The Importance of Grooms

You know I never got to properly thank my many amazing helpers/grooms/moms with food/friends at Midsouth Horse Trials the other weekend, so I thought I'd say thank you and remind everyone just how important grooms (unsuspecting friends) are in the horse show world. I also thought I'd share what it means to be a groom. If you didn't understand before you will now, and maybe you will rethink trying it out because it looks like your dream job.
When most people think of grooms they think of poor immigrants working ungodly hours lunging horses and cleaning stalls at the big hunter shows.What they don't think of are poor riders who want lessons or to compete at the upper levels so they commit their life to being paid less than minimum wage, eating Peanut Butter sandwiches, and moving home to live with their parents so that they can afford to compete at the top of their sport. Wait, didn't I say that being a groom was a barrel of monkeys? If you believed the first paragraph then your more gullible than a kid who believes a man who tells you "there's candy in the van with no windows". Here's what a day in the life of your average event groom looks like:

5:30AM Get up, don't shower because your just gonna get covered in slobber/tack soap/bath soap/ turpentine/furacin/surpass or any other number of crud at the barn, eat a granola bar (2nd cheapest thing next to PB&J), and rush out the door, wait go back and put some pants on, then rush out the door to the barn (or in my case the 20min drive to the barn)

6:13AM grab the first horse on the list and do a record time groom and tack up for the trainers first ride at 6:30AM- wait until 7:45AM for trainer to show up (ok this only counts for the trainer who puts too much on their plate...which incidentally is most of them)

11AM- have tacked/untacked/bathed/wrapped/walked in, out, up the hill, down the mountain/set fences/changed bits/ on no less than 8 horses....take a deep breath

11:15AM...run like a chicken-with-head-cut-off out to field for that last horse the trainer was asked to ride..she wants to be on in ten min...horse is on the other side of the 80acre field and thinks its funny to trot away from you

11:33AM your 8min late and your getting yelled at...why did you forget that darn 9th horse-that you weren't told about, but you should know about because of E.S.P?

12PM ok lunch time...PB &J (or Ramen if you aren't sick of those little packets yet)

12:15PM why are you sitting like a bump on a log, you need to have cleaned all 9 bridles by now, and iced 4 of the horses as well as washed ALL of the dirty saddle pads...oh and theres a horse coming in for the trainer to try at 1, have the correct tack out (so call the owner and see what you need)

1:05PM Ach, the person bringing the horse is late...carry all of needed tack to the parking lot and wait for the trailer to roll in, then hastily wait while the owner coo's at Sir Snortsalot and begs him to unload..for 20 min...set tack on wheel well of trailer and show owner how to unload horse...horse knocks tack on ground...run into the barn for a wet towel...run back to trainer tacking up Snort (aka Rearing Dragon of Death) who barks at you for leaving the tack too close to the horse while getting him ready...

2PM Snort has fought with trainer so much he's staying for a month of training...go set up a stall and pray he doesn't eat you alive because you get to help try to break his nasty habits over the next month (and your the assigned guinea pig to school him cross-country for the first time because he might try to re-enact a scene from Godzilla and your the "young-un")

ooops back up from 1:05-1:59 call the feed store and change feed for one horse, call two sponsors because your about to be out of product (and schmooze about how much you like Ed's Fish Oil even though secretly its caused you to not get asked out on a date recently because you smell like it and when you go to a bar smelling like an oil dredge people usually scatter), call an owner to remind them their tax-deductible contribution to the "Team" is due, call the farrier because you have horses competing this weekend and they need new shoes, call the trainers friend to pick up their kid from school because the trainer added three more lessons this afternoon and they can't go get said child...or wait- nope the neighbor can't go..you have to...

3-5:30PM feed, re-set feed, Oh! Don't forget to pick up trainers kid (beg said kid to not scream like a pterodactyl in your car), check any needed meds...clean the 4 bridles you still haven't gotten to, order hay/shavings for the traveling weekend, take a lesson on your own horse (beg forgiveness from said horse for ignoring him because the "string" comes first) drag Sir Dragon-Snorts-Death to his new field and hope he doesn't kill the boarders horses...uhoh he thinks he's a stallion..catch him and put in private paddock...call owner and inform her the board will be a little higher because Sir Flower is special and needs his own space

5:30-7 set fences for students in lessons, go back up to the barn and clean the three stalls that the barn staff didn't get to, grab trainers helmet so she can get on a students horse, go again beg forgiveness from your own horse (read-LOTS OF TREATS), then when told your done for the day...run to your car like your pants are on fire and drive home...wait turn around there's still laundry in the dryer that needs to be folded...then run home...eat another PB &J sandwich

8PM crash and burn because tomorrow the day has to start earlier, we just aren't able to get everything done in the hours worked.

Now what this doesn't include is the horse shows (lets not even go there for those hours) or the other strange things that pop up in a day. It also doesn't include trot/gallop set days because those are even worse. I just don't think people understand what a hard life being a groom is. On the other side of things though, there is nothing more rewarding when one of your charges jumps a clean round, or gets an admirable look or comment from  a passerby..better from the trainers trainer... and the epitome is when your horse gets a best-conditioned/turned-out award or wins their class..you become a proud Mama and all that hard work pays off. There is also nothing better than getting to compete your own horse and noticing the improvement you have with them because Sir Snortsfire taught you stickabilitiy.

SO, because I have been there and I know what its like to be a groom I vowed to never treat my grooms badly and sometimes all it takes is a simple "thank you." So THANK YOU Courtney, Hannah, Catherine, Catherine's Mom, Julie, and Elisa. I know we wouldn't have gotten through that weekend without your help. Now onward and upward to Cobblestone HT...lets see what shenanigans get Shamrock Eventing in Michigan

signing off~
Mandy