74 SIDELINES SEPTEMBER 2013
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
mountains in Sun Valley and foxhunting in Wellington, Florida.
She traveled the country in a two-horse trailer topped by my
kayaks and even got to herd cattle at Nina Evan’s family ranch in
West Texas. India, my Argentine Paint mare, came from the Casa
Manila team at 17 years of age. She was certainly the best-trained
polo pony I ever sat on and we traveled the country playing low
goal for 12 years together.
Buddy was named in our first “name that puppy contest.” The
Busch’s suggested the name “Budweiser” (for obvious reasons)
and that is how Buddy got his name. I adopted Mojo, a daschund,
while visiting Nana Lampton and playing polo in Louisville,
Kentucky in 1998. Another beautiful paint mare, Katchina, turned
me on to GaWaNi Pony Boy at Equitana in Lexington, Kentucky.
I had just purchased her from my favorite polo pony dealer and
lifelong friend, BJ Buck, when I met GaWaNi Pony Boy. He
encouraged me to take Katchina, who was at the bottom of the
pecking order, and travel alone with her to get to know her. I did,
and that advice began a whole new understanding of partnership
with my animals. So you see, the animals got me there and the
animals keep me here as they do for so many of us.
A Ride Down Memory Lane
Sorting through old issues was a blast and it was rewarding to
see the progression of quality in our paper and our product. There
was a long time when our inner-office joke when we discovered
yet another typo, was “Hey, it’s just Sidelines!” But all that has
changed and now we pride ourselves on a slick magazine that
belongs on coffee tables and in tack rooms all across the country.
I can’t celebrate 25 years without thanking some very important
horsemen who helped build this magazine along the way. How
about Mr. Blue Book, Bill Matheson? For those who know Billy,
he is brilliant – like a walking encyclopedia for polo facts. There
wouldn’t have been a
Sidelines
without his help. My very first issue
I rang his doorbell and begged him to edit my first story! Not only
did he do that immediately, but he also managed to keep my voice
and make me sound like a writer. Amazing! He was hired. He will
probably tell you at slave wages, but it started a long partnership
and lifelong friendship.
My best friend in Florida, David Lominska, was breaking into the
world of photography in polo at that time. He is now the premiere
polo photographer in the country. He not only helped me pick the
name
Sidelines
, but he was also “the” photographer for all things
polo in
Sidelines
for many years.
Next comes Cornelia Bernard Henderson. I had known Neil and
played polo with her dad, Ed, for many years and I knew that
Neil knew everything I didn’t know about editing. Neil stayed with
Sidelines
for 15 years until she retired just about one year ago.
We are still fast friends and foxhunt and trail blaze to this day.
I probably run a risk by only mentioning a few of my past
Sideliners,
because there really have been so many. Honestly,
until we finally stabilized the business there was a revolving door
of help. Funny how no one wanted to work 24/7 like me just for
passion and no pay!
The Journey Continues
Now, 25 years into this love affair,
Sidelines
is much more than
just Sam and her four-legged family traveling the country. Today,
we are an accomplished team, one I never really dreamed I would
be blessed enough to gather.
Sidelines
has not only been my passport to the world of horses
and its lifestyle, but it has also been a team
– even a family.
That being said, I want to thank everyone,
from all of my loved ones who have moved
on before me to my present
Sidelines
team
and, most importantly, all of our new and
longtime loyal readers. You are what keep
us going and I hope you will be with us for
another 25 years!
About the writer: Samantha Charles is
the owner and
publisher of Sidelines Magazine, the South Florida Social
Handbook and The Barn Book. The daughter of a crop
duster who moved her all over the country, Sam didn’t
get to fulfill her lifelong desire to ride until she left home
and bought her first horse. She learned to ride, self-
taught, on the racetrack by borrowing lead ponies and
getting run away with before the track opened. She found
polo in 1979 and played until she moved to Aiken, South
Carolina in 2005. She is now on staff with Whiskey Road
Fox Hounds in Aiken and active in community trail riding.
Photos courtesy of Samantha Charles
Samantha’s string of Paint polo ponies at her In The Pink farm in
Wellington, Florida.
Samantha and her fiancée, Jerry Spitler,
hunting with Whiskey Road Fox Hounds in
Aiken, South Carolina.
