Wandering back into the blog....with polo

Wow- the summer got away from me. It was lovely- several trips, several visits, several projects and now it's almost September. I'll ease gently back into blogging  with a completely fluffy piece. Why not- summer, even in the incomparable Black Hills makes my brain mushy.  So here's my mush....


Polo- the sport of kings, the king of sports.  The British and Virginian "royalty" play the classy, evolved form of a sport that  basically is whacking a baseball around with over sized croquet mallets while cantering up and down a soccer field.

 I'm sure some intrepid explorer came back to England and said, "I say, old chaps, I saw the most intriguing thing. Savages on horseback whacking a dead goat with sticks.  We could use our croquet mallets and show them how it's done by civilized men."

 Or something like that.  If you're really interested, http://www.sportpolo.com/history/default.htm

These are serious "polo players".

Some fun polo quotes...

"Polo is arguably the oldest recorded team sport in known history, with the first matches being played in Persia over 2500 years ago. ..These matches could resemble a battle with up to 100 men to a side". (See above photo)

"In England, the first polo match was organized by Captain Edward "Chicken" Hartopp, of the British Cavalry 10th Hussars, on Hounslow Heath in 1869". ( See- Brits  bringing it down a notch, again...)

(American) "James Gordon Bennett is credited with importing polo from England in 1876. The game was a confusing affair that had eight or more players per side and matches lasting the afternoon". (Trust the Americans to make chaos....)

"The feeling of many of its players is epitomized by a famous verse inscribed on a stone tablet next to a polo ground in Gilgit, Pakistan: "Let others play at other things. The king of games is still the game of kings."  (Well, la te da... so much for us commoners)



 AND...."Where will polo ponies come from?  Gone are many of the American horse-breeding ranches and gone are many of the cowboys of the old West. "     sigh....yes, the barren West. 


Or is it ?? Could polo still be alive in the West? 

Why yes- in Hill City, South Dakota! And the sign that caught my eye as I retuned home from church. 

This is what you can do with a telephoto lens... not a iPhone.
Thank you- http://hillcityprevailernews.blogspot.com/

This is big news around here...."All the news, as it happens... " Well, maybe not quite as it happens, this is from last year's game.

http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/polo-gets-western-in-hill-city/article_a5c514ec-d130-11e0-8e8a-001cc4c03286.html


2112's game may be in next week's paper. Hey, what's the rush? It's a polo match in Hill City, SD.

Complete with tailgate parties..... on REAL pickup truck tailgates.


And yes, most of these are working or retired horsemen AND horsewomen.
  Think "the owners of the ranches,
not the working hands".

It is still a recreation activity with expensive equipment.
Hmm.... perhaps western royalty! 

The man in red is crossing the course during the action.....
very carefully-
 not to avoid the horse action but to avoid spilling his champagne. 

Imagine the summer vacationers in the surrounding vacation cabins.
"I'm not kidding! They played polo in our front yard!"

Hill City's Rushmore Polo and Social Club
5-3 over
Black Hills Polo Club

Bragging rights and a trophy that stays at a local restaurant no matter who wins!
It's a friendly once-a-year party.

Quotes from the day- or overhead by yours truly-


Announcer-  "Have you guys been drinking? No one is listening to me!"  ( I will say the second half was a little slower after the intermission with flowing champagne and a silly hat contest)

Girl on sidelines- "My grandfather started it all after he came home from the Army. He learned to play polo there." Turns out it's not teenage bragging- "Representing Rapid City will be veteran rancher Kurt Ketelsen from north of Ellsworth (whose father and grandfather played polo with the Fort Meade cavalry in the ’30s)" http://hillcityprevailernews.blogspot.com/2012/08/polo-match-saturday.html

Girl's mother- "I'll tell you- don't ever make the mistake of using one of those little polo saddles to go chase down cattle.  I couldn't walk the next day" (And this was from a  woman who looked very comfortable spending a day in a western saddle!)

Announcer- "Thanks for coming folks. See you next year!" 

And the bike riders cruise by on the Mickelson Trail,
unaware they are missing
 the West's version of the "King of Sports"!

Once again, greetings from Hill City, South Dakota-

where you never know what culture is going on just around the corner!