Entertainment for all

The other Saturday evening we had the great fortune to be invited to watch some highly entertaining “Twilight Polo” at Great Meadow Park, near Marshall. Gardiner Mulford, a friend of ours, was going to be playing as Captain of the Army Team in the first match of the evening — the annual hard-fought battle between the Services of the Army and the Navy for the Patten/Puller Cup and he kindly invited us to enjoy the spectacle as his guests. Our two youngest sons (Simon, 22, and Oliver, 17) had just arrived for a visit from the UK so we thought it would be a good place to take them to assist with their “acclimatization” toward American life.

We had little idea at the time exactly what was involved having only been to a couple of matches in the past, and did not realize until we actually arrived at the venue that the game was in fact Arena Polo and not Field Polo.

Gardiner is a man of few words at the best of times, so any details regarding the venue and the plan for the evening were sketchy at best. We fretted over what to wear, whether we should bring food and/or drink to the “party” and generally over what we should expect when we got there. I mean, Polo crowds can be very chic and well-heeled, and we really didn’t want to turn up in our “cowboy” style outfits and look decidedly out of place!

Anyhow, as suspected our worries were totally unfounded and when we arrived at Great Meadow in our “smart, casuals” we soon saw what a wonderfully relaxed place it was. The polo was due to start at 7 p.m. and we managed to arrive (in my opinion) exceedingly early, yet there were still numerous people already in the place, setting out their picnic tables and chairs and getting ready for an excellent evening’s entertainment. The only unfortunate drawback was that the weather had taken to developing into an extremely hot and humid night and it made it pretty uncomfortable for the spectators — never mind the poor horses and their riders!

The great thing about polo events like these is that they bring together people from all walks of life — the young, the old, the rich, the not so rich, those really into the sport, and those who are simply there for the socializing. At times it proved tough to tear oneself away from the “action” of the match to maintain conversation with those in the surrounding group, and I am sure that many a time I came close to being considered “rude” (as far as the social graces go), as I became enthused with the rigors of the game.

Arena Polo, unlike its field counterpart, is played on a much smaller surface and entitles the players to use the surrounding walls of the arena during play (deliberately knocking the ball off of the walls to gain advantage).

Because of the smaller size of the field, the number of riders per side is reduced from four to three to enable more movement and greater safety for both horses and riders during the game. As a result, the game is generally played at a faster pace than Field Polo, and the duration of each Chukka is reduced in length by a small amount as a way of compensating for such high activity.

Having said that, the highly competitive spirit in which the game was played, coupled with the oppressive heat and humidity that evening really took its toll on riders and horses alike. At the end of the final chukka, honors were even with a 9-9 score line and the trophy was deservedly shared between the two sides, although I have to admit that the Army team were very unlucky in conceding a goal so close to the end of the game and it really should have been their trophy alone, but as the old saying goes “all’s fair in love and war.”

The following week we were invited to yet another polo event in the same area (actually near Warrenton), but this was a less public affair, being the opening game on a newly laid polo field at the home of Debbie and Alan Nash.

Our gracious hosts were also active members of their polo team “Los Tigres” and Debbie who hailed originally from England (you can tell by the Union flag on her polo helmet in the picture) told us how she once played polo for the English National Team!

Debbie and Alan are well known in polo circles here, having played for the Ambassador’s Cup Team a few years back, and their “Tigers” team have won many tournaments over the past five or six years, including the U.S. Arena Open in 2006. Needless to say, they won here too with a score line of 7-3.

Anyhow, this time we had all three sons with us since our eldest son Tom who has now settled here in the U.S., had come up from Florida with his girlfriend Angela (a true Floridian), to spend some time together with his brothers and of course Anita and I.

It has been really great to have all three boys here, although it has been hard work at times too (especially for poor old Mum), but it makes for a nice change of scene and our dog Ginny has been positively wallowing in all the attention.

Being a full-sized polo field, and playing with a full compliment of four riders per side, this game wasn’t quite as fast and as furious as the Arena Polo that’s for sure, but the social event was certainly one to behold with live music, great food and plentiful wine/water/soda on offer for all guests, both young and old.

It has been a really hectic week so far with the children, trying to do all the usual “touristy” things and time has just flown by so fast. There is so much to see and do here in Virginia that we still haven’t managed to go and visit half the things we wanted to, but at least the kids have had a good taste of the beauty and interest the area has to offer, and they say that they definitely want to come back again soon.

Comments like that make “Mom and me” feel kind of proud to have definitely picked the right place to settle, but could I just ask to have the temperature turned down just a fraction please — this heat is getting to me!

Until next week.

David Snogles can be reached at david_hasbury@ yahoo.com