Houston Homebreds

Fortuna with Plata (Photo courtesy of Whitehall Ranch)

Watch any polo game, and you can see the pride and care that each player takes with their string of ponies. Polo ponies are not only part of the team; they are part of the family. There is a special kind of pride when players can bring their homebred ponies from breeding to the field. Meet three of our Houston players’ homebred ponies: Fortuna, Zeus, and Pacana.

Fortuna

Bred by Whitehall Ranch

Photo courtesy of Whitehall Ranch

Fortuna is owned by Whitehall Ranch. Her mother, Plata, is one of Whitehall Ranch’s best mares (she came from Whistle Uys/Del Walton). She is a thoroughbred grey off the track with super thoroughbred lines. Strong, steady, and smooth, Plata played 12-Goal her second season of polo.

“After retiring due to a career-ending injury, we decided to breed her to Super Fly, a special stallion owned by my brother-in-law, Santi Torres,” says Chloe Torres, Polo Manager at Whitehall Ranch. “The stallion is out of Santi Torres’s best mare, Plumita, and Adolfo Cambiaso’s stallion, Boeing. Plata is as phenomenal a broodmare as she was a polo horse, and we are excited to continue to breed her in the future.” As for her foal Fortuna, she is a mama’s girl: she is showing a lot of her mother’s abilities and has shed her father’s chestnut coat for a grey coat—just like Plata.

Photo courtesy of Whitehall Ranch

Zeus

Bred by David and Anne Andras

Photo by Kaylee Wroe

The Andras family “accidentally” started raising polo ponies with the surprise birth of Rita in 2006. They had acquired their mare Esmeralda in 2005, not knowing that she was bred to an unknown stallion. They quickly fell in love with Rita and having a foal around the barn, so in 2008 they decided to breed one of David’s retired playing mares, Babydoll, and Zeus became their first planned baby!

Photo by Kaylee Wroe

“As you can see, our babies are part of the family!” says Anne. In 2011, they bought Zeus’s dad, Finance the Cat, and officially started their breeding program. Today, David plays four seasoned homebreds, with two younger mares soon to join the string (if Anne doesn’t steal them first!). Raising their own polo ponies has been very fulfilling. Both Anne and David love the nostalgia of riding the babies of their favorite retired mares.

Pacana

Bred by Liz Lary

Photo courtesy of Liz Lary

Pacana is bred out of one of Liz’s favorite mares, Maple. Maple was a big strong mare that was originally owned and trained by Wayne and Barbara Kvalsvig, then Sam Banks. Even though Maple was big in size, she was very fun to play. So when Liz considered breeding Maple, she thought a smaller stallion with more handle may result in Maple’s baby being a little smaller with more agility. This led her to breed Maple with Acres Upon Acres, a cutting horse.

Pacana was started under saddle by Mike Outhier and is now in training with Joscelyn and Troy Lequerica. As an amateur player, Liz is grateful for the experts in the polo community in Houston. “We’re fortunate in Houston to have a number of good trainers around—especially polo pony trainers. It’s not something you want to do yourself as an amateur. A lot of work goes into training—from halter breaking to first ride to teaching the pony about the mallet, ride-offs, and everything a polo pony needs to hit the field.”

Photo courtesy of Liz Lary