Horacio Onetto has yet to hang up his spurs completely - combining playing with umpiring, and lately occasionally grooming for his two daughters, Dolores, 20 and Inez, 17, who have both followed in their father’s and grandfather’s footsteps and taken up the sport.

Polo was part of Horacio’s life in Argentina from the get go and he turned pro at the tender age of 16 after his father was injured and Horacio needed to play and sell horses is the US to continue the family business. He came to Oakbrook polo club each summer, and at the age of 24 met his soon to be wife, Hollis.

Horacio experienced life as a player/umpire before pro umpiring existed. He finds the circumstances now very different. “When you are umpiring as a player, you know the rules - but not like when you are a professional umpire. They train us to umpire, you have to learn everything, study all the time to refresh and brush up on the rules every year. It is very different from before.”

A highlight of Horacio’s playing career was winning the Silver Cup in Aiken - his home town these days - alongside Tiger Kneece, Julian Daniels and Tom Uskup.

Umpiring the high goal in Wellington during the winter, Horacio still feels a sense of occasion when he takes the field. “It’s a little different than playing,” he said. “You try to do the best you can and you try to be as fair as you can. You have to be impartial.”