Showjumping. A Glamorous Life?
It might seem to an outsider that the life of a top international rider is an exciting and glamorous sequence of top shows in fantastic venues. Who would not like to spend a few weeks touring the French and, this week, the Portugese, Riviera coastlines? London, Paris, Rome all of these host top international shows, can there be a downside? Well on the surface yes, but if you look a little more closely, like many things, it is not all quite as it seems. Take Ireland's Billy Twomey who is competing in Estoril this week. Last week he had a good show in Monaco with several placings, but as the show finished on Saturday night there was not much time for partying afterwards at the show Gala, which was held at the exciting and renowned Sea Lounge in Monte Carlo. Billy had to pack for his early morning flight on Sunday. “And I managed to misplace my passport so when I had done it, I had to unpack it all and start again” recalled the rider, who discovered the document under a cushion in his room. The it was off to the airport to fly to London Gatwick so Billy could jump in the world renowned Hickstead Derby on Sunday afternoon. He should have made it with hours to spare, Hickstead is only a few miles from the airport, until the flight was delayed for four hours! Touching down at 2.50 p.m. Billy ran out of the airport, where his brother was waiting with the car engine running, to speed off to the show where he was due in the arena at 4.00p.m. “At least I know what the course is (the Derby track is the same each year)” laughed the Irishman who did make it and actually finished fourth with just one rail down at the notorious Devils Dyke combination. Then he had to go home to his Cheshire base to work the younger horses and see his family for three days before flying out to Estoril for the GCT!
He is not an exception by any means. The GCT show in Cannes clashed with a German National Championship show last year and with the European Championships approaching, their top German riders were required to attend. So several of them commuted back and forth and rode at both, thanks to the private plane of a generous sponsor! After the 2009 GCT Final in Doha, Kevin Staut was amongst the riders who boarded a midnight flight so they could get back to ride at Vienna Stadthalle the following day. Robert Whitaker, having won classes at London's CSI 5* Olympia, just before Christmas, spent Christmas day mucking out with father John before getting in the truck to drive to Mechelen on Boxing Day. “Sometimes the logistics are difficult” he said at Valkenswaard last year “but we are used to it and on the whole it is a good life.”
Obviously with a schedule like this the riders are often completely reliant on their grooms in a way event riders are not because there are so many less three day events to go to world wide and generally the riders travel with the horses and share the driving. Although on this occasion for Estoril Daniel Deusser for example, did help with the 2000km drive, showjump riders would have no time to ever ride the ones at home if they spent two or three days each week on the road so the grooms take the responsibility. If you want to read more about the working life of a top international show groom, you will find an article on the subject in the Estoril chapter of the 2009 GCT Yearbook, available at the shows or via this website.
- hate to say it.....but, imagine you've given birth, and a few months later, someone wants to jump on your back and ride you
