By Joe-Pete Wilson
 

Polo at The Bark Eater

The Bark Eater polo field is unique in its location and design. Joe-Pete, with great reservation, took his dad's best cornfield, and with the addition of approximately 100,000 yards of fill, created a polo field that has exciting views like no other field in the world. Reportedly, this is the only polo field in the Adirondacks.

A little stick and ball on the field, a little play or even a walk on the field has convinced people who have played in other polo centers such as Sugarbush, VT or Saratoga, NY.

For 25 years, The Bark Eater has fielded a competitive team mainly developed from young local athletes coached by the Wilson family, including host Joe-Pete Wilson, his son Brandy and daughter Katie. At least two players made Level I teams at college, including a player who was the only athlete ever from his high school to accomplish that feat in any sport.

At least two exhibition polo matches, drawing players from NY and Canada are staged here each summer.

Polo lessons available upon request.
 

Oh Yes!

The early years of Polo

Perhaps one of the oldest of the team sports, Polo’s genesis is lost in the unwritten history of the ages. Originally an Asiatic game, this 2000-year-old game is thought to have been played on the steppes of Asia, possibly by children at play, but most assuredly by clans and warriors.  

Some stories tell of there being hundreds of players with goals as much as twenty miles apart. I like to think of it as a sort of modified or quote “friendly” war game. It had a more gentlemanly way of eliminating undesirables. The game sometimes was played until there were no more horses and no more players! 
 

Stretching

 

Getting ready

 

Good offense; good defense!

Stories also abound with the theory it was an honor to be the sacrificial human head as the ball. This was passed in one fashion or another from player to player. Later, games used a goat head. (This saved a lot of headaches)

Polo was eventually discovered by colonial England in the 1850’s and was played from Constantinople to Japan. The British cavalry quickly recognized its military uses. The British began adding rules and modifying the game. By the 1860’s the game was well established in England. By 1876 it had hit the U.S.  

 

JP taking control of the ball with a perfect ride-off against son Brandy (note how both horses are leaning into each other so as not to be moved out of position).

In May of that year, the first outdoor Polo game was played at Jerome Park Race Track in Westchester County. An area that later became home to the N.Y. Giants and known today as “The Polo Grounds.” 

 

Friend Or Foe? (David and Dr. Lael Peters of Saratoga)

 

In 1890, the U.S. Polo Association (U.S.P.A.) was founded to coordinate games, standardize rules and establish handicaps. All players are rated from:  -2 to 10. This allows teams to be more evenly matched, similar to a handicap in golf. 

 

The Conference - It certainly doesn't look like we're winning.

Between world wars one and two, Polo grew steadily. Eventually Polo spread across the U.S. to Chicago and California. It was then still “the sport of kings.”  

Camaraderie

Polo somehow survived the Great Depression and in 1933 the first east-west game was played, with the west winning two of the three matches played. Will Rogers, an avid player, was quoted saying, “The hillbillies beat the dudes and the took the Polo Championship right out of the drawing room and into the bunkhouse.” 

 

The coach, the captain and the boss with the ball!

 

By 1970, interest in Polo was growing, especially into more localized club Polo. This allowed a person with less skill and fewer horses to compete with other club members to the degree and amount he or she could afford. 

Collision - The Blue player can just be seen under the neck of the brown bay horse. One horse back up - one horse and two players still down. After a ten-minute break in play, horses and riders were back in the fray.

Joe-Pete first started playing in 1975 and with few exceptions, has continued to play ever since. With a friend, he founded the Stowe Polo Club and later on, his own at The Bark Eater. Joe-Pete has been named M.V.P. on numerous occasions.

Winning Team

Joe-Pete says he is not sure that he still has what it takes to withstand punishment, but he thinks he’s much better now, at least, of getting out of the way!  

Joe-Pete’s son, Brandy, is a highly rated player and a superb horseman (Shown above, on the right). His daughter, Katie, unfortunately rode without a mallet, she was a championship show jumper. (Shown below) She has now come around and plays on the Adirondack Polo Club team.

Style and Grace Katie on her winning horse, Strategy!

The exciting team of man and horse continues to embody breathing skin, fierce determination, gracious sportsmanship and above all, elegant ambiance unique to the world of equestrian sports.

Hot and heavy

Timer/Announcer Stand  - Best way to disguise a hay wagon -

The End