The Groom

I was a groom/stablehand for a large dressage academy for many years. I also lived in the groom/working student house for three years. I earned my keep by, well, being a groom and a stablehand.

I was young, strong and could swing a hay bale over my head.

After I graduated from college, I would fill in when they needed me. That farm was home to me.

Then years later as a college graduate with a job in my field, I would volunteer and groom some of my old charges as they advanced in age. They taught many how to ride and they still deserved their very own personal groom. I was happy to do the job for free.

Once a groom, always a groom...Those horses were always on my mind. They were my old friends.

I made close friends with my fellow workers and roommates, and I still keep in touch with a lot of them today. The three "J's" are horse trainers on the west coast. "G" is a head trainer at an Arabian/Warmblood training and breeding facility, and "N" is a successful rider, trainer and dressage events coordinator. She was recently hand-picked by her vet to train as a Vet Tech for Sport Horses, her dream job.

All of us shared the life of loving the horse, and it is what still drives us today.

Working with horses is hard work. It requires getting up just as the sun is peeking over the horizon and working until after the sun has gone down. Or, in my case, getting up before the sun to muck 12 box stalls before my 8am class at the nearby college...

It is not for the faint of heart, this work.

We knew our charges like they were our children. Ginger liked to poop in one corner of her stall. Ursus looked grumpy, but was actually a very sweet horse once he got to know you. Sonntag had a yucca supplement for his joints and he was absolutely obsessed with treats. Rooster (aka Sound the Bugle) got anxious when the farrier came. Pewter was scared to death of anything that sprayed: fly spray, hoses. We wiped on his fly spray with a cloth.

Hay in our hair, under our fingernails (ouch) in our shirts. Dust in our eyes and noses. Sweat, dirt, horse hair, manure, mud: it was the life. Mucking, feeding, tacking up, cooling down, wraps, boots, blankets, fly masks. We kept a tight schedule. No time to sit and gab. Horses needed to be fed and turned out. There were four lessons at 3pm, and all needed to be tacked up. There were bridles that needed cleaning. The aisle needed sweeping. The muck bucket needed emptying. A horse needed hand-walking. Feed needed to be mixed ahead of time. Beet pulp needed soaking. Muddy horses from turnout needed to be groomed. Hay for three barns needed to be dropped from the loft. Water buckets needed scrubbing. And it goes on...

Every day we would watch over our horses and make sure they were healthy and happy. No matter the weather, no matter how we were feeling. We lived in service of the horse.

We ate mid-morning snacks in the tack room. And boy, could we eat a lot. We ate whatever we wanted and never gained an ounce because we worked so hard. We shared the load. We were broke, but we weren't poor. We shared the life, and its spirit never left us.

The life of groom seeps into your soul and never leaves. Grooms stick together, even if we no longer work together; even if we are technically no longer grooms. We will always have the heart of a groom.

And if we all lived together under the same roof? None of us complained about the horse hair and hay in the carpets and on the couches. We would help each other if one of us was sick. We bonded over our mutual love of the horse. We never complained about the hard work.

If the dishes went unwashed, it was no big deal. We'd get to it eventually. We'd come home from work completely exhausted. Dishes could wait.

So, here we are. Still horse crazy. Still working hard. Still getting hay in our hair. Still picking hooves, still finding a way to get in the saddle... We still found a way to keep horses in our lives.

Here's to the grooms of the world: it's a dirty job and it's a tough job-- but we wouldn't trade it for the world.

Dear grooms: thanks for taking care of the horses. I tip my hat.

(above: me and Sound the Bugle, aka "Rooster" 1991. Roo was one of my charges and he stole my heart completely...)

When Art Meets Science: Thoughts on Learning to Draw the Horse

Equine Art History Tidbit: Art Meets Science

Did you know that Leonardo DaVinci and George Stubbs studied horse anatomy by dissection?

They drew what they observed in great detail, and their horse anatomy sketches are still studied today.

Both artists were fascinated by the beauty and science of the equine form. Their intense study shines through in the amazing works of art they created.

When the science of equine anatomy met their artistic talents, masterpieces were created.

Do you want to draw horses? YES!

They are a favorite subject of artists going all the way back to the pre-historic cave paintings of Lascaux. Humans have long been fascinated by the beauty, nobility and grace of the equine.

When learning to draw a horse, you must study equine anatomy. There are many good books on the subject, including the sketches of George Stubbs (book pictured above), and real, live horses can be observed at riding facilities, stables, shows and other equine events.

But, do not get discouraged. Horses are very hard to draw for many reasons: they are complex. They have a complicated anatomy and possess an incredible range of movement. There are many different breeds and types of horses. Age is also a factor: a yearling looks vastly different than a five year old horse, and a fifteen year old horse looks vastly different from a thirty year old horse.

Learning to draw horses takes many, many hours of study and sketching. If you love horses and drawing, this will be fun for you. Keep all of your sketches and see how you improve over weeks, months and years of study. You will be amazed.

Here are some things to remember when learning to draw horses:

It is absolutely essential to know how the muscles move when the horse is in motion. You must know how the muscles all relate and move together and how the muscles expand and contract when the horse is trotting, cantering, galloping, walking, standing, rearing, jumping, etc. And, each of these movements has varying stages and footfalls. And what about drawing the horse from all different angles, in varying stages of movement? Yup. Gotta know that too.

Study a live horse in action and then, run your hands over a horse. Feel the horse's muscles, feel the bone under the muscle. Feel the hair and skin over the muscles. Note how the hair cowlicks on the flank and swirls in the middle of the forehead.

Sketch not only what you see, but what you feel.

Observe, and sketch.

The horse is one of the most difficult subjects to draw. They are complex, intricate, expressive and beautiful. Watch a real horse and see what he has to teach you.

Bring a sketchbook! And keep creating, creating, creating...and above all, have fun!



(pictured: the front cover of George Stubbs' "Anatomy of the Horse")