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Catching up: Whatta guy! Robert Orthwein was named Wellington’s 2011 Equestrian Idol after rapping his way to victory, beating out fellow polo player/dressage rider and previous year’s winner

Dena Miller has been invited by Clint Nangleto join the Equine Welfare Committee . Since founding Ladies Polo Auxiliary of Texas in 2005, LPA has raised money and awareness for Ranch Hand Rescue, an organization in North Texas that rescues abused and neglected horses, has followed up on reports of polo ponies sent to slaughter and gotten to the bottom of various reports of horse abuse and neglect. That should provide her with good background on the Equine Welfare Committee.

A round of applause for Samantha Charles , who was honored at the Outback 40 Goal Challenge for being one of the folks behind the whole thing, way back when! “Honestly,” says Sam, “ Dave [Offen ] and I started it together, I did not “start” it, but it was kind of him to recognize me…” Sam was presented with one of the paintings that Heidi McGrath did of all the 10 goalers (22 of them) who have played over the years in the Challenge.

Ryan Boger tells us that the U.S. Polo Association chose 23-year-old polo standout Steve Krueger as the winner of the frst Equus & Co. Award. The award honors a Team USPA player for his or her commitment to the sport of polo and its growth in the United States.

Five fnalists from Team USPA were in the running for the Equus & Co. Award based on their leadership and communication skills, sportsmanship on the feld and participation in key Team USPA programs over the past year and Steve took home the award and $5,000 from Equus & Co. in front of a packed stadium at IPC!

John Goodman has been getting a lot of positive press lately, due to the International Polo Club’s sponsorship of the U.S. leg of the Exquis World Dressage Masters, held March 9-11 in Florida. The Palm Beach Post quoted dressage newshound Ken Braddick as saying ““They stepped forward to save the only fve-star dressage event in the western hemisphere.”

Andrew Tatgenhorst, Esquire, passed the Bar and is practicing in PB Gardens. Remembr when he was just a little kid, distributing Sidelines the newspaper at games?

Ronai White , patron of CasaBlanca, was excited to celebrate the win of the frst of her winter tournaments at Eldorado (OR EMPIRE???) , as she will be hanging up her spurs after 17 years of playing as soon as the winter season ends in April.

We dare say Nic Roldan took a bit of ribbing after the Palm Beach Post dubbed him “the prince of polo!”

Wedding bells? Chris Nevins recently celebrated a birthday, and on the same day proposed to girlfriend Tiffany Foster. The two have not yet set a date.

Club News: Prestonwood Polo and Country Club has acquired the fnal 47 acres adjacent to their property, and are moving forward with their original plan to develop an exclusive, luxurious polo community in North Texas horse country. Next phase after homes? The third Prestonwood Country Club location with pool, tennis courts and of course, more polo!

U.S. women’s polo went international in February, as Karen Reese, Tiffany Busch, Cecelia Cochran and Lauren Biddle traveled to Jamaica to compete in their annual international match. Although the U.S. team did not come home with the win, a great time was had by all.

From the warm beaches of Jamaica, a tougher breed of polo players will be playing polo on the wintery New England Coast for the Newport Polo Club’s annual beach polo fundraiser . Brrrr!

The Gay Polo League pulled off another winner with their tournament at the El Dorado Polo Club in Indio, California recently. 750 spectators showed up to watch a great game of polo and listen to William Devane , who was the voice of polo for the day. We also heard that Bobby Drennen is going to make it east to help out with the Gay Polo Event in Wellington in April. Bobby tells us he is going to run the VIP tent at feld side and that he is currently negotiating to be the keeper of the VIP section at ringside at the National Horse Show in the fall. It will be nice to have Bobby back on the east side of the Mississippi.

Leah Lewandowski, Allison Mayer, Chelsea Stotka and Andrew Tatgenhorst do the divot stomp at IPC