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Mentor Grooms: Learning from the Best

Eight mentor grooms spend the first day of the George Morris Horsemastership Training Session helping the young riders with barn chores and giving advice on the small details that can make the difference between winning and losing in the international field.

The luminaries include Olympians Beezie Madden, McLain Ward, Laura Kraut, Lauren Hough and Margie Engle; grand prix rider Todd Minikus; equitation, hunter and jumper trainer Frank Madden; and barn manager and groom Viv Munden.

The riders and mentor grooms start the day at 7 a.m. to get ready for George [Morris]'s 8:30 a.m. arrival. There are no huge revelations in horse care--just reminders about the attention to detail.

Maggie McAlary gets tips from Viv about putting electrolytes in the water rather than in the feed during the hot Florida weather. As Sloane cleans her horse's stall, Margie and barn manager Laurie Pitts discuss wetting the hay to avoid dust.

Todd helps [Jack] Hardin [Towell, Jr.] bridle his horse, a recent arrival from Europe who is craning his head high. "You don't want to fight him," Todd says. Holding the bridle in front of the horse with his left hand, Todd gently presses his right knuckles into the horse's side, just behind the elbow. The horse turns his head left to glance at Todd and lowers his head slightly. Todd repeats the process. After the thrid time, Todd rubs the horse's head and eyes, and the horse lowers his head more. After about five minutes, Todd slips the bridle on. "If you're a good groom, you play with your horse. The pressure on him gets him to turn to you. Keep playing with his side, he'll turn to you and lower his head, and eventually you can get the bridle on."

Throughout the day, the mentors offer bits of advice to their charges. "I told Zazou that it would be a silly thing to be a US team member and be spending all that money to have your horse cut his eye because you didn't check to see if there were nails in his stall," Frank says. "You're out of the competition before it even starts. Tack is the same thing. We've seen girths breat at the Olympic Games. All of these little details are important."

The lessons have an impact. "These people are the best of the best," says Maria Schaub. "So it's cool to hear what they think, how they run their stables, because obviously it's working for them. My goal is to be a sponge and take everyghing in."