A horse is a horse, of course, but “Mancha” is more than a horse—kept comfortable, like so many of her kin, in Albemarle County. She’s a leopard Appaloosa with nearly as many awards as she has spots. And, along with 75 other hoofed hulks, she’s a reigning national polo champion.
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Kylie Sheehan, a freshman starter on the Virginia women’s polo team, rides Tia during the team’s win in the finals of the U.S. Polo Association Southeast Regional Championships. |
“She’s consistently won best playing pony year after year,” says Lou Lopez, who coaches both the men’s and women’s Virginia Polo squads. He also mentions a new mare named “Speck,” and says that the men’s team “just loves her.”
Last year, both Virginia Polo teams won National Intercollegiate titles. In March, each team won its United States Polo Association’s Southeast Collegiate Regional tournament. The men’s team entered the national tournament ranked first, and the women’s team second—behind Cornell, a squad it upset in last year’s national competition. (Unfortunately, both teams lost to Texas A&M during this year’s national championship—men in the finals, and women in the semi-finals.)
Lopez, who first joined the organization in 2003, calls the Virginia Polo Center the “largest and best” polo program in the country. Due to the quality of the university as well as the program, “we attract a very high caliber student and polo player.”
“Over the years I’ve been here, I’ve been able to recruit students not only from around the country, but from around the world,” says Lopez.
Many of the horses are donated, and the Virginia Polo website offers information on how to proffer a pony. Once a horse joins up, it may have quite a few seasons of competition ahead, according to Lopez. “The women’s team has, now, all of the men’s retired horses.”
