We all know the line by Will Rogers about Gilroy
–
”
the only place in America where you can marinate a steak by
hanging it on a clothesline.
”
We all know the line by Will Rogers about Gilroy – “the only place in America where you can marinate a steak by hanging it on a clothesline.”
Well, last Saturday the gentry out at Buck n Horse Ranch in Gilroy had a variation on the recipe: Tie your string of polo ponies to the rail and let them soak up the aroma, then play a chukker or two (or five or six) and be assured that either your blood pressure will drop dramatically or the vampires will all run screaming away from you.
Dubbed “Pirate Polo Playday” by Buck n Horse Ranch’s manager, Kelly Holbrook, the day started at 10am with polo on two fields featuring a mix of professionals and hard-core amateurs. Buck n Horse Ranch owner Gary Pollack joined fellow polo enthusiasts Michael Haack, Cathy Smiddy, Vladimir Rivkin and high school polo player Madelyn Cobb – granddaughter of baseball player Ty Cobb. (She says the whole family tends to lean toward athleticism.) A herd of other players participated as well. Cobb took a nasty fall at the start of one of the last chukkers of the day, but she managed to make it to the pool-side party with ice on her shoulder.
The white tents were up with field-side seating and breakfast nosh laid out on linen-covered tables on a perfectly mild fall weekend. Gilroy residents and neighbors Kay Weeks and Cherlyn Gardner ventured over to soak up all things equestrian and experience polo for the first time. Both women own horses, and Weeks raises a rare breed of Gypsy Vanners originally from the United Kingdom.
The day continued after the polo with gymkhana in the large, covered arena. Polo players met up with Western reining riders led by their trainer, Gabe Davide. After smashed eggs and pole-racing, the crowd headed to the historic craftsman-style ranch house and dined poolside, receiving gifts of custom designed Pirates Playing Polo T-shirts – which featured an awesome design of a human skeleton pirate riding a skeleton horse-reins in the teeth of the rider with mallet and sword in his hands.
I’ve been waiting all year to attend a good ‘ol guests-in-the-pool-fully-clothed party, and Chris Douglas delivered by shoving Davide and Smiddy into the water. Pollack shied away, protecting the leather, Argentinean polo boots.
Said Holbrook of the party, “It’s a great way to celebrate the end of the polo season and get to know the different disciplines of the riding on the ranch. The theme addressed the pirate in all of us! We hope to make it an annual event.” So do I.
n n n
Jackie-O needed a home … and she ended up in mine. Jackie-O was a caged participant at the Taste of Morgan Hill on Sunday in the San Martin Animal Shelter’s booth, and I spotted the familiar rat terrier physique (pointed ears, stocky body and sweet face). Jackie-O kept her dignity even behind bars, but the unmistakable look of “save me from all of this” came through loud and clear.
The representative from the shelter cooed at Jackie-O, and the stump tail wagged. “I’ll do a story on her and coerce one of my readers to adopt her!” was my thought as I headed to the shelter on Monday. My first time to the San Martin Animal Shelter, I found my soul mates. The most kind-hearted people work at the shelter, making due with what donations they receive and the strapped funding from the county.
So I could take a picture of Jackie-O, one of the attendants brought her out into the side yard and I knew how the story would end. Jackie-O spent her first night at my house last night burrowed under my daughter’s bed covers – as all rat terriers love – sleeping as sound as any canine could.
Jackie-O was the last of the “older” dogs to be adopted from the shelter lately, but they have rows of younger dogs waiting for the open hearts of those willing to help them make a new start. If you can’t adopt and you are in a service group, consider doing a fundraiser for the shelter. The residents there will be grateful.
Ciao for now.
