Texas Arena League played the second leg of its four-event series at Legend’s Horse Ranch in February.
The February event was especially busy with Casablanca Polo at the event to measure players so they could order the new NOCSAE Casablanca NEU helmet. Casablanca Polo is the 2020 High Point Overall award sponsor for Texas Arena League. Pepper Stewart from TX Ranch N Rodeo Weekly on Farm and Ranch TV came out to shoot some footage, interview players and have a polo lesson with Brady Williams.
In keeping up with technology, the Texas Arena League used PoloSK (a polo club management web-app) during the weekend’s event. PoloSK provides detailed, electronic score keeping with real time access for spectators. JB from PoloSK was on hand to support the score keepers and ensure that the software performed as expected; and did it ever: game scores, team standings, player’s statistics and awards were all immediately available in real-time.
In addition to score keeping and club management, new modules in PoloSK were recently launched for the USPA Umpire Division LLC for the Arena/Outdoor tests, umpire certification, and professional umpires scheduling. For further information about PoloSK contact JB at info@polosk.com.
At the Social dinner, Legend’s served up chili and lots of pie and Kirk Carter from Cargill / Nutrena gave an equine nutrition talk on Body Condition Score and Topline. Kirk and Dale Brown were both available for questions from the players during the day and at the social get-together.
“This weekend at Texas Arena League really hit a high mark with activity,” said Nacho Estrada of Legend’s Horse Ranch. “Having the newspaper and Pepper Stewart’s show come out is good promotion for arena polo. But the best part is all the people – playing, watching, having fun and enjoying each other. That is what polo is all about for me – competition and then spending time together after the game – having a good time.”
As for the competition, twenty-two teams played over the course of the weekend in the three levels of play.
Three teams faced off in a C Flight Round Robin on Friday evening – Polo Girls (Kitana St Cyr, Katerina Kortova, Caroline Woodman) vs. Oklahoma (Don Gruntmeir, Tori Summers, Kim Buttram) vs. (SMU JV (Adriana Arguello, Sophia Garvin, Lindsay Bellack). SMU JV came out with the win.
The USPA Admiral Nimitz and General Puller military tournaments continued with Polo InterActive (Wyatt Myr, James Glew, Jose Velez) and Notorious P.O.N.Y. (Javier Insua, Zoe Lehmer, Devan Groves) moving on to the finals of the Nimitz at Midland Polo Club. Legend’s Horse Ranch (Nacho Estrada, Kim Buttram, August Scherer) will move on to the finals of the Puller against Williams Polo (Brady Williams, Mark Osburn, Wyatt Myr) who won in a shoot-out against Dallas Polo Club (Will Walton, Wendy Stover, Allison Bowker).
At Legend’s, TAL began the USPA Arena Amateur Cup (0-3) with Bar-Spur (Ryan Owens, Mark Osburn, Brady Williams) defeating Tulsa Polo Club (Greg Summers, Karen Summers, Don Gruntmeir), Texas Military Polo Club (Trey Crea, Jack Crea, Karl Hilberg) won over OKC CCC Ranch (Kelly Coldiron, Rob Phipps, Oscar Bermudez Jr) and SMU Women (Grace Grotnik, Meghan Rahlfs, Lindsay Bellack) defeated Waterski America (Ismael Vazquez, Trenton Werntz, David Werntz).
In the USPA Sherman Memorial (3-6), OKC CCC Ranch (Kelly Coldiron, Greg Summers, Roxy Keyfauver) defeated Texas Military (Karl Hilberg, Jack Crea, Trey Crea) while SMU Men (Barrett Coke, Luke Kletner, Juan Bueno, Tomas Herrera, Joe Coors) took the win over Waterski America (Rob Phipps, Cody Goetz, Wyatt Myr). The Nutrena Best Playing Pony winners: “Rocket” played by Stephanie Massey (in both the 0-3 and 3-6), “Solitario” played by Barrett Coke owned by SMU Polo, “Solita” played by Javier Insua, “Burgundy” played by Wyatt Myr, “Demi” played by Rob Phipps owned by Kelly
Coldiron, “Mataco” played by Grace Grotnik owned by SMU Polo, “Nugget” played by Trey Crea and “Renee” played by Greg Summers.
Greg Summers commented on Renee’s performance, “The Shaylers from Superior Equine Sports Massage Therapy worked on Renee this weekend. She played so well and just had an overall calmness to her. She is always a nice mare, but the body work clearly made a difference in her. I credit her excellent chukker to the work they did on her.”
The Galvin Agency MVP’s were Wyatt Myr (in both the 0-3 and 3-6), Barrett Coke, Greg Summers, August Scherer, Karl Hilberg, Javier Insua, Meghan Rahlfs and Mark Osburn.
The Catena Sportsmanship award winners were Trenton Werntz, Katie Anderson, Wyatt Myr, Karen Summers, Oscar Bermudez Jr, Javier Insua, Kelly Coldiron, Tres de la Paz, and Cody Goetz.
Players and teams in Texas Arena League will continue racking up TAL points toward the End of League awards while simultaneously gaining points toward USPA National Arena Amateur Cup.