SANTA BARBARA POLO & RAQUET CLUB COVID-19 UPDATE

MARCH 20, 2020

In light of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s “stay at home” proclamation, Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club in Santa Barbara, California, finds it necessary to delay the start of the 2020 polo season. We want to do our part as global citizens to minimize travel and encourage our members to practice social distancing.

Here is a link to the full executive order and more information: https://covid19.ca.gov/stay-home-except-for-essential-needs/.

After consulting with our 12-goal teams and Board President, the club is implementing the plan below for the season. Please understand, the club is at the mercy of the State of California and the Coronavirus as much as everyone else, so we will continue to monitor the situation and recognize that some things are out of our control. In the horse world, we sometimes are afflicted with outbreaks of infectious diseases in horses such as strangles and Equine Herpesvirus (EHV), so we are following a similar protocol in our decision making while the world is under quarantine.

Friday, April 10 (Three weeks from today)
Evaluate the travel conditions and outlook mandated by the State. If things have improved, then a May 15 start date for 12-goal will be confirmed, so players can prepare horses appropriately for tournament polo. Practice would start May 7, 2020. The 12-goal schedule will continue for eight weeks through Sunday, July 5.

This is a tough, tough time. We have faith in the ability of our polo community to rally out of this. The club’s focus during this time is SAFETY, honoring our commitments to our teams and continuing to provide a venue where jobs happen for all the players, grooms, blacksmiths, vets, hay providers and club and polo team support staff.

Please feel free to call or contact Polo Manager Melanja Jones with questions and concerns.

SANTA BARBARA POLO CLUB 

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