Our colleagues at Equnews.fr interviewed Daniel Deusser's groom, Sean Lynch while at the 5* show in Saut Hermes, Paris. When and why did you become a groom? That was maybe 12 years ago, I always rode when I was younger, and I started going to a few shows and help the people I was training with. So I went from riding at a very young age to doing this job. What are the main advantages of the job? Definitely the horses and the travelling. Especially when you work for someone like Daniel you go the greatest cities and nice shows, we have really good horses. It’s a big package, it’s all together. What are the main disadvantages of the job? Sometimes the long days, like recently flying to Miami, you work all day, you pack your stuff then you have to go to the airport, you wait there for six hours, and then you fly eight hours to the show and then you’re finally to the show. So the long days can be sometimes a little bit tough. Can you describe a typical day of the job? At home it’s pretty normal, there are three of us, Jenny who’s the main groom, she’s been with Daniel for 5 years now and Violette our home rider and me. We start at seven, we feed, take bandages off… And then every horse goes out twice a day, so we walk the horses and Daniel rides and the home rider as well. We are normally done between five and six. But we never normally sit down for lunch for example, we are always on the go and busy. At the shows, we start in the morning, depending on what time you can ride and what time your classes are, normally it’s seven. We do the stables, water, food... And then Daniel rides. At shows it’s a little bit easier because we have a little bit more time, sometimes in between classes you can have three hours, here in Paris you could go out and go shopping. But this weekend, for me it’s not possible as I have an under twenty-five horse. So I have two for Daniel and one for Zoe, Stephan Conter’s daughter. For example yesterday, I started at six thirty and I finished at eight last night. We rode all three in the morning and then before I knew it, it was time to get the first horse ready and then the next one, and the last one finished at five and there was everything to finish. But normally, when you come to those big cities you get a bit of down time and get to go out and get to see places that you might never see again so it’s nice. What is your favorite show? There is a mixture, obviously Olympia in London because I’m from London. It’s nice to go home, it’s Christmassy, the atmosphere is incredible. But the days are long, we had to get up at five thirty, and we finished at maybe one o’clock in the morning. But the atmosphere is amazing, you couldn’t find it at another show. Miami was also incredible, I was stood there giving Daniel a leg up and people would stand five meters from me in bikinis. The location and the atmosphere were incredible. I also really liked Doha and Basel, we had two really good shows. Basel was actually a really nice show, I’ve never been there before and we won the big class and the Grand Prix was really good and the same goes for Doha. The horses were incredible in Doha. I think you can be anywhere in the world but if it’s not going right that week you don’t want to be there, it can be the worst show in the world, but everyone else can love it. Which show are you looking forward to? Shanghai ! We fly to Dubai, which is six hours, and we stay to the airport an hour and a half and then we fly eight hours to the show. So it’s a long trip. I’m really looking forward to that show, it’s in China and it’s my birthday as well. And I’ve spent my birthday in many shows but to spend it in China at the LGCT is great. For the other shows we will see because Jenny is the main groom so she decides where we go and she goes with Cornet all the time. But Shanghai is for sure going to be interesting. What is it like to work for a rider like Daniel Deusser? You’re going to think I’m saying this because he is my boss, but I couldn’t have worked for a nicer person. He is so easy, and an incredible rider, he is one of the best people I’ve ever worked for. And I plan to be spending many years working for him in the future, he is stuck with me! Who is your favorite horse in the stables, and can you describe it? Espyrante ! She is a bit feisty, she is a big fighter and a real winner. In Basel, we won the big class on Friday, and I had to go to the prize giving ceremony because the best six riders get on a podium. Daniel gets off, I have her on the end of the chain, and we were near a flowerpot, and she lounged herself around the flowerpot for fifteen minutes. She was just going around and around and every time she calmed down, the crowd clapped to the rider, she went crazy. So she is very difficult but she is a winner. But I love looking after her. I got back from Braunschweig couple weeks ago, and I got back in the middle of the night, and she was so excited like « he’s home, he’s home! ». She’s the sweetest, but she still has the red ribbon in her tail because she can get feisty. She has a huge character but she is an amazing horse. You are at the shows every weekend, with the same riders and grooms, how is the atmosphere between all of you grooms? There are a few of us that have been together for a very long time, we all know each other really well. A few of us that are really good friends like Hana who works for Scott Brash is one of my really good friends. You see everyone on the show every week, it’s like a big family. We always wait for everyone for breakfast, for lunch, we have our little group. When you go to the Global Tours there is 40 riders and between those 40 riders there is always a good connection between a few people. So it’s nice to be at home but when you get to the show it’s almost like seeing your family. You see all your friends, catch up so it’s really good. How did you celebrate Daniel Deusser’s world number one title? Honestly, we did nothing. We found out Tuesday, so it was too hard to plan something. You can’t plan something in an afternoon for the evening, so tried to plan for Wednesday but it was too short and I already left on Thursday afternoon. And then Jenny is going to Vegas and Daniel leaves Monday, so both of them are not there. And when they get back, I leave to go to Antwerp. So maybe we’ll have a celebration next month! Because we have Vegas, Antwerp then Lummen and when the horses come back from Lummen the others leave for Shanghai. So it’s very difficult, but I think Stephan really wants to do something, so we’ll see. But on Wednesday evening, Jenny, me, and a few others ordered Chinese take away and had a glass of beer. That was our way of celebrating.
