WHY I LOVE BEING AN INTERNATIONAL GROOM - JULY 2017

For me being an international groom is the best job, I get to travel all over England and Europe and get to see some beautiful destinations and countries, plus the weather tends to be better abroad and there are some lovely restaurants!

Going to internationals is always so much fun, as there are fewer riders from each country there is a real sense of team spirit. Everyone helps each other out and we all go and watch and support other riders where possible, it’s like being in one big, if slightly odd, family.

Each show is different and they are all special in different ways, Biarritz has the most amazing fish restaurant on the beach, and Deauville is about a three minute walk to a lovely little village with a bakery and restaurant that does the best salads, I actually wanted to eat salad! It’s always nice when a venue is near the beach too. You can tell I love food, I remember places by where we eat.

Although internationals are always so much fun they are also hard work, it’s not always as glamorous as it sounds! Some of the destinations can take a couple of days to drive to, so it’s very early mornings and very late finishes sometimes. 

It can be quite nerve wracking travelling the horse’s long distances and on ferries, so it’s important to make sure everything is very well organised and you know exactly where everything is. 

The logistics of going to some of these shows takes weeks of organisation, and then the packing of the lorry itself can take days and can be a real jigsaw puzzle trying to fit everything in. 

As I sit here writing this we have already started planning for our next international in a couple of weeks’ time, plus it will give me a chance to even up my four different tan lines from the rather sporadic weather here in England!