Jed Ednie, by his own admission, doesn’t care for riding horses. At least not in the typical sense.
“I grew up having to show, doing trail riding, and I don’t like any of it,” Ednie said this week. But get him on a horse, put a mallet in his hand, and set him at one end of a sweeping playing field alongside three teammates and their own horses — that’s another story.
“Polo’s an actual sport,” Ednie explained. “It’s completely different…you’ve got to work with other individuals and their horse skills. To me, that’s the best.”
The first time he played, he was 12 and trying to wield a mallet that was much too big for him (“I just felt like such a wuss because the mallet was so heavy,” Ednie said). Both of his parents played the sport—his mother began playing on Oahu, where some of Hawaii’s best players are, and got his dad hooked.
Dick Ednie and Carlos Rivas founded the Mauna Kea Polo Club in the 1970s. At 74, Dick is still playing.
The club was in hiatus for about 12 years, until Paula Beamer, who played with the group in the 1980s, launched an effort to revive it. The new incarnation is in its fourth year. Its season began earlier this month and continues until mid-December.
Polo has the reputation of an elite sport accessible only to those with the means to afford a stable full of Thoroughbreds. Though you don’t need a $50,000 horse to play — ultimately, you need a horse that won’t spook when a mallet swings by its head — the equine element does present a significant entry barrier.
The Mauna Kea Polo Club is trying to change that. This Sunday, the first Andrew Kauai Jr. Memorial Cowboy Cup kicks off at noon at the club’s home field, Waikii Ranch off Saddle Road. Proceeds from admission to the event, which features a round-robin tournament of paniolo players as well as a match between the club’s regular players, benefit the club’s newly established Future Polo Players Fund.
Paniolos “go crazy,” when they play polo, Ednie said. “But it’s fun to watch.”
Andrew Kauai, Jr., was a fourth-generation paniolo who worked at Parker Ranch and Maui’s Ulupalakua Ranch. One of the top players in the Mauna Kea Polo Club, he passed away in January.
The club’s memorial fund was established in Kauai’s honor, and will help new players get involved with the sport.
“It’s getting them money to pay for mallets and saddles and things,” Ednie said. “You don’t just buy a glove and bat and you’re good to go…those costs add up fast if you don’t have anything to start with.”
The club hosts clinics to help newcomers and veterans alike. This year, Enrique Diaz, a professional player from Argentina, is working with the teams. Diaz’ last clinic is Nov. 14.
In order to be a top-ranked polo player, “you have to really commit to it, like a real job,” Ednie said. “We all have other jobs.” The same goes for the horses, many of which work on ranches or farms.
One of Ednie’s quarterhorses is 24-year-old Mahina, who is technically past her prime polo-wise.
“She doesn’t know it when she’s on the field,” Ednie said. “She pins her ears back, she’s competitive. Then we bring her back home, and put my 2-year-old on her, and she’s just walking around.”
“The horses are the best part, and the hardest part, and the most expensive, too,” he said. “When you talk about the team, it’s not just the guys, it’s the horses.”
The Andrew Kauai Jr. Memorial Cowboy Cup begins at noon on Sunday at the Waikii Ranch polo field. Gates open at 11 a.m. Admission is $5 per person. Visit www.maunakeapoloclub.com for more information.
Email Ivy Ashe at iashe@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
