History of Polo in Midland
HISTORY OF POLO IN MIDLAND
Jay Floyd, an ambitious, far-sighted young man in college, was responsible for starting polo in Midland. The Floyd family raised thoroughbreds on their ranch south of Midland in the early 1900's.
A dry lakebed on the Floyd Ranch served as this area's first polo field and by the mid 1930's Midland was the principal source of polo ponies in the country.
In 1960, Hilliard, Ritchie, Stimmel and Beal along with Bobby Holt, Hap Sharp and George Landreth put up an arena north of town and started playing “indoor” or arena polo. By 1964 this group, along with Jim Hall, Ronnie Hissom, and Willie B Wilson, got together and founded the Midland Polo Club. In June of 1965 these founding members, under the driving leadership of George Landreth, started purchasing and planning the present facility. The Flying Galindo family consisting of Chango, Carlos and Hector came to the forefront in the 1980's and put Midland on the map for producing high-goal players. Midland Polo Club also developed a respected reputation of being a facility to acquire outstanding polo ponies through the breeding and training efforts of world renowned 8-goaler, Bart Evans, BTA’s Straight Legs Ranch and Wilson Ranch.
Frank Cowden, having been bitten by the "polo bug" while attending New Mexico Military Institute, had played against the famous 7th Calvary team at Fort Bliss, TX returned to Midland and became an active member of the Midland Club. The group moved to the fairgrounds in 1938. In 1953, Carton Beal arrived from California with six head of top polo ponies. Beal joined together with Toby Hilliard, Gus White Sr. and Jr., and Jimmy Stimmel formed the Midland - Lamesa Polo Club. In 1956, Midlanders Keith Somerville, Jimmy Ritchie, Cable Bruce Jr., Buddy Bade, Bill Ellis and Togo Julian joined the group. They called themselves the Midland Dusters.
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