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flying high Big Horn, Wyoming is home to one of America’s largest high goal summer clubs. Sam Morton traces the area’s rich polo history
Big Horn, Wyoming is a small town nestled at the foot of an isolated mountain chain. The sign located at the end of town reads ‘Population 217’, yet every summer twice that number of polo ponies are put through their paces every day here. Businessmen, kids, ranchers, trainers, breeders and professionals converge on two polo clubs joined at the hip, where 80 players enjoy the perfect climate and scenic beauty. Big Horn is a town steeped in polo history. In 1893 a polo team of Englishmen took on a team of cowboys and started a tradition that, over a century later, has culminated in the largest high goal summer club in America. In 2005, Skey and Skeeter Johnston formed the Flying H Polo Club on their ranch in Big Horn – and in three years it has grown to feature a 30-goal game, six teams and 11 polo fields. The Flying H ranch is located on an historic piece of land. Once a battleground for six mounted tribes of Native Americans, the nearby Little Goose Canyon is the site where the US cavalry bivouacked after being
