Page 38 - midland

Louisa Fikes, Midland native and long-time member of the Midland Polo Club, describes the people involved as anybody and everybody, and their dog - literally. Dogs are welcome to come as long as they are leashed. Depending on the season, MPC visitors will see lessons, team practice, pros visiting from around the world, horses being trained, not to mention the excitement of game days.

“Polo is such a great sport because it’s something that children can learn and enjoy at a young age, and then continue to play well into their adult life,” says Carolyn Stimmel, and she would know. Carolyn grew up riding and working on horses, but wasn’t introduced to polo until she married Harley Stimmel in 1985. Today, the forty seven year old mother of four is still a respected player in the competitive polo world. This past summer, Carolyn was honored to play in the prestigious, invitation-only Women’s Competitive Tournament in Santa Barbara, California.

Louisa agrees that polo is a sport you enjoy for a lifetime. Her family, the Musselmans, have a deep polo history. Her father, Henry Musselman, initiated Polo on the Prairie, a polo tournament held every spring at the family ranch in Albany benefting MD Anderson Hospital. The Musselmans have been involved at Midland Polo Club for close to thirty years, and the relationship goes both ways. Every year, MPC is well represented at Polo on the Prairie, sending players to support the Musselmans’ work. “It’s really a

family affair,” Louisa says, and to listen to her casually list families that have passed down a love of the game through generations, “Beal, Stimmel, Wilson, Musselman, Evans, Duke” it’s clear that the family aspect of the club is what keeps it thriving today.

The Beal and Stimmel families, for example, are two that have left indelible marks on the legacy of the club, paving the way for the many families to come. In 1949, Carlton Beal and Jim Stimmel were living and working in California when a sense of American

The actual sport is a rigorous competition between two teams of four players each on horseback. Each team attempts to score goals by getting the ball in the other team’s goal using long mallets. It may sound easy. Most people have some experience with the same basic conventions in soccer, golf, and other sports.