Yakima polo

Went to Yakima over the weekend for my second try at polo. The venue was the White Swan Polo Club in a beautiful valley just through the Union Gap outside of Yakima. I had planned on participating in an indoor tournament at the Tacoma Club, but because it was canceled I had the opportunity to head over to Yakima. I was looking as much forward to the sunshine as the polo. I got a lift with a buddy, Jason, who played polo at WSU and now lives in Seattle. He's originally from Yakima and is now pretty much the guy in charge of running the club (organizing, keeping the field mowed, etc.). Jason has played all over the States, Canada and in Argentina, so he was a great resource for this rookie both on the ride over and during the weekend.

We left early Saturday morning. The trip over to Yakima, through the Cascade Mountains and then through eastern Washington, reminded me a lot of landscapes in Germany, Nebraska and New Mexico. It was just nice getting back into wide open spaces. We picked up Jason's truck and trailer at his parent's place in Yakima, retrieved his horses from the pasture at his family's auction yard and then, after grabbing some beer at Costco and other grub for dinner and breakfast on Sunday, headed for for the polo field. The hope was to be groomed, tacked and ready to play by 2:00pm. Well, the Kentucky Derby got a little in the way...but in a good way. We jumped across the road to the ranch house to have mint julips and watch the derby. Jason had to pop back out to the field early to mow the field (he had to use his truck to pull the mower blades since the tractor was out of commission).

I helped Virginia and Laura (my riding coach) groom their horses and then helped Jason with his since I would be using one of his horses for the weekend. I got the tail wrap down pretty well, but the rest of the tack still escapes me. There's a lot of leather on the polo bridles. Didn't even try the leg wraps as its pretty important to do them correctly and I didn't want to screw them up. Jason let me ride "Aticus" (sp?). Poor Aticus, he really put up with a lot from me. He definitely wins the "putting up with a newbie award". I went to do some stick and ball at the end of the field with Laura to get the feel for the game again and quickly figured out that Aticus didn't like any pressure on his mouth...any pressure including stopping and turning. Laura confirmed it since she had ridden him in the past. I got back into the polo thing pretty quickly and even hit the ball three times in a row once...at the canter!

Soon it was time to play my chucker. Whoa! It was a lot faster than when I played indoor in Tacoma. I felt a lot better riding this time, but correct playing position and overall strategy were still way beyond me. I had some problems staying light on Aticus' mouth but seemed to get better as the chucker went on. It was the stopping that was difficult for me. I just need to get a lot more riding under my belt. I had a couple - exactly two - good shots and almost scored a goal once. To be honest, I was just glad to stay on the horse and have a lot of good people around to give me pointers...Jason, Gratia, Rick, Jana (sp?), Bill, George, Randy, Virgina, Laura, Zubair, Wendy, Nick, Stacy, Steve and Allan. After the horses were groomed and tucked away in their corals over at the ranch, the evening festivities began. Fresh salmon on the BBQ, George's 'special' zinfandel wine, dogs, good jokes and lots of good people. Then off to our tents to turn in. It was great camping under the clear sky in Yakima.

Red dog slept just outside the flap of my one-man tent all night, protecting me from the wilds of a Yakima polo field.

Sunday morning, we had a breakfast fit for Prince Charles himself. Everyone had brought steak for dinner the night before, but since the salmon took the spotlight we had no choice but to cook up a king-size breakfast. Jason is an incredible cook. I think I had the best BBQ steak I've ever eaten that morning. Randy fried up our Costco hashbrowns and made some amazing scrambled eggs. Laura topped it off with some delicious pancakes.

After getting the horses we learned that Heather, who had been hit on her ankle by a ball, and Zubair wouldn't be joining us. My one-chucker Sunday turned into a four chucker fiesta. Jason asked George Dill if I could use a couple of his horses for two of the chuckers and George obliged.

I rode Aticus the first chucker and had the same problems before. Aticus had to put up with my riding abilities again, but did a great job doing so. I tried my best to stay out of his mouth. I was concentrating a lot more on playing my position, the one position, better. I held back a lot more and let my team mates do their thing and pass forward the ball when appropriate. I had several chances at the ball and hit about two of the ten that I could have. Jason, Bill and Allan were once again really helpful...and patient.

The second chucker I rode George's horse "Proxy". Proxy could turn and stop on a dime so I ended up working more at my riding, balance particularly, more than anything. I ended up with my arms around Proxy's neck many times but I managed to stay on. Proxy new the game well and was usually turning into the play long before I would have known what to do. My balance issues on Proxy certainly humbled me quite a bit on my riding, showing that riding different horses will really be key in my pentathlon training.

Next it was back to Aticus. I think Aticus was getting pretty tired of my strong hold on his mouth. Several times, he would stop turn his head around to the left and just stare at me. Poor guy. I reached out with my left foot and stroked his nose in apology, gave him a pat on the shoulder and reassured him that his time with me was almost over. I tried to not put any pressure on his mouth for the rest of the chucker, relying just on neck reining, verbal and leg aids. We actually finished off petty well, but I'm sure he was glad when I finally jumped off and started untacking him.

The final chucker I rode Goerge's "Sara" (sp?). I felt really bad because George thought I was done riding and had untacked her. A quick response though and George and Laura helped get all the tack back on. George re-wrapped the tail, Laura through on the saddle. Laura and George were even patient enough to instruct me on how to put on the leg wraps correctly. George said she might be a little tired since she was doubling and she thought she was done for the day. George held here while I jumped on and I was off. I put my leg on to go forward...and she was READY TO GO! Didn't seem tired at all and was set for the final chucker of the day. Sara knew the game well and once again was responding to the play sooner than I could. I felt pretty confident on Sara, just had to get used to the swivel stirrups that she had. I lost my footing many times, but Sara didn't stop a beat. I even tried to ride off Nick, one of the best players out there. Nick had been a great teacher all weekend and I think he was being nice to let me ride him off so easily, but I did it and learned a great defensive skill.

Breakdown was pretty leisurely. It had been a long day for all the players and it was a beautiful spring afternoon. I helped George, Laura, Virginia and Jason breakdown. Right as everyone was starting to pull out a former player pulled onto the field, Colby was the last name, with cold champagne. Mr. Colby and his wife were wonderful people and we talked about the days when the club sponsored the Heritage tournament and Nordstrom sponsored the event. Nick, Gratia, Jason came over and we talked about the polo played over the weekend. It was a great close to the weekend.

I feel so lucky to be able to learn the sport from such a great group of people. They were all so helpful and patient with someone that was quite a novice (I didn't even get my tack right the first time I tried it). The phrase "good people" just kept running through my mind. A big thank you to everyone at White Swan Polo Club for putting up with me. I look forward to returning the favor or passing along what they taught me to another novice someday.