64 SIDELINES SEPTEMBER 2013
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
up polo, Harrison credited Kimo
Huddleston, six-goal pro at San
Diego Polo Club, for improving
his game.
“Playing outdoors on grass,
polo is more of a thinking game
because of the bigger playing
field,” Harrison said. “Kimo
helped me with things like,
what’s the correct play to make
in
this
situation and what do I
do when I have the ball in
that
situation? He coached me on
passes for a defensive play and
the best spot to back it – never
ever back it in a straight line,
and if you aren’t sure where to
hit the ball, make a line change,
which will mess with the
opposing team from making a
breakaway. The mental aspect
of polo really appeals to me.”
Harrison will return this fall to
study biology at Roger Williams University. The waterfront campus
in Rhode Island seems ideally suited to his interest in ecology and
environmental studies. “I want to do something outdoorsy, animals
or something,” Harrison specified, harking back to the summer he
spent as an intern at the lower James River in Virginia. He’d also
like to play on RWU’s intercollegiate polo team.
In 2012, Harrison’s high school team, Poway, made the
USPA Interscholastic Arena Polo semi-finals, but was defeated
in a double-overtime shootout by Cowtown-Work To Ride, who
earned the national championship for the second year running.
Win or lose, it was a great match.
“My other mentor, Billy Sheldon, my interscholastic coach at
Poway, stressed team work and talked about team plays and
how to use your teammates instead of doing it by yourself,”
said Harrison. “I like offense although I’m pretty well-rounded in
offense and defense. I haven’t really thought about the future. I
know I’ll stay in polo for the rest of my life, but I don’t really know
what path I’ll take.”
The six-week Developing Player training camp in Wyoming
might give some direction to his thoughts.
“I’m bringing four of my own horses and TeamUSPA is providing
two for me,” Harrison said, but his favorite, Machito, stayed home
for his brother David. “She has extremely fast lateral movement,
stops fast and does rollbacks. She makes it easy to follow the
action. At the camp, I’m looking forward to coaching from Owen
Rinehart. I like his style: straightforward, easy to understand. I got
a lot out what he was telling me in Florida during the February
clinic.”
Editor’s Note: The U.S. Polo Association, the national governing body for the
sport of polo, named eight players to the 2013 Team USPA Developing Players
program. Throughout 2013, Sidelines staff writer Lauren R. Giannini has interviewed
and written about all eight players. This story on Harrison Samaniego is the final story
in the eight-part series. It has been our pleasure to introduce you to these talented
young riders – they are the future of polo! You can follow the action at uspolo.org
Harrison (right) rides the line of play to the boards in a practice
game during Team USPA’s three day clinic in February at the
Everglades Polo Club in Wellington, Florida.
Harrison Samaniego
Photos By
Elizabeth A. Hedley, USPA-NCD
By Lauren R. Giannini
Harrison Samaniego of Rancho Sante Fe, California was a
toddler when he got hooked on riding, perched on the laps of his
parents, David and Julia, and his grandmother, Payne Taylor, of
Charles City, Virginia. With about 14 years of polo under his belt,
Harrison applied for the USPA Developing Player program and
was thrilled to hear he had made the 2013 team.
“It’s an amazing training opportunity, one that I would never get
otherwise,” said Harrison, now 19. “Both my parents coached me,
and my father was still playing polo when I was four and started
playing Pee Wee Chukkers.”
He has fun memories of riding a Shetland Pony and being led
around on a leadline to play. “My brother David (now 21) did it too,”
recalled Harrison. “We played Pee Wee Chukkers every Sunday.
One of the kids is a pro, Jesse Bray. He’s on Team USPA.”
When Harrison was five, he was liberated from the leadline
to play Beginner Chukkers. “It was all arena polo, safer for kids
because the ponies and horses couldn’t run away with us the way
they might on a grass field,” explained Harrison. “I started playing
my first grass chukkers when I was 13, but it was mostly arena
polo until I was 14.”
In addition to parental coaching, thanks to his mother who played
for University of Virginia and encouraged the entire family to take
e
Polo
Harrison Samaniego
Thrilled With Team USPA
