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Lezlie Hiner, who runs the program, said Shariah Harris, who had never seen a horse in person before, eventually became a star pupil. She was a “tough as nails” kid who would literally fall off a horse and get right back on.
“And she actually does fall off a lot,” Hiner said. “She takes some headers, but she just goes for it and keeps on going.”
Harris, who was named the U.S. Polo Association’s 2016 national interscholastic player of the year, credits the program with giving her direction. To stay in Work to Ride, kids have to keep their grades up. Harris ended up earning academic scholarships to attend Cornell. She helped the school’s arena polo team to the national semifinals this year.
She’s also traveled with Work to Ride to play polo in Africa and Argentina. That is where she met Annabelle Garrett, a hedge-fund manager and the owner of the Postage Stamp Farm team.
Garrett, who normally rides on the four-person team herself, suffered a serious back injury this spring. She contacted Harris and asked her to take her spot on the squad for the Greenwich tournament.
“She’s absolutely a pioneer,” Garrett said. “This is a white-male-dominated sport. This is 100 percent groundbreaking. And she can ride.”
