A few weeks ago, you may have noticed a miniature horse standing in the SEC Plaza, munching on a pile of alfalfa and helping draw attention to a student fundraiser.
While Cookie is not an athlete herself, she graciously helped spread the word about the resurgence of OSU’s Polo Club, which is back in competition now after several years of hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For arena polo, teams consist of three people on horseback, often standing up in their saddles to swing mallets and send a ball flying through goals at either side of the field. Games are made up of four “chukkers,” each about seven minutes long, and after each chukker, the teams swap out horses for fresh ones so the animals don’t get worn out. Additionally, the teams swap horses with each other, so neither side gains an unfair advantage from a particularly talented mount.
WATCH: OSU Polo on YouTube(Link is external)
The OSU club originally started in 1923 and has endured despite several lengthy breaks over the decades.Image
OSU Polo circa 1931, courtesy of the OSU Special Collections and Archives Research Center(Link is external). Team members included Ruth Whepley, Lelia Beggs Robertson, Doris Shaver and Billy Losse.
“We had a really strong team before COVID; the men’s team won regionals a couple times in the past, and women’s did really well too,” said Sophie Krueger, a third-year bio-health sciences major in the College of Science and the Polo Club vice president. “Since COVID, this is the first year we’re getting back on our feet and getting more consistent members.”
Joining the club is a significant time commitment: The team plays on horses provided by their coach, Brandon Alcott, who lives in Vancouver, Wash., and transports the horses to practice arenas in the Portland area. Once a week, the team piles into an OSU motor pool van and commutes to Oregon City or Molalla for practice; players often use the drive time to finish homework or submit assignments.
Alcott’s horses are named Chico, Paloma, Levi, Kitty, Styx, Flambé and Tequila.
Polo is not widely popular on the West Coast, Krueger said, so the OSU team has to travel for games and competitions, playing in Idaho and California. The East Coast has a much higher concentration of teams, as well as more opportunities for kids to start playing polo at a young age through school programs.
Most of the people who join OSU Polo have never played before, and some have no experience with horses at all.
“You don’t need a horse; you don’t need any prior knowledge. I had no idea about the sport before joining,” Krueger said. “We provide transportation, and we provide all the gear, so in terms of horse-related sports, it’s very accessible for people who are interested.”
Funding comes via membership dues as well as from OSU Rec Sports.Image
Joey Ord and Sophie Krueger on horseback during the team’s recent regional competition in California.
The team generally has seven or eight consistent members. Currently, there is only a women’s team at OSU, though Krueger hopes they can stoke more interest and revive the men’s team as well.
Because they have to travel so far to compete, the team plays on rented horses in competition, which brings the added challenge of adapting to new animals in each game. In their recent D2 Western Intercollegiate Regionals competition, where OSU placed third out of four teams, their first game was against the University of California, Davis, and they played on Davis’ horses, with a customary five-minute warm-up period to familiarize themselves before the game started.
OSU has the only college polo team in Oregon, and Krueger hopes more students take advantage of it.
“I think it’s just the coolest sport ever, and it’s not an opportunity that a lot of people will ever get in their life,” she said. “College is the time to get out of your comfort zone and try something completely brand new that might even seem really scary.
“My first practice, I was a fish out of water, completely overwhelmed by everything I learned; and here I am a year later, and I love it. It’s probably the best thing I’ve done in college.”