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Home /Grooms life/We have arrived in tokyo

We have arrived in Tokyo

18th July 2021
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As we approach the Olympic Games in Tokyo, we caught up with BGA Ambassador, Alan Davies, for the next instalment of his Olympic blog.

Alan Davies is Head Groom to Team GB dressage riders Charlotte Dujardin and Carl Hester.

We spoke to Alan from Tokyo as he shares his first impressions of the venue and tells us how the horses are coping after their long trip.

Sunday 18th July

I still can’t believe we are here in Tokyo!

I have never been to this part of the world before and the people here are so welcoming. The facilities for the horses are quite amazing - they all have lovely stables with rubber flooring throughout the stables and walkways.

There are plenty of horse showers and massive tubs of iced water outside each stable block to ensure that we have everything to hand to cool the horses down whenever we need to.

  With the air conditioning running in the stables we have to keep the barn doors shut all the time, or it just doesn’t work. I was worried that this might keep all of the nations completely separate, but it hasn't and there is still a massive feeling of camaraderie within the groom’s community.
I hadn’t seen a lot of my European friends for a long time and it’s been amazing to catch up with everyone.


The other nations are quite envious of the incredible job that the team from BEF did when decorating the stables with the bunting and flags, and I have to say that our stables do look amazing.

The forward party of Sophie Thomas and Alex Van Tuyll from the BEF; along with Andrew Bowyer, who is our team farrier; came out a few days ahead of the horses. They were brilliant and put down the shavings, created our tack rooms, and generally made everything run smoothly; so when I arrived with the horses we could concentrate on settling them in.

 

We have spent a couple of days hand-walking the horses and allowing them to graze in a lovely turfed area near the stables. We have been generally letting them chill out and recover from the flight.

The weather is really hot so we have gradually been acclimatising them to it, taking them out for longer periods in between letting them rest in the cool stables.

They have all recovered from the journey really well which is such a relief as it was a long flight with a refuelling stop in Dubai, which meant two lots of taking off and landing. Considering three of our horses were first-time flyers they coped really well and I was so proud of them.


We let a couple of them have a leg stretch on the lunge yesterday in the cool of the indoor school, and the riders came for their first ride last night. It was so exciting to finally have everyone together.

These Olympics have been a long time coming, with the delay of Covid and all the new restrictions and adversities, it felt like we might never get here! But now we are here, I can’t quite believe the Olympics are actually about to begin!

More tales from Tokyo to follow, but I’m going to catch up on some sleep and get over the jet lag.

Until next time,

Alan

Read Alan’s last blog here.

If, like Alan, you would like to become a BGA member, have a look at our membership options.

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What the personal accident policy covers you for:

  • Whilst at work
  • All stable duties – mucking out, grooming, washing off, turning out
  • Clipping
  • Riding – including hacking and jumping
  • Hunting
  • Lunging
  • Breaking in
  • Holding horse for a vet and other procedures
  • Travelling horses both in the UK and abroad
  • Competing in line with your job including: jumping, dressage, eventing
  • Injuries that may happen to you whilst you are teaching - but you must also be grooming as part of your duties and not be a sole instructor

What the personal accident policy doesn’t cover you for:

  • Riding in a race, point to point or team chase
  • Stunt Riding
  • Accidents occurring whilst travelling to and from work
  • Riding and competing your own horse (but you can upgrade when applying for membership to include this)
  • Public Liability – this is a separate insurance policy - the Freelance Groom Liability Insurance
  • Care Custody and Control – this is a separate policy - the Freelance Groom Liability Insurance

If you require additional cover then please contact KBIS directly.

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When you are working for other people you do most of the following; muck out, turn out/catch in, tack up, groom horses, exercise Horses (including hacking, jumping and schooling), in the care of your employer/client.

 
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Predominantly ride horses for other people including schooling, exercising and competing.   
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