Season opens at suburban polo grounds
After a leisurely morning ride through the forest preserves atop her palomino, Chardonnay, Willowbrook resident Lori Schoenthaler headed to Oak Brook for more equestrian sport.
"The love of horses is why I'm out here," said Schoenthaler, who sat in the stands at the Oak Brook Polo Grounds Sunday, where dozens of fellow fans of the sport gathered to watch the season's first match.
Schoenthaler said she's been coming to the Oak Brook matches since she was a child. Her own horse is a former polo pony.
"It's a lot of family and a lot of fun," she said.
It's also a lot of athleticism and a touch of danger.
"It's the second most dangerous sport, next to NASCAR racing," said Don Healy, polo grounds manager, who kept one eye one on the field as he chatted with Schoenthaler.
As the eight horses, each bearing a rider equipped with a bamboo mallet, charged down the field, they ran at a full gallop.
"They love that job," said Schoenthaler, as the thunder of hoofs grew louder on the near side of the field.
The polo grounds have hosted matches every year for the past 86 years, said polo grounds spokeswoman Karen Martino. Matches are scheduled every Sunday through Sept. 14, when the season concludes with a contest for the Argentina-American Polo Cup.
Sunday, a contest for the United States Polo Association's Governor's Cup pitted Silver Spur against Villa Del Lago. The second match would feature Morgan Creek versus Dahlwood.
"It's a real family sport. They can bring picnics or there's the grill, the bar," Martino said.
As spectators gathered at tables under a white tent, horses and their riders arrived.
Thais Gonzalez and her husband, Carlos, a horse trainer and polo player, trailered nine horses from their home in Aiken, S.C., for the match. Carlos started the match riding a liver chestnut thoroughbred stallion named Cibby.
"Our stallions are like his babies," said Thais, adding that most polo ponies are mares or geldings. "Stallions are very few to play."
Thais, originally from Chile, said the couple currently has a stable of about 40 horses on their farm, where they breed horses for polo. Her husband grew up on a horse farm in Argentina, she said, and has been around horses all his life.
"It's what he loves doing. He loves horses," she said.