1 8—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 8, 1973
Hard-riding Ben Forney
Still Playing Polo at 68
Ben Forney, a hard-riding
senior citizen, swings a mean
mallet. The 68-year-old cattle
dealer and Rothsville resident
has to be one of the oldest active
polo players in the country. He’s
been playing the game for the
past 35 years, and says he’ll keep
on playing until old age catches
up with him.
Forney started playing polo in
1938, when he and three other
local men accepted a challenge
from a fledgling York team.
There are four men on a polo
team. Forney’s quartet went to
York, trounced their opponents,
and launched a career that has
yet to end, at least for Forney.
The game of polo was started
many years ago m India by
British soldiers. Teams consist of
four men on horseback, and,
games are divided into six
chukkers or periods, each
chukker lasting 7.5 minutes.
Players change horses after each
chukker, and most team mem
bers have three pomes. Some
players may have only two
horses, some may use six in a
game
The Lancaster Polo Club, of
which Forney is president and
number one player, plays on a
field in Rothsville The field is 700
feet long and 320 feet wide.
Games are usually fairly well
attended “People come to our
games,” Forney says, “because I
have 37 Norway maples around
the field Most places they go and
sit in the hot sun. Here they come
and sit in the shade. It makes a
big difference in attendance.”
It costs a dollar to watch a
game at the Rothsville polo field
which is owned by Forney. But
even with shade tree comfort,
the gate doesn’t begin to make
the game a paying proposition for
any of the players
Does polo today live up to its
reputation as a rich man’s sport?
“Well, it used to be a rich man’s
sport,” Forney says, “but it’s
popularity is increasing. A lot
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more people are playing.”
While the game may no longer
be the exclusive preserve of the
Vanderbilts and the Rockefellers,
it is still not a sport for folks on
relief A good polo pony today
costs around $lOOO, and the
average player has three. Stable
fees can amount to $4O a month
for one horse. Then there’s the
cost of saddles, boots and other
gear, helmets and transporting
horses. And somebody has to buy
a ball.
“It takes about three or four
years to make a good polo pony,’’
says Forney. “After they play
that long, they get to love the
game. Some horses will even
follow the ball. You need a good
neck rein pony. If you have a
good cow pony, you can usually
get him to play a good game of
polo.” Most of Forney’s ponies
are a mixture of quarterhorse
and thoroughbred.
Players, like their horses, have
to be a special breed to play the
game of polo. Thundering hooves,
swinging mallets, flying balls,
excited players, all can maim
and injure even the most careful
participant. Forney is no ex
ception, and counts among his
polo momentoes a broken leg,
chipped eyebone, chipped
elbows, broken ankle and frac
tured ribs.
Achievement Demands
Your child should understand
the demands for achievement
and accomplishments before he
starts to school. To help him
learn these demands, James Van
Horn, Extension family life
specialist at The Pennsylvania
State University, says give him
opportunities for reward, success
and achievement at home. For
example, compliment your child
on bis skills, such as making his
bed, brushing his teeth or keeping
his room tidy.
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Forney and all his team
members are rated players,
which means they belong to the
U.S. Polo Association. In rating
players, the association assigns a
number to each player. A player
rated “1” would make one goal in
an average game. A player rated
“2” would make two goals, and so
on. Forney is a one goal player.
Many, many of the players on the
circuit are rated no goals. A very
few are rated eight goals.
Polo is strictly an amateur
sport, Forney says, although
some of the eight-goal super
players do have sponsors. No one
on the Lancaster Polo Club is in
danger of losing his job, though,
because none have sponsors.
They all play for the fun of it.
Forney’s team members are
Mike Power, Morgantown, Riggs
Jones, Phoenix, Md., and Nor
man Taylor, Media. In addition to
the far-flung regulars, the local
team has two alternate players,
Ray Longnecker, Lititz RD2, and
Larry Royer, Rothsville.
Ben Forney, Rothsville, is the number one player for the
Lancaster Polo Club. The hard-riding, 68-years-young semi
retired cattle dealer has been swinging his mallet for the
past 35 years.