52 SIDELINES OCTOBER 2011
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
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Polo Makes Debut at the 2011
Pony Club Festival
United States Polo Association Solidifying Sport as U.S. Pony Club Discipline
Pony club members got a chance to ride the mechanical polo
pony, Dreamer
Polo playing Pony Club members took a moment to smile for the camera with USPA offcials after their polo demonstration
Left to right: Chuck Weaver, Katie Graham, Amanda Hersey, Trystan Smith, Austin Allen, Katie Webb, Riley Rockford, Ty
Morris, Jim Wright, Margie Paur and Ed Armstrong
Over 350 Pony Club members rallied at the Kentucky
Horse Park during the 2011 Pony Club Festival where polo
made its offcial debut with three days of activities organized
by the United States Polo Association. The event kicked off
Sunday with a polo demonstration in front of a crowd of 150
people eager to sign up for the polo clinics starting Monday.
The clinics included an interactive polo session on
a mechanical horse and mounted exercises to give
participants a feel for riding in the saddle, swinging a mallet
and hitting the ball towards the goal. With its success and
popularity among Pony Club participants at the event, the
sport is poised to establish itself as an offcial U.S. Pony
Club (USPC) discipline in the near future.
“Polo’s presence at the Pony Club Festival is a positive
reinforcement that together with USPC, we can reach
young riders everywhere and help them develop their
horsemanship skills and teach them how to play this exciting
sport,” said USPA Executive Director Peter Rizzo. “Pony
Club members will also have the opportunity to advance
through the USPA’s Interscholastic and Intercollegiate
programs as they grow older, allowing them to stay in the
sport for years to come.”
The United States Pony Club is also optimistic about
the long term potential polo has as a full discipline in Pony
Club. According to USPC Activities Services Director,
Wayne Quarles, “We feel certain that the cooperation
between USPA and USPC will create great opportunities
for our membership.”
The joint venture between USPA and USPC has been
years in the making and the two organizations have
reached a verbal agreement to incorporate polo into the
Pony Club discipline program in a cross-promotional effort
to capture the interest of young horsemen and women
nationwide. The offcial roll out is set for January 2012 at the
USPC Annual Meeting in New Orleans.
The USPA plans to offer a free introductory membership to Pony
Club members across the country and is currently working with its
member clubs and other polo entities to offer polo to the USPC
regions in the form of educational clinics. The U.S. Pony Club has
experienced resounding success in teaching riding, safety, and
horsemanship skills – all important building blocks for learning to
play polo.
For more information on U.S. polo, or to get in on the action and
schedule a lesson, visit www.uspolo.org. For more details on the
U.S. Pony Club, visit www.ponyclub.org.