POLO RETURNS TO THE WASHINGTON INTERNATIONAL HORSE SHOW
WIHS audience largest to see indoor polo in recent memory
Fellow Marketing Committee: As some of you may know, Dr. Phillip A. Karber, Chairman of the USPA Marketing Committee, is temporarily out of the saddle recovering from surgery. He asked me to send you the feedback from the successful return of polo to the Washington International Horse Show this fall, which was a major initiative of the Marketing Committee.
The arena polo game was played in front of more than 10,000 equestrian fans (a WIHS record) and was also one of the largest audiences to witness indoor polo in recent memory. The polo demonstration was segued between Barrel Racing finals and musical free style Dressage in prime time on Friday night and received enthusiastic audience reception, with applause and hollers for every goal scored.
With the recent demise of the annual show at Madison Square Garden, the Washington International Horse Show has risen to become the preeminent multi-disciplinary equestrian event in the country. It is held for a week each fall at the Verizon Center DC’s indoor stadium and home of the NBA Wizards and NHL Capitols.
Over a decade ago, polo participated in WIHS before smaller audiences at the old venue in Maryland. Unfortunately, it was not invited back as result of criticism of the way the game was organized, the treatment of mounts, and condition of tack.
This year’s presentation was the first indoor game in history held in downtown Washington, DC, and the leadership of the WIHS not only viewed it a major success, but their Board of Directors has invited polo back again next year.
The WIHS has a great write up on the polo match and participants at:
http://www.wihs.org/news/pr_full.cfm?newsID”0
The WIHS also posted 48 photos of the game and award presentation on their web site:
http://www.presslinkpr.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId“55
The demonstration itself highlighted a number of themes that came out of the year’s USPA Image of Polo in America report.
• A cool sport for Youth;_
• Women can competitively participate; _
• If you have access to two horses you can play arena polo;_
• Indoor polo, before stadium audiences, is exciting and fun to watch; and_
• Polo is a horse friendly sport played by horse lovers.
Half of the participants in the game were 21 or under. One third were female, two-thirds of the players are or were participants in the I/I program. Polo’s winningest couple, Debbie and Alan Nash also played – which was symbolic because their Tiger team were the winners of the 2006 USPA Arena Open. Hundreds of attendees visited the polo booth in the Verizon Center concourse where there was also a large flat screen TV continuous tape of both grass and arena highlights. The Verizon center also displayed polo video commercials several times on their huge mega-screens and dozens of monitors throughout the facility.
Lezlie Hiner receives the Image Award and Courage Cup presents donation to the Work-to-Ride Program
The Washington, DC social charity, Courage Cup, raised $8,000 in donations for the Work-to-Ride program which was represented by two of their members playing. Lezlie Hiner, founder of the Work-to-Ride program was publicly presented with the USPA 2005 Image Award given to those who have done the most for the public perception of the sport in the last year.
_The event was pulled off with substantial USPA contribution albeit using volunteer time in lieu of monetary spending. Dr. Karber handled the politics and organization of the event. Jim Burton, Eastern Circuit Lieutenant Governor, prepared the polo video presentation and commercials, as well filming the WIHS polo game for future USPA video promotion. Doug Barnes, recent Chair of the USPA Junior Committee, provided most of the mounts for the game, hosted the Work-to-Ride kids in Washington, and had his staff from Destination Polo school at Great Meadow manned the booth. John Cole, renowned polo announcer and a member of the Marketing Committee, donated his time and talent to call the game and get the crowd involved. Professional player, J. B. Olinger, came in from Lexington, KY, to Umpire the game. Myself, also from the Marketing Committee, with several volunteers from Great Meadow Polo Club, served as press and public relations liaison with the WIHS.
The WIHS leadership and staff were particularly complimentary about the fast flow of the game, the talent of the amateur players and the quality/presentation of the horses.
S. Wesley Cross, II_Marketing Committee_