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June 28th, '03:Repeat Polo - That is the way it is this week. The same games again in Santa Barbara. Jeff Kazmark is still carrying his wing in a sling. Should be fun, but it's a family affair, so who knows.

In the south at San Diego Polo Club, where the action is hot. It's Surfer Doc and the boys trying to turn back the clock on Voyager. Surfer Doc has Silent Chris Maloney and Rockets to deal with. When Joe Stuart and Dead-Eye Nevins get it rolling its adios to the boys on the surf or the turf as San Diego will be rocking. The Doc is playing very well with Lilian Heller. We will find it a very long day even at the beach. We shall se. Next week it starts all over again in S.D. In Santa Barbara a slow season stops and the B I G Boys come to town. Big John Goodman and Mr. Azzaro, Mike Hakan brings the Flying Galindo. Skeeter and his Alligators bring Mr. Rhinehart. It gets better as the only big star not in town is his Majesty Memo, but he may come here as his son Julio is carrying the Las Heduras flag. So get ready for the rumble.

See you where the surf meets the turf.

Be there. -Steve Crowder

June 24th, '03: It's Summer Now

It was the first day of Summer, but the end of the tournament for several as the 4 team bracket in Santa Barbara just does not last long. It was Big Nick Stonnington and the Surfer (Diego Cossio) riding the Walker connection to a big win at 1 p.m. The Pop plastering the Pup as G. Casset and 2 pros stopped Sapo Casset and the boys with 4 pros and set up for a Sunday finals in the inter-circuit next week. Even a loss is still a ride to the finals. Mansour is out and either Stonnington Group or a return match with Springbok. It should be fun on Friday night.

Down south in SanDiego the Tex - Mex team getting rode out of town by Silent Chris Maloney and the gang. The Lady's and Rancho Valencia playing hard ball and they beat up on MRS. NORMA by 2 in the big game. It was the Lady's getting an O.T. loss to Lilian Hellerand the Surfer Docs who are 2 and 0. They have a chance to knock out Silent Chris if they win by 10. It comes down to net goals and wins. Either the Lady's or Surfer Doc will see Silent Chris and camp in the finals. So be there or here and do not be late.
See Ya. - Steve Crowder.

June 19, '03: No Bueno Polo

Well it was the Vic Graber, but it was not Vic Graber-style. Wet weather, canceled games, accidents and bad play were all part of it. Four out of ten games were not played and no finals. This was not a good recipe as Mother Nature took her revenge on the Riviera during the last 2 weeks. San Diego played fewer games and Santa Barbara barely had a go at it, but we do have a winner and it was Springbok. As the 2003 tournaments continue, hopefully the Inter Circuit will be better even though only 4 teams are going for it. Andy Busch takes off for a road trip with 1 out of 3 cups in his pocket and takes a break for the upcoming high-goal season. Down south at San Diego it was silent Chris Maloney and Voyager giving everyone a welcome to San Diego butt whipping. They definitely got off to a fast start. We all know last week is history and tomorrow starts a brand new game, so see you there. Remember when all else fails stop - look - listen it works wonders.

See ya at polo on Friday night. --Steve Crowder

June 18, '03:Common Sense

DO WE REALLY HAVE ANY THESE DAYS . . . Polo players, drivers, Presidents, World leaders? We have every bit of media communication you could imagine plus we have all the learning tools possible, but do we have any common sense and are we really educating or are we educated?

Start with our leaders how much would it cost to educate 10 million people? I bet a lot less than killing 10,000 and the cost of the last little war, but we did it anyway. Just like the drivers on the highways. We will spend a trillion dollars on highways. If we taught some simple things like left lane is for passing only then people would not be flying through traffic trying to get by which immediately causes slow downs and accidents. We think we need wider highways and to spend more money to tear up more land. This would only create more places to try to get through on the right side of the idiots in the left lane driving their way in the road. How many tickets are given to these people? I hate to guess, but it will be very few and you often see the patrol cars driving around these people swerving through traffic just like every one else trying to get past the morons going 50 down the fast lane or never moving over no matter what the speed.

This is this a lack of education or lack of common sense? Parents, school, police and every driver has to take classes now to get a license and still its easier to spend billions building roads instead of educating the drivers. We in polo are the same way. So many people try to learn polo without learning to ride. We all want to sell them tack, horses, green fees and pros. The people learning, as a majority, want to play polo as cheap as possible so they buy the cheapest horse they can find and we sell these things to them. The smart ones quit as they can because if they can afford to play polo they can definitely afford not to. Most of those who stay continue to take chances, never learn to play, and get hurt trying to play cheap horses. For example, I often hear new people say I want a young horse 5 or 6 and cheap. We know they were smart enough to get rich enough to play polo. So fine, sell him a cheap, clean, and young horse because I sure as hell do not want to play it. Its common sense. A cheap horse is young and clean because it is no good. It costs at least a 1000 dollars to buy any horse. It costs $250. a month minimum to keep it and time and labor to work it. So if it is made in a year, which is seldom, the owner has 5 grand into the horse. So if you buy it for $3500 to $5000 you are removing garbage. If it came from Argentina, New Zealand or Australia, it cost $5000 grand minimum to get it here. So use common sense. What are you getting? Probably hurt. So you cannot go to your $100 grand a year job.

Many patrons want you to play for the same price you played for 10 years ago when gas was $1.00 a gallon, hay was $3.00 a bale, oats $4.00 per 100 lbs., grooms $1,000 a month and then complain because you are not loyal or mounted. Again is this lack of education or common sense? The Patron is selling houses, cars or land for 40% more than he was 10 years ago. The Pros try to get by on cheaper everything . . . tack, horses, grooms and less feed. What happens? They perform weakly and get fired. And Why? They usually finish high school watching T.V. and learning history on the Internet . The Polo Association is just as weak. We have no real building blocks for new players except their wallet. I would guess the L.A. Equestrian Polo Center, in its 10 years, has probably brought more people into polo than the Association since the start of it about 90 years ago. IS THIS COMMON SENSE OR LACK OF EDUCATION? TELL ME!

June 7, '03:Outstanding - Students of the game often forget real life this little lady did not. Her name is Rhiannon Hosea (Rhi). Wee Rhi gallops into the big leagues and she did it her way. It's quite a story for someone who is only 18 years old. All 99lbs and 5'4" of her on the move. In 1999, when she was about 13 years old, Rhi's Mother (Brenda) took her horseback riding and that’s where she's been most of the last 4 years of her life and all of this century . . . on a horse or at the barn with the horses studying. She was even at the barn to see her first foal born, but she was where she wanted to be. You see, Rhi wants to be a polo player and she knows it's very hard work and that you need to be in the groove with your horses. She took home school so she could be close to the horses and work with them to be a better team. It has been very good for her and she has been really good for polo as well. Rhi has represented the U.S.A. in Europe as a young American Player. During the last two years she has represented California in many National events as far away as Philadelphia, PA. This past Spring her success on the field as a team player has been outstanding. She has and can often be seen flying down the field with the ball and scoring the goal. She was the leading scorer from the field on her winning 8-goal team in Feb. 2003 at Eldorado Polo Club. Rhi also picked up the big prize in the 4-goal the month before. . She substituted for an injured player in Rancho Santa Fe finals in September and won the finals, but paid for it the hard way. Rhi broke her foot and limped on it for a week before she had the Vet look at it who sent her to the human doctor where she was put in plaster immediately. 8 Weeks later she was back in the saddle winning that silver again.
Through all of this she managed to finish in the top 15% of her class, graduate and is now headed to the next level . . . college. As her handicap goes up, so does her school work as she takes that big step into the future of education and big time polo. It all starts right now.

Good luck little lady from all of us!!!!!!!! - Steve Crowder.