Estancia Los Potreros

I guess you would be grinning too if you had just been told that you have half a dozen girlfriends ready and waiting for you!

Many people would believe, mistakenly, that the Argentine Open held at Palermo is the main event in the polo calendar worldwide. Those really in the know, would recognise that this is not the case. Nothing, but nothing, beats the Los Potreros Polo Open, held last weekend, for thrills, spills, referee nobbling, emotional language and generally lots of Argentine passion.

The tournament was held as the culmination of a polo week at Los Potreros, with four teams entering, and with individual players with handicaps of 5 down to those whose main handicap was their own appalling playing. It was, as always, a family affair, with Lou and Kevin pitted against each other as husband and wife, and Humi pitted against his brother, cousin, uncle, nephew, second cousin, neighbours dog, etc etc. We were also delighted to welcome as our guest player, Grant Bovey, ably supported by his wife Anthea Turner, who between them at the very least brought a bit of dignity to the proceedings.

As usual, when Kevin picks the horses, teams and referees as well (along with threatening to sack Humi if he didn’t win), it was a completely balanced and even competition, with his team winning by 6-3 in the final. Congratulations to Grant, Nestor, Fran and of course the ‘patron’ Kevin.  For the record, Humi was last seen in one of our rather larger fields (about 1,000 acres of mountainous terrain) with a wheelbarrow and a fork picking up droppings, due to Lou´s sense of humour failure about losing to her husband once again.

We are absolutely thrilled to announce the arrival of our new stallion - “Tukanka Templador”. He is full Paso Peruano, with a lineage going back to the first classic stallions brought to Argentina from Peru. At 14 years old he has plenty of years ahead of him, and is very tame to ride. He has all of the classic Peruvian characteristics - heavy, triangular neck; short back; long stomach; plenty of depth between shoulder and girth; and a fabulous ‘paso’ action with the high knees and ‘flick’ of the hooves. And of course, it is like riding an armchair! We have plenty of girlfriends lined up for him, so he is certainly going to be busy . . .