An Open Field, There's Nothing Better

Polo is the sport of kings, right? Well, princes William and  Harry haven’t graced the grounds at the Mashomack Polo Club in Pine Plains, but that shouldn’t cause you to dismiss it.

   Yes, thanks in part to Ralph Lauren ads, the image of polo is one of cultured, monied, blond blue-bloods and of course, it helps if you have a horse or two (serious polo players have a string of ponies), but a talk with Lakeville resident Mark Gomez and his son, Cameron, revealed a whole other side to polo.  

   Gomez started playing in the mid 1980s, right around the time that the Mashomack Polo Club was inaugurated. For years he traveled up and down the East Coast, going to where the action was. As a professional, he would be hired by a sponsor to play on a team. A team is made up of two sponsors and two professionals. These days, Gomez, owner of Positive Results Training, breeds and trains horses as polo ponies, if they’re small enough. The ideal polo pony is about 15.2 hands high. (A hand is the equivalent of four inches.) His children, naturally, have become involved.

   He started Cameron playing when he was just 11 or 12. Now Cameron has graduated from Salisbury School and will go to the University of Connecticut in the fall, where he expects to be on the polo team, but first he will spend the summer playing polo in tournaments with his father. In addition to games, he will help his dad train and exercise their horses including breaking in a couple of 3-year-olds.

   Interested in the sport?

   What if you don’t have a polo player already in your family?

   What if you don’t even own a horse?

   How can you get into this game?

   Turns out it’s quite accessible. Tom Goodspeed, the manager of  Mashomack Polo, gives lessons, both private and group. He says, “Polo when done properly is very  exhilarating . . . running across an open field; what’s better than that?†There are different packages offered for beginners; an introductory lesson, horse included, is $200.

   Goodspeed described a mix of programs (all of which can be found on the Web site), but he said, “Previous riding experience is a huge asset. It might be two years before they’re playing competitively if we have to teach them how to ride. Otherwise they might be playing in three months.â€

   As for the difficulty and danger, Gomez says, “It’s safer to be on the track at the Indy 500 than on the L.A. freeway.†It seems injuries are minor as long as you stay on your horse.

   And what about the social aspect of polo? This is a fun sport to watch and spectators are encouraged to get into the game between chukkers (that’s a period of play) and stomp the divets  (chunks of sod that have been dug up by the horses hooves) back into place. (Remember the scene in “Pretty Woman†with Julia Roberts when the Richard Gere character takes her to a polo match?)

   It is fun, too, on occasion, spectating the spectators. The 12th Annual International Polo Tournament was played June 13 at Mashomack. This was like the Ralph Lauren ad: a grand social occasion and a day of sport rolled into one. It was an opportunity for local swells to lunch courtside and enjoy fast-paced action. Many of the players had family in attendance. Some people ate under the big tent, but plenty of fans parked courtside and engaged in a traditional tail-gate picnic, with one group going so far as to set up a BBQ grill.

   So, big-deal or low-key, this is fun, and Mashomack encourages the public to come and enjoy the sport. Tournaments throughout the summer are held on Fridays and Sundays, and Saturdays are devoted to lower level play and school programs. For more info contact: Mashomack Polo Club, 48 Briarcliff Lane, Pine Plains, NY; or go to www.mashomackpolo.com.