It was not a week to remember for many as some really sad things happenend to the true soldiers of our game. The Soldiers are the horses who love the game as much as many players it seems, but they also are the ones who are responsible for the best and the worst players. A very good player cannot make a very bad horse look good, but a good horse can and does make a very weak player look good most of the time. They face an extra danger that the players do not . They have 2 extra legs and they are often sent to places they should not be. Some avoid it and some do their job no matter what and seldom get credit for all they really do. Three of those soldiers were lost from polo in the last week here out West. Flacko, a big bay gelding and the mainstay of Andy Busch’s string, was injured in a practice game last Friday. He has been a hero for many years since he was bought in Norman, OK many years ago. Flako has played from 4- to 26-goal polo. He was a big part of Busch’s string. Andy Busch was at one time was the best Amateur player in the U.S. and still may be. Up north a Legend named Replay, a chestnut mare of John Rooney’s who has also played coast to coast, was injured and destroyed after a broken leg brought her down. She was well known and of unknown value as you could not buy her!!Replay was a product of Scott Cunningham in Indio, Ca. Last but not least was the loss of BB, a Scott Palmer horse who has faced Grizzlies and Wolves since she was born but played polo the same way like a lion. Her name was really Bargain Bonnet and probably from the wild west rockies. There is a good article about these two in the Calgary Polo Club news by Kerri Kerley. You can link to the Calgary’s newsletters from this page. Just click here.
On the human side, the 2- legged soldiers, it was Memo Gracida suffering a groin injury again. He had a horse on top of him for the second time in a month. Not good for the second 1/2 of the century. I know its a long healing process. KK (Kris Kampsen) suffered a shoulder injury in a spectacular fall as well. Tom Barrack also suffered a broken finger on a mallet hand, but he was there on Sunday no matter what. They threw the ball in with 2 players from Piocho Ranch and a 6 goal team of 2 stopped a 20 goal team from scoring. You think they were loafing and Tom Barrack was handling his 1/2 of the team as Julio Gracida had the other. It was a game of true polo. Polo is a dangerous game and it is also the fastest team game in the World. It was fun sitting in a golf cart watching those crazy s.o.b.s fight their a** off for 2 hours . Dang I love POLO!