By Richard Tren
Albert Tren, the leading South African polo player, showjumper and judge died peacefully at home, aged 97, on 19 January.
Albert, known as Abby, was born in Johannesburg in 1928. He was the son and grandson of great horsemen and grew up with a love and deep knowledge of horses. His earliest memories were of riding and he started competing from around the age of six. While Abby was a notable showjumper and an active member of the Rand Hunt, he was probably best known as a polo player.
As a six-goal player, Abby was the captain of the Inanda polo team for many years, captained the Transvaal polo team and was selected to play for the Springboks, South Africa’s national team.
He toured Kenya for the Springboks and played at home against many touring teams. At one point in the mid-1960s, the Italian industrialist Gianni Agnelli brought Abby to Punta Ala on the Tuscan coast to play polo for several weeks with competitors from Italy and from all over the world.
Abby was involved in numerous other aspects of South Africa’s horse world.
He was a highly respected judge, touring around the country. He was instrumental in starting and then running the three-day-event Toyota Horse Trials, outside Johannesburg.
He was also involved with the annual Rand Easter Show, the largest agricultural show in Johannesburg, having competed for many years from the 1940s onwards, then judged there. He served as president of the Witwatersrand Agricultural Society, which hosted the show, for three years and was the vice-president for another three. In that role Abby invited numerous English judges to the show, frequently hosting them for the two weeks that the show ran.
After retiring and moving to England in 1995, Abby volunteered as a timekeeper for Pony Club polo matches.
Abby is survived by his wife Judy, their four children Frances, Diana, Nicholas and Richard, and three grandchildren.
