Text © World of Showjumping

We continue our popular series ‘That Special Bond’, this time around moving on to speak with the grooms – and not only the riders. First out is Kent Farrington’s long-time groom Denise Moriarty, who shares with which horses she has had the best connection, which horses she misses the most and which ones have been the most difficult to get to know. 

“They are all pretty special! But I must say I probably have the best connection with Creedance and Gazelle. I have been taking care of them since they were 7, so I have known them for a long time and I can tell every move they will make. 

Gazelle is pretty easy going. She can get herself pumped up in the ring and at prize givings, but in the day-to-day life she is a bit more like ‘whatever’. Then she doesn’t get impressed at all. 

Creedance on the other hand is hugely confident and thinks he is the big guy. He is a bit naughty, bites a little and we actually let him be that way. Kent is very big on letting the horses have their personalities and for Creedance it is good that he thinks he is a big guy – since he probably is the smallest one in the stable. If he thinks he is the biggest he can also go into the ring with the same attitude. Creedance is not mean in anyway, but he plays around and we let him.” 

“I do miss Voyeur and Uceko – they are both retired now, but they were two big personalities in the barn. Voyeur was like a teddy bear when he was home, and turned into a demon when going to shows. Anything could set him off at shows, a pin dropped and he was on. You really had to watch out with him, because he kind of lost control. Voyeur really switched into show-mode. He got so excited that the adrenalin took over. We were actually asked to leave the prize giving at the World Equestrian Games in Normandy in 2014, and that was a bit embarrassing,” Denise says laughing. 

“Uceko was also a character. He was small, but bossy. Every new horse coming in he had to investigate. He put his head over the stable door and intimidated them to let them know he was the boss. And new people handling him could be dragged around. If he wanted to go to the grass, he went to the grass. When you got to know him, it got a bit easier to handle him but still he could drag us around depending on his mood.” 

“I must say that Austria is a bit special. When she trusts you, you can do anything with her. But she is very suspicious of new people and was very hard to work with before I really get to know her.

Blue Angel was also very special in that way, it took some time to get to know her. When we got her, we were told that she had had an accident in a solarium – so she came to us with the warning that we couldn’t tie her up. So in the wash place, at the farrier, when you clipped her or in the truck, you just put the lead over her neck and she stood there – she did not move. Blue Angel is a breeding mare now – she gets two embryo foals every year and one is due any day now.”

No reproduction without permission, copyright © World of Showjumping