Electric Charge

Electric Charge was a dark chestnut, thoroughbred mare and the winner of the Hartman Trophy in 1981. She also played and won the Cartier Handicap and played in the Camacho Cup in 1981. She was owned at that time by Seth Herndon who rode Electric Charge in numerous other high goal tournaments for five years, including two chukkers each in the final and semi-finals of the U.S. Open.

Electric Charge was bred in Oklahoma by John Durham and trained by Henry Burnell of Tulsa who sold her to Ralph Lafferty, who then sold her to Gary Wooten. Seth Herndon bought her from Wooten in 1978. All agreed she had endless stamina. Gary Wooten perhaps said it best: “Day in and day out she played like a machine. Her stamina was incredible, it was like there was no bottom to her. And she had a great heart; she’d go anywhere, do anything you’d ask.”

Seth Herndon talked about another dimension of her greatness, her speed: “She was truly a high goal mare. She handled wonderfully at speed and had speed to burn. She did not like slow or choppy polo and let you know it.”

And to complete the picture, she handled like a dream. “When I played in and won the finals of the Cartier Handicap,” Herndon said, “I’d injured my hand, and I remember breathing a sigh of relief each time I rode Electric Charge, because she was the easiest of my horses to ride.”

Watercolor portrait of Electric Charge (Top Photo) by artist, Melinda Brewer; www.poloart.ca