Anne Marie and Foxwood High at Bromont where she won the Inaugural Grooms Award.
I’m writing this from Richland Park, which typically marks the beginning of the fall season after a slight lull over the summer. This summer though has been anything but! After a very successful Bromont, Woody and Solo turned their attentions to dressage and jumper shows as there aren’t many upper level events in July and August, in part because the ground is so hard. That is, of course except the Pan Ams!
I was very lucky to have a unique opportunity to groom for Argentina’s Jose Ortelli Jr. Eventing is such a small world, Selena and Jose know each other well and when Jose’s own groom was unable to attend, I was lucky enough to get the position, thanks to Selena.
The Argentinians arrived in Canada about a month before the Games, and held their training camp at Woodwinds in Oro Medonte. I joined the team in early July and set to work getting to know Jos Cassius as quickly as I could. I’ve always admired freelance grooms and thought how difficult it must be when you don’t know the horse and rider or their routines that well, but luckily for me both Jose and Cassius were incredibly easy to work with and forgiving of my frequent mistakes. I was the only girl associated with the team and none of the other grooms spoke English, but they were very patient although I’m sure at times they wondered who on earth Jose had decided to bring to a major championship!
While I have to admit my Spanish is still very much lacking I do think my sign language improved significantly! My fellow grooms, and actually everyone I met during my time with Argentina, were extremely chivalrous and protective of their only girl and whenever I made any move to lift a water bucket or dump a wheelbarrow several helping hands would instantly appear all chiding me loudly in Spanish for taking on such strenuous tasks.
Unfortunately the actual competition did not go as we had hoped for Cassius and his Games came to an abrupt end when he fell in the last water complex. Luckily he suffered only superficial scrapes and I look forward to keeping an eye on his results online as Jose looks to gain an individual spot for the Olympics in Rio.
Anne Marie and Mistress Quigley.
Of course, the irony was as you all know, Selena got called up to the Canadian reserve position while I was at Woodwinds in full blown Argentinian mode! I couldn’t help but laugh that I had somehow gone from grooming for zero horses to two horses… Luckily Woody and Cassius were stabled relatively near to one another and I was very happy to reunite with my Canadians who I had missed. Team things have been some of my favourite experiences as a groom and I was very glad to be a part of team Canada even if Woody did go home once the first jog was done.
Once I got home we hit the ground running with a multitude of shows for the younger horses. Grandview (twice!) Touch a Rainbow, Oakhurst, Dreamcrest and Stevens Creek have been our outings so far I believe and Selena has been running quite a string of horses with Bloomsday and Rather Boldly running prelim as well as Thunderstruck and Second Amendment at training.
I have been very lucky Morag and Selena have given me the chance to show Mistress Quigley this year and I think I am still smiling from our last double clear outing. Especially in Eastern Ontario where there are less competitors, the ride times can be quite tight and I could not get all Selena’s horses to the ring on time if not for many helpers, but especially the Morgan Family. Tori has upgraded to prelim recently and Alex is currently leading the OHTA training level rankings, but in between riding their own horses so successfully they are a huge help to me and we have been training up their parents Rob and Susan as well!
A big part of the O’Hanlon Eventing business is selling horses, of course, (check out our sales horses on facebook and YouTube!) and I am a little sad to say Watson’s Cydney has a new owner in Emma Creasy of Manitoba! Cyd is the very first horse I was allowed to help back and I will always remember her, but I think she is going to have an amazing life with Emma. I think that brings us up to speed – I am here now at Richland with Woody and have all my fingers and toes crossed for a great weekend. 🙂
