Speranza
The U.S. Polo Association organized in 1890.
The first polo
match in the Pikes Peak region was played in the 1890s at Cheyenne Mountain
Country Club at the city’s south edge, which was also one of the earliest polo
clubs in the West.
A handful of people can be credited for bringing the Sport
of Kings to Colorado.
Speck Penrose likewise installed polo fields
near his world famous Broadmoor hotel, added barns and raised a few ponies.
Three sites stand out in the Colorado polo story: Colorado Springs, Glenwood Springs, and Denver.
Colorado
Springs and the Broadmoor blossomed into a premier polo centre, cultivated by Speck Penrose.
Passion for equestrian pursuits was heightened by Easterners who flocked to Colorado Springs and
brought their taste for equestrian pasttimes such as trail rides, jumping and
fox hunting.
The city’s founder Gen. William Jackson Palmer was also a horseman,
and honored by a downtown bronze statue of him astride his steed.
There is a photograph of two teams of polo players in Colorado Springs, possibly the 1906 match that
celebrated the Pike Expedition centennial celebration.
The photo is by Louis McClure.
An early Colorado Springs
polo event was a tournament during the 1906 Zebulon Pike Centennial Celebration.
Four teams participated:
i) Cheyenne Mountain Country Club
ii) Denver Country Club
iii)
Sheridan (Wyoming) Polo Ranch, and
iv) United States 10th Cavalry.
The sport was
spurred further in 1912 when the Army Polo Association became part of USPA.
By
1914, there were 17 Army stations playing sanctioned polo, many in the
West.
Polo’s popularity took off during the roaring twenties.
Celebrities enjoyed and promoted the
sport, among them Oklahoma humorist Will Rogers.
The Broadmoor became a major polo centre with stables for
more than 400 horses.
Quite a few guests brought their own ponies.
Speck Penrose installed FOUR
900’ x 1800’ polo fields for sportsmen who sought the cool
summers in the Colorado Rockies.
He groomed a Broadmoor gentlemen's polo gteam and sent it
East for national competitions.
Accentuating dashing image, innkeeper Penrose
pulled on his jodhpurs and donned his Stetson to ride horseback, making his
daily rounds to oversee the Broadmoor and surrounding grounds.
Locals enthusiastically embraced the sport, organizing "The
Broadmoor Polo Association" and applauding when "The Penrose Polo Park" with
grandstand opened at Elm Avenue and Polo Avenue.
The 1920s saw outdoor sports in
Colorado blossoming, popularised by vacationing movie stars and aided by the
efforts of the Colorado Mountain Club.
Tourists took pleasure in trail rides,
picnics, pack trips and backcountry hunting and jodhpurs became the stylish
choice for the trail.
Polo declined in the thirties due to the Depression and
sunk further during World War II as horse stock was depleted by the war.
The
Broadmoor polo auditorium was converted into an indoor ice arena for figure
skating.
Not until the 1960s did polo see a revival.
Polo clubs active in
Colorado today include:
The Aspen Valley Polo Club
The Boulder Polo Club
The Colorado
Springs Polo Club and
Colorado State University Polo Club.
Also Columbine Polo
& Equestrian Center (Littleton), R & L Farms Polo Club (Elizabeth), Red
Rock Rangers Polo Club (Larkspur), Roaring Fork Polo Club (New Castle) and Rose
Spur Polo Club (Snowmass).
The Roaring Fork Polo Club west of Glenwood
Springs hosts the Devereux Cup.
Named for the founder of the historic Hotel
Colorado, the end-of-August event attracts more than 1,000 spectators for the
round-robin matches.
The Denver Polo Club
operates fields and barns 30 miles south of Denver beside Plum Creek.
The annual Denver Polo Classic is world-class
polo.
The three days of
entertainment, sport, and culinary delights held at majestic Polo Reserve in
Littleton against the spectacular backdrop of the Rocky Mountains with Schomp
BMW as the major sponsor.
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