By Alex Wilson
Michele Hendrickson always loved horses growing up on Long Island near New York City. She could only afford to ride during an occasional vacation, however, or while working as a summer camp counselor, so she mostly stuck to playing team sports like rugby and lacrosse.
It wasn’t until after she became a practicing board-certified anesthesiologist and pain management physician at Ventura County Medical Center that she could afford to play the sport that’s her truest athletic passion: polo.
“It’s exhilarating. It feels addictive,” Hendrickson told Ventana Monthly. “You’re moving super-fast. Things are happening very quickly. You’re on an animal, and that can be unpredictable.”
Last season was Hendrickson’s first playing polo at the Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club. Typically polo players ride numerous horses in the course of a match, so she leased several horses. Now she’s building a team of her own horses and is up to four so far. The horses live most of the time at the polo club, which is actually located in Carpinteria, between the foothills of the Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean.
Polo season runs from May to October, so her horses have been hard at work training for their time on the field.
“They’re athletes. They have their months where they’re playing and then they get months of vacation,” Hendrickson explained. “We’ll find a pasture for them to get turned out. Just have fun, be on vacation, eat grass and get fat. Have a rest from playing. And then they come back to Santa Barbara over the summer and live here til probably mid-October. And then they will get turned out in a pasture again in the desert in Indio or Thermal. That’s where they just came from.”
Stomping divots in their Sunday best
Hendrickson also enjoys the social aspects of playing at the Santa Barbra Polo and Racquet Club. Since many top-tier professional polo players are from Argentina, one of her favorite traditions carries the flair of that South American nation, called an “asado.” Sometimes teams or players throw an asado during tournaments or to celebrate someone’s birthday.
“And that’s a really cool type of barbecue. So basically, over an open flame, people are grilling meat in an authentic Argentine style. It’s delicious. There’s wine flowing, beer, music. Just lots of camaraderie,” said Hendrickson, also mentioning the many social events put on by the club for members and guests.
“Sunday polo is a huge, fun thing to come watch in the grandstands,” she said. “You have an announcer. You see the high goal polo, so it’s pretty exciting. People dress up in their Sunday best. They can go out on the field and stomp divots, have a nice drink, socialize, take pictures.”
In polo lingo, divots are patches of grass that get dug up by the horses’ hooves during play. Spectators are often invited to “divot stomp” during breaks in the game to help repair the field.
“And you’re doing it in the beautiful scenery of Santa Barbara,” Hendrickson continued.
“Like, right now, I’m sitting at my tack room and I’m looking at the ocean and the Channel Islands, and it’s just breathtaking.”
FEEL THE THUNDER
Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club General Manager David Sigman has a background in the hospitality industry managing restaurants and hotels. Even though he didn’t grow up around the “sport of kings” and can’t imagine playing himself, he’s come to appreciate polo’s beauty and athleticism after 10 seasons at the club.
“You feel the thunder on your feet. You smell it. The sounds of the horse, the sounds of the players yelling and screaming. It’s incredible,” Sigman told Ventana Monthly. “Actually, just talking like this is making me want to see a match right now.”
Since Sigman took over as general manager, he’s tried to decrease the stigma surrounding the sport — some, for example, think it requires a royal pedigree to even consider showing up for a match. There’s no admission cost for Friday afternoon matches starting at 4 p.m., which include a festive atmosphere with food and drinks for sale. For the first time this year, live music by local bands will be offered, starting at 6 p.m. He hopes to encourage more people from Ventura County, Carpinteria and Santa Barbara to check out how fun and exciting it is to watch polo close up.
“Saying, ‘Hey, why don’t you come take a taste of what we do here? Have some great food and beverages and enjoy it.’ And what it’s done is it connected us with our community,” Sigman said. “When the bands come on Friday to play music, they also bring their supporters and they get to see a little bit of what we do as well.”
While it is common knowledge that players associated with British royalty…including one rather famous resident of Montecito…have played at the club founded in 1911 and considered the premiere equestrian polo club in the Western U.S., Sigman is careful not to divulge.
“I’m going to give you my standard answer,” he said. “You never know who you’re going to run into at the polo club.”
Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club
3300 Via Real, Carpinteria
805.684.6683
sbpolo.com
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