72 SIDELINES SEPTEMBER 2013
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
By Samantha Charles
Sidelines Founder and Publisher
Searching through 25 years of old
Sidelines
issues has taken
me on a fantastic journey.
While sifting through old, dusty boxes of
Sidelines
, I discovered
a mission statement I wrote more than 15 years ago. The
rewarding news? After 25 years on this journey, I have actually
reached my goals.
The mission statement I wrote all those years ago reads: “To
play polo, to travel the world, to meet and become friends with the
people who live and know the life of horses, to share my passion in
life, to accomplish something I dreamed of in high school (believe
it or not - to start a newspaper) and, most importantly, to create
communication that brings some of the horse disciplines I love
together.”
A Passion for Polo
My first trip to Wellington, Florida was in 1979, before Forest Hill
Boulevard was paved. During my first year in Wellington there was
a high goal tournament held at the incredible new Palm Beach
Polo and Country Club, built by the dynamic entrepreneur and
once seven-goal player, Bill Ylvisaker. It was the year The World
Cup was moved from Oakbrook in Chicago and it was also my
first year of learning polo in Vermont at the Sugarbush Polo Club.
At the time, Wellington only consisted of a few homes, one row
of condos in the Palm Beach Polo Club, the Players Club and a
huge stadium. I was sufficiently star struck as I watched the polo
cowboys from Texas play the hot shot Argies.
During that game, there was a moment I will never forget when
one of Tommy Wayman’s horses went down and we all thought
she was dead. My eyes were already tearing from the pure
excitement of this incredible game, which was all new to me. In
the end, the mare miraculously got up to live on. I was, as they
say in polo, “hooked”…and that was the beginning of 25 years of
playing polo. I never did play high goal like I fantasized that first
game when I vowed to become the “best woman player in the
world.” However, I have played everywhere from Chili, Hawaii,
New Zealand, Africa to the farthest reaches of this country as well
as Victoria and Vancouver. Along the way, I have met lifelong
friends and I now feel like the luckiest woman in the world.
The Creation of Sidelines
When it comes to
Sidelines
, I owe my beginning to C. Maybe
Runberg (Ortiz now) who had started a newspaper called
The
Polo Posts
. When I arrived in Wellington in 1980, for my second
Polo, Passion
And The
Creation Of
Sidelines
Magazine
e
My Story
Samantha appeared on the 2007 cover of
Sidelines with her beloved polo pony Katchina.
“My Story” is a first person account of life in the equestrian world. Would you like to write your story for Sidelines Magazine? To be
considered, send a brief description of your story to
