Wilbur O’Ferral with members of the Work to Ride team at the Braves/Marlins baseball game Photo by Liz Holson
Catching up: Former Texas A&M polo players Frances Hinkle and Elise Jemmont have completed orientation and are now officially in their first year pursuing a Veterinary Medicine degree, also at A&M.
Former Palm Beach Equine vet to polo players inFloridaand Texas Michelle Dumas-Agrons has also gone back to school….she is pursuing a medical degree so she can treat humans as well as animals!
Texas has had a record 40 days of 100+ degree temps this summer…so Houston Polo Club instructor Mark Prinsloo has an idea to beat the heat….rumor is next summer HPC polo school will be held at Melody Ranch during the Jackson Hole, WY summer polo season!
In conjunction with its recent merger with Brookshire Polo Club, Houston Polo Club is welcoming polo player Alee Messina as their new sales and marketing rep! Nothing like a polo player to help create a polo fan.
John Bary has on schedule a five-race, three-country campaign with New Zealand Derby winner Jimmy Choux who used to train polo ponies before moving on to race horses.
Wedding bells: In Wyoming Scot Shields and Jen Kraft, and Drew Luplow and Amanda Diehl tied the knot, while in Michigan Nick Cifuni and Libby Keating exchanged vows this month.
Shane Winkler and his squad will be missing from IPC during its busy winter season. Formerly a fields manager and announcer at IPC, Shane accepted a year round job in Wyoming, and will be missing his first winter season in Florida in over 10 years.
Congratulations to Herbert Spencer, doyen of polo communicators, has been made a Life Member of the Hurlingham Polo Association in recognition of his more than 40 years working in the international polo community. Herbert published polo’s first coffee table book, Chakkar, in 1971; an international magazine of the same title in the 1980s; and his second book on the sport, A Century of Polo, in 1994. He is currently Deputy Editor of Hurlingham magazine; columnist and feature writer of Polo Times; principal polo writer of Horse & Hound; and a contributor to Polo Players Edition (US). His international communications consultancy, Herbert Spencer Media, is based inBerkshire,England.
We recently heard that Tracy Topping has given the International Polo Club Lodge and the Wanders Club a much needed face lift. The renderings are fabulous and when polo season opens everyone’s jaws will drop with excitement, we promise.
Bumps and Bruises: Leo Benjamin is recovering from a broken hip sustained after Nancy’s horse spooked, and collided with him! Knowing Leo, he’ll be back in the saddle in record time.
This seemed to be The Summer of the Collar Bone. Trystan Smith in Poway, CA, Jared Sheldon in Santa Barbara, CA and Rodrigo Moran of Jackson HoleWyoming all broke collar bones this past summer while playing. Each is expected to recover.
Sugar Erskine went into a hard bump with Jeff Blake in Santa Barbara, and his horse went down. He tore the ligaments in his ankle in the wreck, and was replaced by Carlos Gracida for the rest of the season.
Rick Pacius took a ball to the face inAspen, fracturing his cheekbone and making him look like (in his words) a medicated chipmunk.
News to share: New baby, engagement, pickup truck? On the move, having parties, falling off horses? Share what’s happenin’ with your polo friends by e-mailing us at editor@sidelinesnews.com. Be sure to put “News for Asides” in the subject line.
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