already been retired for

years, Adolfo remains at his peak. Mira discussed his work with Cambiaso.

What is your methodology for working with the demands of Adolfo Cambiaso?

My experience has been good. It is not easy because his level is very high. But he is an athlete who responds a lot to the instructions. He pays a lot of attention to the team of professionals who surround him. He gives a lot of importance to his food, to his care, to his rest. He gives up a lot of social engagements to be better.

He never hesitates to undergo medical tests when I ask him to do so or to carry out any rehabilitation. A herniated disc has forced him to undergo several procedures. Currently, his back is burdened and he has reoccurrences, as any being that walks the earth and has gone through a process of an obstructed disc herniation like the one he had.

We are not surprised that now and then he has some discomfort, but the truth is that he is doing very well. This last year has been a good year from a health point of view.

Cambiaso demands a lot from his physique, but I imagine he also demands a lot from his medical staff.

Yes, but both his physical trainer, Juan Carlos Menchón, and myself are used to it. I think the self-demanding of working for so long in high performance is already implicit. Our aim is that the work is done from very good to excellent. We work for him to be as good as possible. Cambiaso is very demanding with himself.

How much more can Cambiaso play?

I would love to know. After all the surprises he has given us, I don’t think anyone can bet on how much longer he will continue in the high handicap.

Adolfo Cambiaso

Adolfo Cambiaso puts a lot of demands on his body, playing at the highest levels.

Today, he is really feeling very well. I think the groundwork he does during the year is vital. He usually does two preseasons: a very strong one and another one to help the physique. Both are fundamental. The permanent collaboration of his kinesiologist [Manuel Pablo] is also very important. It is a crucial part for him to stay well, in addition to the special baths and massages.

As for food, his wife María [Vázquez] worries a lot. There is a lot of commitment and things around that don’t allow you to say with certainty when he might start to lower his level.

Today, he is really feeling very well. I think the groundwork he does during the year is vital. ”

--DR. WALTER MIRA

When did you start working with polo players, and how did you come to Cambiaso?

I started working with polo about 13 or 14 years ago and I have been working with Adolfo Cambiaso and La Dolfina for 12 years. But, since I also travel with Adolfo, then the bond with him is closer. Our relationship started through Juan Carlos Menchón. I had already worked with him with tennis

players, such as Juan Manuel ‘Pico’ Mónaco (he reached 10th in the Association of Tennis Professionals ranking), Mariano Zabaleta (21st) and Luis Horna (33rd).

I had a medical consultation with Juan Carlos Menchón and he asked me to give him a hand with a groin injury Adolfo was suffering from. That’s when we met and from then on we continued working together.

What is the work schedule like?

The polo players have a highperformance season outside Argentina and then a highcompetition season in the Argentine Triple Crown. We, in particular, do a

Dr. Walter Mira says the most common injuries for polo players are to the elbow, shoulder and back.

physical preparation before the Triple Crown. We also take advantage of some gaps between the seasons in the United States and England. During those periods we can work with a little more intensity. But the truth is that physical preparation never stops. We work throughout the year until Palermo ends and the holidays begin.

Do you usually travel with him?

Only when he asks me to. He tells me, “Mira, let’s go there.” And that’s where we go. The travel schedule is arranged on the spot. There is no annual schedule or a period where I usually travel. It depends on the needs.

Last year, for example, he stayed to train in Argentina in August and didn’t go anywhere. Now, it is more variable, before it was more stable. I think it is also a product of experience and the need to train a little more and compete less. Something similar happened in tennis; Federer, as he grew older, also competed less.

What are the most common ailments in a polo player?

I believe that the most common injuries are at the level of the elbow, shoulder and probably the lumbar region. Surely in a few years, some studies will appear regarding the incidence of herniated discs and injuries caused by force and tear or overuse of the shoulder, elbow and spine joints. But, then you have to add to that all the traumatic injuries that occur in polo due to the speed, intensity and impetus with which the game is played. It is difficult to say a polo player will never have this injury. The truth is that you can get injured from anything.

How are these ailments treated and prevented?

The best prevention is training. There is no doubt about it. But,

there is no generality for each particular injury. We can use 10 or 12 variants in the treatment, ranging from physiotherapy to plasma, in addition to other new treatments. The pathology must be sought, found, diagnosed accurately and, based on that, treatment must be given. But, the treatments vary greatly.

Since Adolfo Cambiaso began playing, the preparation and physical care has changed radically for the professional polo player. The sport has grown exponentially and its rigor increased dramatically. Training, stamina demands and wear and tear have increased, and the best player in the world had to adapt, to not only

optimize his game, but to stretch his career.

Cambiaso, thanks to his enormous talent, never needed to dedicate much time to his physique in his early years as a player. But, then he reached an age where it became first necessary and then imperative.

In the elite of this sport, nothing can be left to chance. This is not the case with the horses or the players, who take care of their physiques for their best performance. That is why medical teams made up of excellent professionals such as Walter Mira are as fundamental as the best grooms.

Orthopedic surgeon Walter Mira, far right, has been working with Adolfo Cambiaso and the La Dolfina team for the past 12 years.

USPA NATIONAL TOURNAMENTS

JOE BARRY MEMORIAL

12 to 16 goal | Port Mayaca Polo Club | Okeechobee, Florida | Jan. 14-28

Final score:

9-8

Winner:

Forbes Plunkett (Brandon Plunkett, Nico Escobar, Pipe Vercellino, Lucas Escobar)

Runners-up:

BTA (Nachi Viana, Steve Krueger, Alfonso Pieres, Kelly Beal)

MVP: Pipe Vercellino

Best Playing Pony: Alfonso Pieres’ Señora Lunareja

Forbes Plunkett topped eight teams to take the Joe Barry Memorial. With the teams divided into two brackets, Forbes Plunkett stumbled out of the gate, falling to BTA, 8-6. It went on to defeat SD Farms/Old Hickory Bourbon, 10-8, and Palm Beach Equine, 15-8.

BTA beat Palm Beach Equine, 13-7, but fell to SD Farms/Old Hickory Bourbon, 10-9. Both Forbes and BTA qualified for the semis. BTA narrowly edged La Fe/Dazos, 10-9, while Forbes Plunkett slipped Patagones, 12-11.

BTA and Forbes Plunkett met in the final. Both teams benefited from a pair of Penalty 2s and a Penalty 1 in the first half, but three goals from Nico Escobar gave Forbes the 6-3 lead at the half.

In the next 14 minutes, Nachi Viana dug out of the hole BTA was in, scoring three goals, but a Penalty 3 by Vercellino kept Forbes narrowly on top going into the final chukker. The teams matched goals in the last chukker, but Forbes Plunkett was able to hang on for the win.

Forbes Plunkett’s Lucas Escobar, Pipe Vercellino, Nico Escobar and Brandon Plunkett

David Lominska

MONTY WATERBURY

16 to 20 goal | Port Mayaca Polo Club | Okeechobee, Florida | Jan. 27-Feb. 23

Palm Beach Equine’s Dylan Rossiter was MVP.

Final score:

12-10

Winner:

Palm Beach Equine (Dylan Rossiter, Santino Magrini, Gringo Colombres, Scott Swerdlin)

Runners-up:

Bull Market (Kris Kampsen, Facha Valent, Matias Magrini, Memo Gracida)

MVP:

Dylan Rossiter

Best Playing Pony:

Gringo Colombres’ Tita

When Scott Swerdlin and Memo Gracida entered the field for the Monty Waterbury final, both were looking for wins more than 25 years since the last time their names were etched into the historic trophy. Swerdlin won the tournament in 1995, while Gracida won it in 1978 and 1998. This year, Swerdlin’s Palm Beach Equine team led Bracket I while Bull Market, with Gracida, led Bracket II. To get to the final, Bull Market advanced over The Dutta Corp, 8-7, while Palm Beach Equine beat Las Brisas, 13-7, in the semis. Bull Market and Palm Beach Equine had faced each other in bracket play, with Palm Beach Equine taking a narrow 11-10 win. The final was another tight game with Bull Market taking an early 5-1 lead before the teams locked 5-5 at the half. Bull Market took a 9-8 advantage into the sixth period before Palm Beach Equine powered ahead 4-1 to win.

Palm Beach Equine’s Dylan Rossiter led the day with eight tallies, including four Penalty 2s. Kris Kampsen led Bull Market with six, including four penalty conversions.

David Lominska

YLVISAKER CUP

12 to 16 goal | Patagones Polo Club | Wellington, Florida | Jan. 30-Feb. 25

Clearwater’s Lucas Diaz Alberdi was MVP and his Guinda, an Argentine mare playing her first season in the U.S., was Best Playing Pony.

Final score:

14-13

Winner:

Clearwater (Benja Quiroga, Gringo Colombres, Lucas Diaz Alberdi, Camp Campbell)

Runners-up:

SD Farms/Old Hickory Bourbon (Sayyu Dantata Jr., Peco Polledo, Nino Obregon, Stevie Orthwein)

MVP:

Lucas Diaz Alberdi

Best Playing Pony:

Lucas Diaz Alberdi’s Guinda

Clearwater topped an 11-team lineup to win the Ylvisaker Cup, the second of four qualifier tournaments for the NPC 16-goal Championship.

Copperline Farm (Ben Ketchum, Nico Escobar, Pipe Vercellino, Lucas Escobar), the only team to defeat Clearwater, topped Bracket I, while Mayer Ranch (Kenny Mayer, Matt Coppola, Costi Caset, Jared Zenni) led Bracket II. They headed to the semis against second place SD Farms/Old Hickory Bourbon and Clearwater, respectively.

The second place teams advanced in both games, getting the wins when it mattered most.

In the final, the teams were level for the first 14 minutes before Clearwater took an 8-7 edge going into the half. A 5-0 fourth chukker increased Clearwater’s advantage. SD Farms chipped away at the deficit for the next 14 minutes but ran out of time with just a goal separating the teams. Lucas Diaz Alberdi was MVP after an incredible effort and his Guinda went home with the Best Playing Pony blanket.

David Lominska

Dispatches from the world of polo

NATIONAL COPPER CUP

12 goal | Sarasota Polo Club | Sarasota, Florida | Feb. 4-March 1

Final score:

15-7

Winner:

Barefield (Mark Mulligan, Nachi Viana, Vasco Iriarte, Joaquin Arguello, Ignacio Arbelbide)

Runners-up:

Whiskey Pond (Brent Hamill, Guille Aguero, Leon Schwencke, Bautista Riglos, Manu Mazzocchi)

MVP:

Nachi Viana

Best Playing Pony:

Nachi Viana’s Kournikova

Barefield led five teams with a perfect record in the Copper Cup. They faced Whiskey Pony in the final and quickly took a 3-1 lead. Whiskey Pond closed the gap in the next two chukkers, ending the first half with Barefield ahead, 5-4.

Barefield capitalized on Whiskey Pond’s mistakes in the second half as Nachi Viana sunk six goals in the fourth and fifth, five from the penalty line. Whiskey Pond managed to score three goals from the field off the mallets of Manu Mazzocchi and Guille Aguero, but they were matched by goals from Joaquin Arguello and Vasco Iriarte. In the end, Barefield held the wide advantage.

Viana, who scored a game high eight goals, six from the penalty line, was MVP and his Kournikova (Fino Nevado x Kourkova), a 9-year-old gray mare from Argentina, was Best Playing Pony.

Barefield’s Mark Mulligan said, “This one was special because we have planned for well over a year and a half to put a team like this together...”

MVP Nachi Viana gets a hold of the ball aboard Best Playing Pony Kournikova.

Eric Nalpas

TEXAS TRAINED

Some of polo’s top horses were started on ranches

Photos by Carl Mydans/The Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Not long after polo was brought to the United States, the polo pony business in Texas was in full swing.

After seeing the game played in England, New York Herald publisher James Gordon Bennett organized the first polo match in the United States in New York City in early 1876.

H.L. Herbert, the first chairman of the Polo Association of America, recalled that introductory game in an interview with The Field that was later quoted in a May 1939 New York Times article.

“It was the year 1876 that James Gordon Bennett brought to New York from London a number of forage caps, jerseys, mallets, and balls, and, with about a dozen of his sport-loving associates, had a try at the game on the tanbark of Dickel’s Riding Academy, then located at Thirty-ninth Street and Fifth Avenue, where the Union League Club now stands. A few days later, with such ponies of about 13 hands as were owned by the players or their friends, or could be jobbed from the riding school, another

attempt was made at the Jerome Park race track on the grass between the steeplechase jumps,” he said.

With the ponies having never played the game, it likely left a lot to be desired. Bennett was soon on the hunt for more and better ponies.

An April 4, 1876, Galveston Daily News article mentions New Yorker Harry Blasson, an agent of Bennett’s, in Texas looking to purchase 20 small ponies for a polo club. An article in the same paper the following week suggests Blasson found what he was

These Appendix colts were out of H.P. Whitney’s Thoroughbreds. They were raised at Joe Short’s Peachtree Ranch in Bandera, Texas.

looking for, but understandably, they were likely not yet trained for polo.

“These Texas ponies understand another game which will be new to the New York horsemen--that is, bucking. When they bow their backs, put their heads between their forelegs, and point to the zenith with their hind feet, the polo players will naturally get off without standing on the order of dismounting. Bucking against the tiger is play compared with the game with the Texas mustang. The practicing parties of the polo men will be equal to witnessing the attempts to ride the trick mules in the circus.

Young New-York has different work before it from that of imitating the elder Weller and driving old-fashioned stage-coaches with plow-horse teams. Grand and

Perhaps the Texans wanted to get in on the action as a few weeks later the Galveston Daily News reported on a new polo club in Denison.

In Herbert’s interview with The Field, he continued, “In the early summer of 1877 it was a newspaper account which brought about the formation of the Brighton Polo Club at Long Branch, N.J., which at that time was considered a rival Summer resort to Newport. It happened that a number of ranch ponies from Texas had arrived at Long Branch to be sold. Some of them were saddle broke, but none had ever see a polo mallet, nor had the half dozen men who were sitting on the porch of a seaside cottage any more knowledge of the game than the newspaper account of shinny on horseback had given them.”

lofty tumbling will be the chief feature of polo for the first few games,” the article said.

Polo prospects were used to herd cattle, learning the quick moves needed for polo.

George Miller played polo into his 70s.

It appears, the Texans soon realized they could make a larger profit if they trained the ponies for polo before shipping them to the East Coast.

In Perry Garland’s book “An American Saga: William George Hughes, 18591902,” he writes about horseman Bob Hobson, who immigrated from England to Texas in 1879, and was fascinated with mustangs. He would find the best animals to ship to New York to race. When demand

for polo ponies outpaced that for racehorses, he made the switch. He eventually moved to New York, however his cousin Willy Hughes, who owned a ranch in Boerne where Hobson operated his horse business, continued to breed and train polo ponies to ship east.

A 1935 article by Peter Vischer says some 15,000 polo ponies had come out of Texas since 1885.

“The germ from which grew Texas polo as we know it today was planted at San Antonio in 1885 by a dealer in horses from Iowa named Pat Jones. He had seen polo played around New York and decided that the shipping of cow ponies from Texas to New York for sportsmen eager to play the new game would be a profitable venture,” he wrote. “Some of the greatest mounts in the history of the game have come from Texas. And the era of the Texas pony, the Western pony, is in my opinion only beginning.”

A few years after Jones, John C. Jacobs of San Antonio, a one-time Texas Ranger, emerged as a polo pony dealer. He made a name for himself with a big, rawboned bay gelding he sold to Harry Payne Whitney. The horse, aptly called Jacobs, was played by Devereux Milburn in the international matches in 1913 and 1914.

By 1895, Harry Tappin, John Meade and a dealer named Underwood were among those scouring Texas ranches for the best available cow ponies. In 1904, Hugh Coyle emerged. Eventually, Coyle partnered up with Fred Post. Coyle would scout out local ponies for Post, a horse dealer located in the center of polo activity in Long Island. Coyle shipped some 3,000 horses east over the next 20 years. There was such high demand that he spent $150,000 to $200,000 a year buying polo prospects. One pony was the famous Gay Boy, a bay Appendix gelding working as a cow pony when Coyle bought him for $350 from Will Gay. Averell Harriman later bought Gay Boy and he went on to play five chukkers in two games in the 1927 international matches under Malcolm Stevenson. He was considered the greatest polo pony of his time.

At some point the stockier Texas ranch horse was crossed with a Thoroughbred to add height and create a horse that could go the distance. Some say the King Ranch was the first to do so.

A 1939 article in Life magazine noted,

Lea Aldwell trained a young mallet-shy mare by hanging mallets in her stall, circa 1939.

“In the last 30 years the U.S. polo pony business has grown from a crude system of horse-swapping to a scientific system of breeding and training. But though it has come from rough breeches to fancy pants, it is just as risky, just as cutthroat as ever. Any stable stands to make big profits or go into the red, depending on its luck with ponies and the sharpness of its rivals’ trading. Only men like shrewd old George Miller, who runs the world’s biggest training and buying stable, make the business profitable year after year.”

A 1905 article by T.F. Dale points to Miller as someone training polo ponies with all the best characteristics needed for the sport.

Dale wrote of Nipcat, one of the ponies ridden by Miller in the international tournaments and in some 30 first class matches, as one fine example of a thickset type of pony.

Miller founded the Austin Polo Club and owned Miller field in San Antonio. He also patented the hackamore bridle as well as the Miller gag bit. Cecil Smith apparently said George Miller knew more about horses than anyone he had ever known and he was credited with teaching him most of what he knew about them.

A 1955 article in Sports Illustrated described Miller as crotchety, pololoving man, who owned a livery stable. According to the article, he was traveling through Llano, Texas, with a string of polo prospects in the 1920s.

“These were the days before jeeps were used to herd cattle on the western ranges, and the best early training a polo pony could get was to ride down young beef on the hoof. The training came naturally--in sudden stops and turns and galloping pursuits after rambunctious calves,” the article read.

Smith, who was born and raised in Llano, was working cattle with his father when Miller came to town.

The Sports Illustrated article goes on

William Braid, right, and his groom. Braid kept his 10 horses at George Miller’s stable during the winter and traveled in the summer.

Polo prospects practice meeting oncoming horses before being tested in games.

to say, “Miller invited young Smith to drop by and play some polo. Smith did, along with a few other cowhands, and as one of ‘George Miller’s boys’ was thereby launched on his unique career as a dealer-player that has kept him always on the move. Miller, who died in 1946, got to be one of the first big dealers in polo ponies, and Smith became his chief disciple. Today he earns his living by developing and selling them and by operating at the same time much as a touring golf pro.”

According to Life, these dealerplayers like Rube Williams, Jack Semons, the Barry Brothers and Smith, who went on to earn a 10-goal handicap, trained ponies during the winter months and sold them in the

summer throughout the country in polo hot spots like New York, Illinois and California. Smith told Sports Illustrated that each year, he would buy about a dozen prospects for around $500 each, train them and sell them for between $1,500 and $3,000.

“Fellows like Rube Williams and myself used to leave Texas and sell our best horses out from under us in a month or so,” Smith said. “Then we’d play the rest of the season on what we had left, or on what someone loaned us ... “

The article said Smith’s astute pony trading was an integral part of his abiding interest in a game that had its troubles in the less profligate postwar era, and that were it not for Smith and other onetime cowpunching, horse-

conscious Texans, polo might not have survived.

Some of Smith’s Texas-bred horses were later recognized as National Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame Horses to Remember, including Bonnie J and Rotallen.

Vischer wrote, “Curiously, although Texas’ two-footed players (led by Cecil Smith and Rube Williams) really deserve full credit for bringing the state into the public limelight, the emphasis in Texas is still on horses rather than on men. The talk is of horses, breeding, training, and not, as is so often the case in the East, of men and handicaps and goals and money.”

Trainers got the horses accustomed to rideoffs by riding in close contact with each other.