Tenby

Foaled in 1903, Tenby was the gallant black gelding who carried Devereux Milburn Sr. for three periods in each of the Westchester Cup matches of 1913, 1914 and 1921, a tribute to the horse’s talent and endurance. As one writer observed in 1927, “There never lived an honester and gamer pony.”

Tenby, originally owned by William Balding, was one in a string of six ponies that Harry Payne Whitney gave to Devereux Milburn as a wedding present. The English-bred pony, three-quarters thoroughbred, became Milburn’s favorite and the hero of hundreds of hard-fought matches, a handsome sable flash who always seemed to have a shade more speed than any horse trying to catch him.

But according to Frank Milburn, Devereux Milburn Sr.’s grandson, Tenby was not without a fault: “Tenby had a problem – he wouldn’t stop. Sometimes Milburn stopped, but the horse didn’t. He once fell off Tenby three times in a period.”

On the return voyage to the States after the 1921 Westchester Cup tournament, Tenby passed away at 18 years of age. He was given a full shipboard funeral. Polo Monthly in 1921 noted, “Tenby will long be affectionately remembered as one of the best polo ponies of his age.” Tenby and Milburn are also remembered in a portrait painted by American sporting artist Franklin Brooke Voss, now in the collection of the Museum of Polo.

Devereux Milburn and Tenby

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