Big Horn Polo Club games start Sunday

The Big Horn Polo Club will launch its first polo games Sunday afternoon at the Big Horn Equestrian Center with play at 1 and 3 p.m.

Kristine Hardwick, who’s the polo club manager, said players have been practicing for a while, but Sunday will be the first games open to spectators. She said the COVID-19 restrictions have made her job a lot more work this year.

Now, she said, entry onto the Equestrian Center will be limited.

The games are also starting later this year than in the past. The club traditionally has started match plays on the first week in June. But, as in the past, Hardwick said the match play is planned to continue through the Labor Day weekend again this year.

Sunday’s two games will be the Michael Wallop-Ameriprise Financial Services/Ulibarri Family Cup at 1 p.m., and the Kurt Luplow Memorial Women’s Game at 3 p.m.

Polo has been played in Sheridan County since the 1890s when the sport was introduced by English nobleman Oliver Henry Wallop and Scotsman Malcolm Moncreiffe.

Originally played on the Polo Ranch just outside Big Horn, the sport was relocated to the Big Horn Equestrian Center in the 1980s after the ranch was sold.