Polo Life: Horses, Sport, 10 and Zen

Adam Snow is in his third decade as a professional polo player. He fully engages in the sport at many levels: there is a childlike fascination with the ball, an adrenaline junkie’s love for speed, and a college graduate’s immersion in strategic machinations. He has played polo on four continents for hundreds of teams. Highlights of his career include US Open wins in 2002 and 2006, a 10-goal handicap for three years, Player of the Year awards in 1997 and 2003, and induction into the Polo Hall of Fame in 2014. Currently, Adam is also a broadcast analyst for polo productions on NBCSports. He graduated from Yale in 1987 with a BA in History. Shelley Onderdonk graduated Cum Laude from Yale in 1989 with a BA in Psychology and Biology. She taught for the Yale-China Association for two years before returning to the United States to enroll in veterinary school. After obtaining her DVM from the University of Georgia in 1997, she went on to become a certified veterinary acupuncturist. Shelley’s practice focuses on sport horses and integrative medicine. Together, Adam and Shelley manage New Haven Farm, their horse farm in Aiken, South Carolina. They breed and train polo ponies and maintain Adam’s playing ponies, striving to be sustainable stewards of their land while providing an ideal center for all their horses to thrive. They both work with the United States Polo Association furthering polo development in the US. In 2001, they were featured in a NatureSeries PBS documentary Horse & Rider. They are the proud parents of three boys-Dylan, Nathan, and Aidan.