Outside of town lies a small corral and pasture full of horses dedicated to the OSU polo club.
With around 35 members, the polo club allows anyone to participate, even without experience. Gabby Rimer, a senior, said participants don’t need to be a student.
“In the polo club, you can be a student or a member of the community to participate and practice with us,” Rimer said. “It’s a great opportunity to figure out the sport of polo. I love learning about our different horses because they all have such different personalities. Some are super slow and easy, and you can learn the sport off of them and some are super hot and fiery.”
Past members and polo athletes donate all of the horses, as well as the saddles, bridles and pasture.
However, a project is in the works to move the organization onto campus, giving members easier access to their club.
Thomas Kettles, a freshman, said finding the polo club was a happy accident.
“I was browsing campus links and looking at all the clubs when I stumbled upon the polo club,” Kettles said. “I had never even heard of polo, but I came and tried out and love it. I had no prior experience with polo, but I used to volunteer at a horse rescue and that’s about it.”
The polo club arranges its horses in color coordination to pair each rider with a horse that fits their skill level. White labeled horses are for beginners with no experience; yellow are for beginner-to-intermediate level riders; red is for experienced riders; and purple-labeled horses are for the most experienced and skilled riders.
Traven Suter, a sophomore, said the best part of the club is the people.
“The best part of polo club is the community that you can be introduced to,” Suter said. “I get to learn new experiences. We play other colleges, Division II, sometimes even Division I, it just depends on what division we ranked in that year. We go to tournaments and get to travel all around, which is super fun as well.”