Martin Fuchs’ show groom Sean Vard is one of the sport's true globe trotters, travelling the world week in and week out. However, with the Coronavirus Covid-19 outbreak, Sean is now stuck at home – which in this case is the Fuchs-family's stable in Switzerland. Here Sean entertains us with a small blog on how he has filled the days after the avalanche of show cancellations for March and April. 

"So... where do I start... with every negative you always have to find the positives.

For example, this first week of lockdown I’ve found myself using my old skills from pre-grooming life and they have come in quite handy. I like to call myself a handyman/carpenter/farmer!! I’m also fortunate in Stall Fuchs that we have a great team of people that present me with the time to get all those extra jobs done!

I’ve been quite busy from repairing the ramp on our old national show truck to standing on a pallet, 40 feet in air cleaning the rafters of our indoor arena to washing just about every square cm of the stable/trucks/trailers and anything that presents its self in front of me at that moment... None of the yard cats have been around for a few days...

Reorganising the tack rooms and doing the yearly clear out of junk and unused prize blankets is a job that show grooms normally prefer to take on themselves, as I’m sure the home staff are terrified of throwing away anything that might once upon a time have been used in a 1.40 warm-up class in a 2* show with great results...

All these small but useful jobs are things I’ve never found the proper time to complete during the normal show season. Those show weeks of never being home more than a day or two are really just about getting the truck reorganised and getting a load of laundry done just in time to hit the road again with a fresh batch of horses. 

It’s not easy for anyone to be grounded at home for an indefinite period of time, but my advice is just to get as much done as possible and look further than to not only what the eyes first see. Become a perfectionist and the work will never end!!!

I made a basic check list of things I wish to complete every week and this is helping a lot! 

See you all in 2021!

Stay healthy,

Sean"

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