A knack for horseback | AFRO American Newspapers

By Mekhi Abbott, Particular to the AFRO

‘It’s like hockey on horseback’

An ideal illustration of the game of polo. Nonetheless, though one can begin to image what enjoying polo seems to be like after studying that quote, most black folks couldn’t think about themselves driving on the again of a horse and nonetheless can’t image themselves on the ice enjoying hockey. Eric Brown, Miguel Wilson, Kevin Scott, Dale Johnson and occasion coordinator Susan Smallwood– amongst many others, are altering this narrative. 

“My spouse acquired me into [polo], the primary time I performed I acquired whooped by a woman who was 8 or 9 years outdated,” mentioned Brown. 

Brown, now 52, began driving horses when he was simply 5, however he didn’t begin enjoying polo till he was 40. After nearly 20 years of being faraway from horseback driving, he acquired again to his pastime after having been pushed by his spouse.

Brown grew up in Virginia. His household is from Culpepper, and he used to work beneath a horse coach in Chantilly. He grew up coaching horses and truly had his personal horse when he was youthful. He attended Howard for a yr earlier than ending up faculty at James Madison College. Though he has deep roots in Virginia, he’s an avid traveler. 

He has visited Spain, Portugal and Mexico. He has finished a number of dressage coaching – a type of horse coaching in Europe. His most popular method to trip, or tour if you’ll, is on horseback.

“I desire to see the countryside on the again of a horse. You see stuff you merely can’t see from a automobile window.”

Miguel Wilson, 56, is a local of the Chocolate Metropolis. His father is from the Dominican Republic, however his mom can be a local Washingtonian.

“I went to at least one camp when he was 8 years outdated and he was hooked from there. I fell in love with horses.”

His nice grandmother paid for him to take horseback driving classes in Higher Marlboro, Maryland. Throughout nearly each summer time in highschool and faculty he would work as a driving teacher at Mas Halo summer time camp, situated in Virginia. 

However the coach that had the most important influence on Wilson was Joe Walker, whom Miguel extra affectionately known as Uncle Joe. 

“Uncle Joe gave me my first pair of leather-based driving boots. Uncle Joe was one of many first folks to buy a warmblood horse again within the ‘80s, manner earlier than it was the preferred horse for sport. He bought that horse for 30k.”

Wilson attended two traditionally black universities; he attended Bowie State for 4 years earlier than heading down south to complete his final yr of faculty and acquiring his bachelor’s from Clark Atlanta. Whereas at Bowie, he was additionally part of ROTC by way of Howard, and subsequently served as a army officer for six years. 

In 2011, Wilson filed for chapter. His son, Miguel Wilson Jr., confirmed an curiosity in horseback driving, so Miguel Sr. got here up with a plan: he began a basis referred to as Trip to the Olympics. 

“I began doing a number of issues with the youth in Atlanta… exposing internal metropolis youngsters to horseback driving.”

His son really trains professionally now in Texas. However his father’s philanthropy didn’t cease there. He began an occasion referred to as the Atlanta Vogue and Polo Basic. He does occasions for youths in PG County. He’s finished occasions with Steve Harvey’s basis. 

Maybe the largest and most impactful factor he’s finished was again in 2019 when he created the primary and solely HBCU polo crew within the nation at Morehouse. 

Johnson, the youngest of the group, acquired into the game the newest. 

The 37-year-old Oakland native has deep household ties to horses – his grandfather raised horses and had a ranch, and his grandmother was a sharecropper. In reality, his grandfather based the ranch after Juneteenth, and it served as a house to black cowboys who had been former slaves. He now owns two horses himself, a male horse named Denver and a feminine horse named Sunny.

“Though I personally acquired into the game later in life, horses at all times had been a giant a part of my life and my life story.”

An avid traveler himself, he has ridden horses on a number of totally different continents, and even had the chance to each journey with Eric Brown in Spain and play polo with Miguel Wilson Sr. in Atlanta. Curiously sufficient, Dale Johnson can be a mannequin for the United State Polo Affiliation (USPA).

“I really went on a enterprise journey to Argentina, which is definitely the polo capital of the world, and I noticed these polo boots that I fell in love with. That’s actually what solidified it for me.”

Horses sometimes weigh round 1,000 kilos and a polo area is roughly the scale of ten soccer fields in sq. footage. These males are enjoying a sport through which they should be in form themselves, whereas additionally having to know management the horses, transfer on a dime, and swing a mallet and attempt to hit a fiberglass ball right into a aim. Oh, and needless to say the opposing crew is sort of actually kicking and elbowing to attempt to achieve a bonus. The margin for error is low and the diploma of problem is extraordinarily excessive. 

“It’s a full physique exercise,” says Kevin Scott.