It's what's on top that counts at a polo match

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By Bill Wundram | Monday, August 11, 2008 11:21 PM CDT | () comments

We took only a sidelong glance at what used to be Alfred Boeh’s bean field along Forest Grove Road, Bettendorf, before abruptly stopping. Stretched out in a line were 14 pointed-top white tents that looked like the seat of King Arthur’s Camelot. Horses with wrapped legs and riders in white pants and helmets were dashing around, swatting at a round thing about the size of a baseball.

It looked like they were playing croquet on horseback, except that the ball was socked with the side of a mallet instead of the end, as in backyard croquet. It was a polo match, on the fields of the Quad-Cities.

This was something like the movies with the women dressed the part. It looked like every woman was in a hat.

Up strolled Robin Schaver of Moline in a swoopy hat. She even wore an exact duplicate of the light brown dress with white polka dots Julia Roberts wore to the polo match in the movie “Pretty Woman.” All she needed was Roy Orbison singing “Oh, Pretty Woman.”

Robin said, all smiles, “I’ve been waiting for a polo match to wear this dress.”

Polo is class, and the women in their hats were drawing almost as much attention as the riders on horses. Ronda Meier of Bettendorf was high style, black and white. Black and white is the preferred at a polo match, someone whispered to me,

“I made a hat to match my dress,” Ronda said. She won first prize in the hat judging.

The first polo match on Boeh’s field was held in 2006, although an attempt two years earlier — in the shadow of TPC Deere Run — was derailed by an unstable, muddy field. This Quad-Cities Polo Club match was not only for swells, though some sponsors had special tents for guests. General admission was only $5 for a whole afternoon. About 600 turned out for this fundraiser for Children’s Therapy Center of the Quad-Cities.

Horses and riders came from clubs in St. Louis, Madison, Peoria and the Quad-Cities. A polo horse can cost from $1,800 to as much as $8,000. No wonder their legs are wrapped to buffer blows from mallets and balls.

The whole idea of polo is to hit the ball between some posts while an announcer was calling mystic announcements like “nice turn” and “red team out of way.”

There could be exciting moments, like when a mallet got stuck in the braided tail of a horse during a frenzied bunch of swinging. I could imagine that the horse was aghast at having a mallet in its tail. The rider dismounted and the horse trotted off to its trailer, where it must have felt comfortable after such an episode.

Polo is serious business, but it also was a social thing with food and gin and tonics. Some on the field were novice riders, like Larry Whitty of Bettendorf.

“Last year I came out to watch and ended up parking cars. This year, I’m riding. It’s a good thing the horses are smart and know what to do,” he said.

Jeff Boeh, one of the riders, interested his dad in turning a piece of the family farm into a polo field. It was graded and planted with special grass four years ago. After two years, the grass reached maturity and could handle heavy use.

It takes about $2,000 worth of grass seed and constant, careful mowing and watering to keep the field in shape for what has become an annual charity event.

“To me, it’s wonderful,” says Alfred. “I want to keep this area green, not full of houses.”

Bill Wundram can be contacted at (563) 383-2249 or bwundram@qctimes.com.