David Sommers keeps one of his most treasured photographs framed prominently behind his desk: a 1938 shot of the U.S. Army’s 13th Cavalry in mounted formation on the Fort Des Moines parade ground. The field, near the intersection of Southwest Ninth Street and Army Post Road, doubled as the polo grounds for the officers, who played the game to sharpen their horsemanship skills. For many years, it also served as the practice field for the Des Moines Polo Club.

“I happened to see this picture in a guy’s office 10 or 15 years ago, and I recognized it right away,” said Sommers, a financial planner who has been a polo club member since 1988. “I saw it and I just had to have it. It’s a real slice of Des Moines history.”

Sommers is part of a close-knit group of 14 Greater Des Moines horse owners who are hooked on the hard-charging game, which tests the athletic stamina and skills of both the horses and their riders. In the United States, there are only about 3,500 people who play polo, and the Des Moines club is constantly reaching out to try to recruit new members.

From April through September, the club practices on either its official field near Cumming, Des Moines Polo Field at Polo Pointe, or its unofficial field, Baker’s Powder River Ranch Field in Madison County. The club holds two major at-home tournaments each year and travels to numerous tournaments. Since 1995, the club has sponsored Polo on the Green, its annual charity fund-raising event benefiting Variety – The Children’s Charity.

Besides the camaraderie and the chance to compete against players from throughout the world, the sport also provides some of Des Moines’ busiest people a challenge separate from their business lives.

“It’s the best mental escape from business I’ve ever had,” said Mark Allen, owner of A.J. Allen Mechanical Contractors, who has played for the past 15 years. “When I play on the weekends, I forget about business entirely, and that’s unusual for me.”

Sommers was introduced to the sport in 1988, when some friends who played invited him to attend Polo on the Green.

“I was like a lot of other people in Des Moines; I didn’t even know there was polo here,” said Sommers, who had ridden horses since he was 7. After watching his first game, “I bought a horse and started playing three weeks later.”

Because U.S. Polo Association rules prohibit a horse from being played more than twice during a game, at least three horses are needed per player for each six-chukker match. Some members at the time helped Sommers get started by lending him horses to use until he was able to assemble his own string of polo ponies, a courtesy that’s often extended to new members. Most established players have at least six horses, said Sommers, who currently owns 10.

“It’s a situation not unlike golfing or fishing,” he said. “When the putter wears out or you don’t think the luck is there, you go out and buy a new putter. We’re all trying to upgrade the quality of our string of horses. We all ride horses that are for sale. We’re continually trying to get rid of that horse that’s the least capable, and add horses that play better.”

Far more challenging than keeping a good string of horses is maintaining a club large enough to compete in tournaments.

“The problem with polo is that about the same number of people quit every year as start,” Sommers said. “The only subgroup in the USPA that is growing, and growing dynamically, is women.” According to a recent membership survey, 28 percent of USPA members are women.

The Des Moines club has not had an active female player for several years, but that will change next year when Misty Wittern, who quit playing after having her first child, returns to the field.

“It’s kind of like you have to have all of your stars lined up,” said Wittern, who said she “absolutely fell in love” with the sport when she started in 1991. “You have to have an understanding family and time on the weekends. Now, with so many players, it’s a little more flexible because there are more people to fill in.”

Now that her son and daughter are 5 and 7, she plans to bring them along and slowly get back into the game as she rebuilds her stable of horses.

“You can be an aggressive competitor or a casual participant,” she said. “You can adjust that according to what you want.”

Though she knows a lot of women who ride, polo may be more physically demanding than many would want to endure.

“I think it takes a special kind, but I think if more women would try it they would like it,” she said. “I would definitely encourage more women to try it. It’s like any hobby or sport – you’ve just got to put the time and money into it.”

The sport is equally demanding for the men, said Allen, who, like many of the club members, is now in his mid-50s.

“The physical nature of the sport really takes horseback riding to a whole new purpose,” he said. “Your horses get to know exactly what they’re doing because they have a purpose.”

There sometimes are injuries. Several years ago, Allen was “T-boned” in a game and his horse landed on top of him, giving him a concussion. “I was up and around, against medical recommendations, and played the next two days,” he said. Though polo can be a dangerous sport, “if you’re playing with people who follow the rules, they were designed to protect the players and the horses.”

Sommers said he’s enjoyed competing against excellent players, both young and old.

“When I started playing, there was a little girl who was about 12 or 13 years old from Canada, and she whipped my rear for 10 years. It was 10 years before I ever won a match I played against her. I also played against a gentleman who was 82 years old in what was unfortunately his last game because of an injury.”

That player, the late A.B. “Bud” Tyler, knew the polo field in Sommers’ beloved cavalry photo well, said Sommers, noting that Tyler competed on that field against an Army officer who became one of the country’s most famous generals: George S. Patton Jr.

Beyond his love for the game itself, Sommers said the friends he’s made have been the best part about his 18 years of polo. He’s traveled as far as Argentina to play polo with friends who live there. Later this month, he and eight friends from the club will travel to Kenya for a horseback safari, with four days of polo built into the trip.

“They’re people I’ll go to great lengths to maintain a relationship with, even outside of polo.”

For more information about the Des Moines Polo Club, visit www.desmoinespolo.com.