Polo Excitement!

By Robert Bernstein

After an energetic day at Solstice, we took it easy on Sunday attending an exciting polo match! Here are my photos and videos!

The last video is especially exciting, with a skirmish that goes on for a full three minutes!

The Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club is a hidden gem in Carpinteria. Where else can you watch a world class sport for just ten dollars? We paid an extra ten dollars apiece for the added luxury of a shade canopy. The setting is beautiful and pleasant servers bring you food and drinks at low cost. And there is the polo. Exciting!

The event began with an opening ceremony:

Then the action began!

Teams of four riders on “ponies” try to hit the ball through the goal posts with mallets. What could possibly go wrong? Fortunately, this day no horses or riders were injured and it was pure sport and spectacle.

The match consists of six “Chukkers” (rounds) of seven and a half minutes each. After the third round is a half time ceremony called the Divot Stomp. People stroll out on the field to stomp down the divots torn up by the ponies:

The tradition also involves serving free champagne:

And we got to pose with one of the riders and ponies:

It was also a chance to check out the electric Karma Revero cars, one of the sponsors:

It was a close match down to the last seconds of play! But the Why Not team prevailed over the Klentner Ranch team. Here the Why Not team receives their trophy: