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Show Trunk Secrets – with Sean Lynch

Wednesday, 14 September 2016
Show Trunk Secrets

Sean Lynch at work during the Olympic Games in Rio. Photo (c) Jenny Abrahamsson. Sean Lynch at work during the Olympic Games in Rio. Photo (c) Jenny Abrahamsson.

Sean Lynch is Daniel Deusser’s head groom, and travels the world with the German rider’s super stars. This year, Lynch witnessed a win in the CSI5* Grand Prix at Knokke Hippique as well as the German team winning bronze at the Olympics – and here he shares his secrets on how to make Deusser’s horses travel well, eat good, feeling their best and of course his tips on those final touches for the ring. 

Travelling…

Photo (c) private. Ready to travel in Sean Lynch-style.

“When it comes to travelling the horses, I am more of a believer in more blankets and more air. I always have the windows open behind the horses, and always in the roof – and if it is cold I put more blankets on.

I like the horses to travel in the Horseware Ireland blankets. They are very comfortable, and the horses always seem to be happy in them.

I make sure that certain horses can get their heads down when travelling, and always give them big enough spaces on the truck. When we do a long distance drive, like say over eight hours, I give a hay net just to keep their stomachs moving a little and to avoid any sick horses when we arrive at the show. So far that seems to work.

If I drive through the night, I am not religious enough to stop to see if they want water – unless you know one is a big drinker on the truck. I stop every four or five hours to check if they are ok, and for the rest I follow them on the monitor and with the temperature control we have in the truck.

We always bandage all four legs on the horses when we travel, unless we have some young ones which just get in front. Some of our horses, like Cornet, First Class and Hildago, have back boots as well in addition to bell boots. I always put them in Walsh head collars with sheep skin when we are travelling.

When it comes to flying, we always travel them in a summer sheet, a cooler blanket or a fleece blanket – depending on the time of the year. I tend to use the flysheet with cotton material on the back – from Horseware – and they are super for flying. These keep the horses’ backs from getting cold when they go up and down in the containers in or out of the plane.”

Feeding…

Photo (c) private. "I always like to take my own shavings and hay to the show," Sean says.

“We feed Cavalor to our horses, and in my opinion it is the best food on the market. They have any type of food for any type of horse, and their feed has everything the horses need in it.

We also use a few supplements, such as Lannoo electrolytes and their vitamins.

For First Class and Cornet we also use a very good supplement called Pro Equo, which is for their stomachs and their digestion and it works really well.

On a long trip, I also give the horses Gastro Guard before departure – and some horses also get it at the show to make sure their digestion is at its best.

I always like to take my own shavings and hay to the show, it is not really good for the horses to change it all the time. Especially like with First Class, that is very sensitive to any dust – for him it is much better that I bring our own stuff. It is a lot of work to bring everything, but in the end it is better for the horses.”

Ring refinement…

Photo (c) private. Perfect plaits! "If I don’t have the time to do forty-fifty plaits, I will not do it," laughs Sean.

“I am a little bit strange in this area… I am the kind of person that either does fifty plaits or none at all. If I don’t have the time to do forty-fifty plaits, I will not do it. Lucky for me, all our top horses have really nice manes and long necks so I can do my really, really small plaits.

Then I give them a good brush and a hot cloth of Detol water – or, if no Detol, a bit of baby shampoo in the water – and they are ready for the ring. I try to make sure their coats are always good so they have a natural shine, and that they are clipped and look nice.

In my grooming box, I obviously have brushes, show shine, platting bands and hoof grease – those are the essentials for a show weekend. I am also in love with baby powder and baby shampoo for my horses!”

Tack...

Photo (c) private. All Amerigo tack!

“Daniel is sponsored by Amerigo, and has been so for a very long time. They are incredible; everything you need or anything you want – they’ve got it. All our tack, including our boots are from Amerigo. The quality of their products is really good, and we use it on all the horses.

For hand walking the horses, I always use the Walsh boots though. 

Cleaning the tack is simple; Stübben saddle soap and water as well as Amerigo Soft Clean and Amerigo Oil. For leather boots, I like to clean them with shoe shine as well – that is a nice trick to make them shiny.

Finally, the one thing I could never go anywhere without is Kiwi shoe shine. Daniel always polishes his boots himself, and the only shoe shine he would use is that one. So, I keep it in stock in the truck for him – not that we ever run out of it!”

 


As told to World of Showjumping by Sean Lynch // Text © World of Showjumping // Pictures © by Jenny Abrahamsson or private



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