10 minute read
Joan Burton
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n this article, we were extremely excited to interview our friend, Joan Burton. We met Joan about ten years ago at a polo match held at the San Diego Polo Club in San Diego, CA. Joan is not only a member of the club, but a member of a female polo team! Interestedly, we talked to Joan as we peeked inside of the world of equestrians and polo. As a child, Joan, naturally took to the love of horses, and has been riding since the age of two. Her love for horses would open the door to be ‘adopted’ by a trainer who took her under her wings, and later became one of the best influences in her life. Joan’s trainer not only provided her with a safe haven to keep her out of the usual trouble that youths got into, she’d load them up in her car, take them all to lunch and then teach them how to show horses.
Joan began her equestrian shows in hunters and jumpers. In these shows, the Hunters (horses) were judged by their ability to smoothly and effortlessly negotiate between natural obstacles such as fences, hedges, walls, and etc. (the type of things that a horse may encounter while ‘fox-hunting’ and carrying a rider) In this showing, both the rider and the horse must work together flowing from one jump to the next. The Jumpers, on the other hand, is based solely on the horse’s athletic ability to clear all the fences featured in the course as quickly as possible with the minimum of mistakes while carrying a rider. For instance, very technical, the horse can be charged ‘faults’ for any mistakes made during the 12-16 course jumps, such as knocking over the rails during jumps, refusal to jump, or
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going over the maximum amount of time allowed to complete the course. In this show, the fastest time and minimum mistakes win. “I did this for a long time and then took a break for a while, you know, college and so forth. Then I returned to riding with my trainer and I hadn’t ridden throughout those years, and I had a bad accident. I go, “You know what, I’m too old to be jumping horses right now, so I’m going to play polo, that would really be fun!” I had just met the San Diego Polo Club and when I said that my Mom was like, “Are you insane? Like you think THAT’S safer?” Yes, I do. The horses are actually safer at the level that I play. I have a comrade on the field, so I don’t have a horse that I’m TRYING to work with that’s not always on the same plan as I am. So, yes, that was probably the best gift I’ve had in meeting everyone and getting into the world of polo. It’s been an amazing journey. So, polo is where my heart is!”
What is ‘polo’? Polo, often viewed as the sequestered game of the ‘elites’, is an exciting and dynamic team 34 game, ummmm, let’s compare it to a cross between golf and hockey played on horseback on a field about the size of nine football fields! Believed to have originated in Persia over 2000 years ago, polo is possibly one of the oldest sports in the world. However, the game as we know it today actually originated in India in the 1800s. Interestingly, it would be the British soldiers who were stationed there and saw the game, who later adapted it for their own uses and often used it as a training for their cavalry riders. Overseen by the Federation of International Polo, the current rules were established, and the game has spread, being played all over the world including the UK, Argentina and the USA. The object of Polo is for a team to score more points than its opponents, therefore winning the game. The teams of four are made up of attackers and defenders, but each player is expected to be flexible and make any play whether its offense or defense and change positions as necessary to benefit their team. Of course, Polo cannot be Polo without the most important element of the game, horses! Known as Polo ponies, these horses are bred specifically for the game. Each player will need to have at least two of them to be switched out during the game. These horses will either belong to the players or to the Polo club and they wear a special saddle that enables the player to be seated securely, control the horse and swing the mallet. “Polo is an open war game with teaching strategies. There are four people on each side, Position 1(attacking offensive player), Position 2 (offensive player who primarily backs up 1), Position 3 (similar to the quarterback and is usually filled with the best player on the team) and Position 4 (the defensive goalie) and the basic thing is to make a goal. Although it has evolved through the British, the Argentines are very well known for it and if we had the Olympic followings, they would probably take the gold each time because they are amazingly talented. There are a lot of rules that make it a bit technical, but the horses are probably eighty to ninety percent of the sport, as they can make or break your game. They are very well-behaved horses and I have even put children on mine. We’re kind of cow-boyish, so it’s not much proper riding. I mean, you do have to know how to ride but with polo form, we don’t have an elegant equitation
form where you have to be in the saddle very still and everything! We are moving around a lot; we stand most of the time when we are running and hitting the ball! So, it’s a little bit different! Of course, then there is arena polo, which everyone kind of starts at.”
“Today there are polo clubs everywhere you go, I was in Jamaica, heading to St. Anne’s, which is the second oldest polo club in the world, and the home of my favorite man, Bob Marley! I thought, wow, what a cool combination of things. I got there and it rained every day and it wasn’t safe to play, but I’ll be back, you can go anywhere in the world and have a safe haven, you have nice people and you have fun and sports you can get in on. It’s just a real family-oriented sport. So that makes it nice.”
Ambi’ance Uncut also found that this family-oriented sport has no set season and is held year round in various parts of the world, allowing teams to travel and enter tournaments as far and as wide as they like, playing the sport that they love. Most just do the local circuits and wait until the tournaments come to their areas. Otherwise, they will find themselves changing homes every three to four months playing in different areas, although there are some that enjoy that lifestyle. “It’s a hard thing to do, you know, keep traveling, changing homes every three to four months, you know? Trying to remember your last address. I’m lucky that I live in California, so we’re pretty close to a lot of things. Our club used to play on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturdays, and other clubs may do theirs differently, you just have to figure out what’s in your area and what will work for you. The clubs are more than happy to help you get on a horse and see if you like it. It’s such a feeling of accomplishment to be able to run your horse, hitting balls!”
Ambi’ance talked to Joan about the programs, Workto-Ride in Philadelphia and the Compton Posse in Compton, CA within the polo community, to name a few, have opened the world of polo to inner-city youths. At Ambi’ance as well as other communities, Polo has always been considered the sport of the elite. Our cities, inner-city at-risk-youth more than likely have never even heard of the sport. “I mean, no wonder people don’t think that they belong. They think that it’s a Royal thing, or that the people are ‘snotty’. This is far from the truth. A lot of these children never even thought of going to a barn. These children have become the most beautiful of athletes and it has been incredibly good for the kids as it has always been known that equestrian therapy works! We had a young man from a Latin gang in NJ who was extremely angry come to the barns. At first, he wasn’t really accepting of the horses and was pretty much guarded
and the horses gave it back to him. But by the end of the hour, he had taken off his bandana from his favorite rapper and was wiping the horse’s face. And I mean, I saw him, and I cried. I had to go away because earlier he was so broken and within that hour, he had let his guard down. These kids come and they find a place that they feel safe. They receive love and comradery from the horses, and they love it. These kids have kicked the doors of polo down and it’s catching on more and more.” So much so that Ralph Lauren picked these kids and did an amazingly beautiful photoshoot with them. One of these kids, Kareem, who doesn’t play as much, has gone on to college and is now a Financial Analyst, and as a Member for Life, 35
36 now, raises funding for children of every color to enjoy the benefits that he has achieved from the horses and the sport. “Everyone deserves what we all want, love, respect and acceptance. You know just treat me with dignity. People’s circumstances have messed them up, but there are ways of fixing and healing that. With attention, negative tension or positive affirmation has the same effect, reactions. So just the fact that someone took the time to take them away from their environment for a while speaks volume and these animals have a way common to humans. They give you that look, or that nudge, that love or
whatever. They’re like gentle giants. Either way, it’s an unspoken word and we give in and treat them better than we do with each other.
Today, with the COVID-19 pandemic in full swing and the tournaments at a temporary halt, Joan spends her time developing an electronic directory called Poloto-Go-Go. Joan found that when searching for Polo items, the web instinctively directs you to Ralph Lauren Polo. Her idea for this directory will allow those searching to locate anything Polo, like clothes, boots, equipment, trophies, various Polo clubs, etc., connecting you to various Polo businesses around the world, Joan will also be introducing a Polo greeting card line for the holidays as well as any other occasion.
Finally, we at Ambi’ance Uncut, wish Joan well in her endeavors and we thank her for educating us in the sport of Polo. I am now excited to be in the VIP tent, chatting it up with good food, new friends and enjoying a new sport! If you are in the area, feel free to stop by! “But by the grace of God, there I go! To thine own self be true!”---Joan Burton
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