As proprietor of Horsecoinjewelry.com, a mobile antiquities/jewelry business serving horse show attendees, I travel to a new venue every weekend and seem to have met or know just about everyone. So when the Polo Training Foundation instructor Wilbur O’ Ferrall asked if I would organize clinics in the Los Angeles area, I jumped at the opportunity to avail myself and my young friends of the expert instruction offered by the Polo Training Foundation.



I was determined to share my passion for the sport with the youngsters I knew would love the sport as much as I do - if I could just somehow force a mallet into their hands for five minutes.
You see, even with friends like Suzanne Firestone, Paige Beard, the late legendary James Rice and Madison Richardson, I hadn’t taken up polo until, at age 40 and kicking and screaming in protest that I never wanted to try polo, I finally used the membership and lessons I won in a silent auction at a charity dinner with Dame Margaret Thatcher to benefit Childrens Hospital. In my first lesson with Jessica Bailey I took one swing at the ball and became a polo addict.
I immediately pressed into service my A circuit pony hunter for umpteen hours of stick and ball lessons with Domingo Questal, and was happily a winning team member in the two arena tournaments I played in at California Polo Club. But if I hadn’t felt pressured to finally try the lessons, I would have missed out on what is now one of the greatest passions of my life.
Los Angeles offers endless summertime activities for children. To pull off the Aug. 21-23 clinic, host Jane Shaw of Thumbs Up Riding Club, Baycrest Farms Riding Academy instructors Lorna Duff and Stephanie Seaholm and overworked parents really had to pull together to rearrange the packed schedules of kids already on vacation, participating in summer sports, starting back at school, and for the teenagers, work commitments. But everyone involved believes that horse activities help youngsters reach goals and keep them focused and out of trouble. So mothers were motivated to help their daughters learn a new team sport which may really help them grow into successful adults.
Lorna and Stephanie worked overtime to enlist riding day-campers for orientation and foot mallet drills on the first day, and had taken extra care putting together comfortable seating in a breezy, shaded area that could accommodate the surprisingly large turnout.
The first day of the clinic was held at world-class Middle Ranch in Lake View Terrace. Middle Ranch has many arenas for jumping, dressage and cutting. Unfortunately this expensive and perfectly groomed soft ground bears no resemblance to flatter polo footing, and we really got a workout running in the deep sand. Thankfully the balls couldn’t roll very far in the deep divots or we might have felt even more exhausted in the midday Southern California heat.
Worries parents may have had about the dangers of polo were quickly alleviated by Wilbur O’Ferrall’s carefully detailed discussion and lecture about the rules of the game, and any anxieties had dissolved by the time riding drills were introduced.
As a consummate horse trainer, Wilbur immediately recognized any horse that might have an issue with the balls and/or mallets, pulled them from the group lesson, and requested that I work with them one-on-one, until they were comfortable enough to be re-introduced to the group. Snoopy, a Premarin pony rescued by Jane Shaw, initially reacted strongly to the mallet, but by the end of the first day of mounted drills, was safely turning and trotting after the ball as if he’d been doing it all his life.
A wide variety of horses and skill levels participated in the mounted portion of the clinic, held at Thumbs Up Riding Club, next door to Middle Ranch. From a tiny young beginning rider on a 12-hand Chincoteague Pony, to a 6’5”, 250-pound college age young man on a 17-hand Warmblood. Somehow Wilbur combines structure with adaptability to easily and safely accommodate all.
One of the most talented and enthusiastic participants was Keri Lee Sullivan. Though barely out of her teens, she is already an accomplished horse trainer and breeder. It took me weeks to talk Keri Lee into taking the clinic, just as I had to be talked into my first lesson, but I just knew she would love it as much as I do. Her outgoing and enthusiastic personality combined with her spectacular horsemanship makes her a natural candidate to play polo: She just didn’t know she loved it yet. So safe was the clinic, and so great her skill as a trainer, that she played mock chukkers on her 4 year old, green, homebred Warmblood hunter, easily scoring goals and outriding the other kids on well-trained school horses.
When Wilbur called the end to the final chukker on the final day, Keri Lee expressed how we all felt: “Stop? I don’t want to stop! I want to play more!”
My sentiments exactly, Keri.
All of the LA clinic participants are looking forward to developing our own youth team and to the next visit by PTF instructor Wilbur O’Ferrall. Thank you Polo Training Foundation!
Nancy Louise owns www.horsecoinjewelry.com and can be seen at many shows and events in Southern California.