You may not realize it, but SMU has a polo team and its practice facility is located in Cross Roads, Texas. Not only that, but Mayer Ranch — the home of the ponies for the Mustangs — is now for sale.
Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty‘s David Burgher and his co-listing agent Harlan Ray are marketing the property, and from the looks of it, it’s polo heaven.
The Origin of Mayer Ranch Polo
While he grew up on horseback outside San Angelo on a historic family ranch dating back to the mid-1800s, Ken Mayer can be credited with helping to foster a thriving polo program at SMU.
Mayer was introduced to polo by his father-in-law who was playing high-goal polo with the late Norman Brinker. He fell in love with the game, and in 2016 he purchased the 111-acre ranch in Cross Roads, Texas, which was the former site of Lobo Polo & Cattle Ranch.
“It was purchased by William Steding in 1989, where ‘Bill’ transformed it into a full polo facility and built his house on the property,” Burgher told daltxrealestate.com. At that time, crowds flocked to what is now Willow Bend Mall in Plano to watch high-goal polo led by Brinker, and Steding was one of the patrons.
“Most of the polo players had polo fields and farms in the Cross Roads and Oak Point area where the horses were kept, bred, and trained. Bill Steding was one of them,” Burgher said. “Steding built the facility consisting of an 11-stall barn, five small shaded turnouts, a small hay barn, and a tractor/equipment parking area in addition to having one of the better polo fields in the area.”
Willow Bend’s polo facility shut down in the 1990s, but polo still flourished in the Dallas area through the use of the various fields in the Cross Roads and Oak Point area. Mayer even played a match on Bill’s field in 1993.
Mayer, an SMU alum, has a son who was also interested in following in his father’s footsteps on the polo field.
“He wanted to help the program and built a facility for the team to practice and play,” said Burgher. “Fast forward, now his son who is a senior at SMU and captain of the polo team. I can only imagine how proud he is to see how his hard work paid off like this and see his son carrying on the family tradition with polo and SMU.”
North Texas’ Premier Polo Fields
Over the past seven years, Mayer, the president of the DFW Polo Association, has turned this ranch into one of the premier polo fields in North Texas — which is no small feat according to Burgher.
“A polo field is 10 acres — 160 yards by 320 yards — and to keep it alive in the Texas heat and green with our droughts is tough,” he said. “But to have 111 acres with the field, covered arena, 57 stalls and acres of turn out, helicopter pad, hanger, and beautiful home — and all this in the middle of the exploding North Dallas area, minutes from the Frisco Star and Legacy in Plano and only 45 minutes from downtown Dallas and Fort Worth — is truly one of a kind.”
The facility is located at 3800 Historic Lane, next to the oldest, pre-Civil War pottery kiln in Denton County. Over time, Mayer modernized the ranch, adding an indoor arena, more barns, more stalls, more turn-out, and even accommodations for hunter/jumper equestrians.
“The Mayer Ranch Polo facilities are used extensively every spring and fall,” Burgher said. “MRP is home to the SMU Polo Club, which uses the indoor facilities six days per week during school semesters. The U.S. Polo Association has used the indoor facility for several Interscholastic and Intercollegiate polo competitions and hosted the College Regional Polo Championships for Division II in 2023, and the USPA will again use it for the championships in 2024.”
Mayer Ranch’s Main House is a Knock-In
Of course, with a polo facility as amazing as this one, you can bet that there’s an equally impressive house on the property. The main house at Mayer Ranch is a 6,000-square-foot, five-bedroom, six-and-a-half-bath home with gorgeous interiors. Constructed with a cottage-style aesthetic, the home sits at the end of a paved driveway that’s picturesque.
Inside, the home features a lovely living room with a floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace. The kitchen is built for entertaining with an oversized eat-in island and top-of-the-line stainless steel appliances. Each room has either views or sight lines to the property or the courtyard, which features a rectangular swimming pool
There’s also a glass-enclosed 1,600-square-foot office and additional housing and accommodations for staff.
Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty’s David Burgher and co-listing agent Harlan Ray have brought the legendary Mayer Ranch Polo facility at 3800 Historic Lane in Cross Roads, Texas, to the market for $20 million.
