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fal l
“The call to arms was sounded, and C.W. Ealand and Mr. Tobin
took their places, mounted on prancing little chargers that were eager for
the fray. Opposing them were Sidney W. Stilwell and Mr. Martin, ditto
prancing steeds… Ealand at once displayed a cunning in the game… But
this game was too professional to be good.”
After Ealand and Tobin won the game, the novices took to the
field. Lawrence Redington, scion of the pioneer San Francisco drugstore
family, and Dr. Smith challenged the team of attorney John Colby and
Robert Cameron “Bob” Rogers. “Not one of these gentlemen had ever
played the game,” said the reporter, “but the horses had, so it didn’t
matter much. At the first start off, the ball was struck four times by
the players and kicked eight times by the ponies. It is not a part of the
ponies’ business to kick the ball, but they were willing to help out by
doing that much more than their share.
“There were some beautiful scrimmages, and Rogers took a cropper
and then called to have the game stopped, for he had lost a stirrup. But a
game of polo never is called for anything less than a broken neck.”
In the last game, “the horses began as before to do most of the
playing, but when the riders would persist in swatting at the ball and
hitting the horses instead, they quite naturally got tired… In the last set
Frank Wilson[the architect] played with Ealand … but the game ended
disastrously to him, and after giving a mimic exhibition of hammer
throwing he dropped out and Ealand played the side alone….”
Throughout it all, Dr. Saxby’s coaching had been admirable.
“Bobbing about on a dainty bit of a pigskin saddle, he was in all parts of
the field and ready at every turn to caution or advise the players.”
Westside Field
Somehow polo survived this comedic start, and by July of that year a
polo match between the Red and Green teams of the Santa Barbara Polo
Club was included as part of the equestrian activities at the racetrack. More
and more of the well-heeled sportsmen in town were recruited to join the
(left) Reginald Fernald leads the action on the Westside field
(Courtesy Santa Barbara Historical Museum)
(below) Spectators at a match on the Westside field had an unobstructed view of the barren
Riviera and the Santa Ynez range behind (Courtesy of Santa Barbara Historical Museum)