The short answer: La Herradura Polo Club is Memo and Meghan Gracida's club in California's Santa Ynez Valley. Memo has won the U.S. Open 16 times, more than any player in history, and the club is built around safe horses and serious instruction. It isn't cheap: when I visited in 2021, a chukker cost $500. It's also the only place on my tour where a polo legend bought me lunch and told me I was an athlete.
These notes come from my 2021 and 2022 tour, when I tried to visit every polo club in America as a playing USPA member. Seasons, contacts, and prices change, so check each club's Instagram or the U.S. Polo Association before you go.
La Herradura at a glance
Where: The Santa Ynez Valley, in Santa Barbara County, California.
Owners: Memo and Meghan Gracida, who bought the property, a 45-acre former Arabian horse farm, in December 2017 (Santa Barbara Magazine).
The name: La Herradura means "the horseshoe." It recalls the Mexican polo team Memo's father fielded with his brothers.
When I visited: Two fields, calm and safe horses, and about 15 members. The club is picky about who it accepts.
What I was quoted in 2021: $500 a chukker, $500 for a lesson with Memo, or $350 for a lesson with another instructor.
Tournaments: The club hosts the USPA Carlos Gracida Memorial, a 12-goal tournament named for Memo's late brother (PoloHub).
Lunch with Memo
I'd first been in touch with the Gracidas back in 2017, so when my tour reached California, I texted Meghan. Memo took me to lunch with Julio, and he paid. He was super kind, and he loved to tell stories.
Somewhere in those stories, he said to me, "You should write a book." And: "You are so brave." Then: "You look really athletic. You're an athlete, I can tell."
I wrote a whole essay about why that last line mattered to me: You Can't Be Athletic Too. After lunch, Meghan drove me back.
What La Herradura does well
Safe horses. The horses were calm, and the club was very safe.
Full service. They'll get you a groom and take care of your horses for you.
Women in the game. Meghan plays too. She'd been playing about five years when I met her, and she's a badass. More on that in women in polo.
Memo's advice for traveling players
Memo told me his picks for the best clubs in the world: Tortugas in Argentina and Cowdray in England. Both are on my polo bucket list.
The family also travels to Mexico to train a family there on a private field, and Memo warned me to be careful of places in Mexico that don't have safe horses. That advice works anywhere. Before you get on a horse at a new club, ask who matches horses to riders and how they decide. I cover that in how to play polo when you travel.
Who should go
If you're serious about learning and your budget allows it, a lesson with a legend is a rare thing. (Memo held a 10-goal handicap, the highest in polo, for 21 straight years, according to Santa Barbara Magazine.) For cheaper ways to play in California, from $30 chukkers in San Diego to arena polo in Los Angeles, see my guide to polo clubs in California and what polo really costs.
Polo, wherever you are. That's PoloFlow, the app I'm building to make finding a game and a safe horse easy. Join the waitlist.
