Jacky Green has seen it all at Maizey Manor Farm. Today she is kind enough to give us a look back at the ups and downs of the Olympic process as American Sinead Halpin and her groom Meg Kep and Irish hopeful Esib Powers and her groom Emily Dunn return to Maizey Manor having missed out on their respective Olympic teams. I’ll admit that I don’t understand about half of Jacky’s inside jokes and references but her message is crystal clear–if you stay in our great sport long enough you will experience some serious ups and downs. As always, thanks to Jacky for writing this and thank you for reading.
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From Jacky:
The kitchen at Maizey Manor Farmhouse has played host to 13 years of celebrations and commiserations, and before that it was The Down House and Scotland Lodge Farm. After 20 years I have learnt to keep the fridge stocked with food and plenty of alcohol at hand. The years of Bundy rum and coke may have passed but the memories are good and in all those years it is the Olympics that have caused the most trauma and the most triumph. Way back in 1992 I went to Barcelona in just my second year as an event groom with the Aussie Greg Watson and returned as part of the gold medal team and with David Green as well which was pretty damn cool and it all seemed so easy! Atlanta followed with me riding everything at home (and a slight owner issue which made going fairly tricky!) and the crushing disappointment of Chatsby falling three times on the flat cross country and a fed up husband and a broken pony. Sydney just eluded us with too many horse injuries and then along came the amazing Glengarrick and Athens Olympics with Team New Zealand. Glengarrick missed out on a medal by a single rail but we had more fun than it would be believed possible although the K Club nearly bankrupted all of us and it really ranked as one of the best fun Games I have been to. Beijing was tough as Stuart Tinney had flown his entire team to the UK to arrive in snow and ice and everything possible went wrong for him. He did not make it and it all seemed so far away and so complicated….
And then the hype for London. After all these years in the business it means you have so many friends and it’s so hard to be hugging one and celebrating and taking devastated phone calls from another. This morning I helped out at the Team New Zealand press conference and lots of anticipation and fun. Now my kitchen is full of people who are bravely smiling and talking of Gatcombe and Burghley and determinedly nailing that smile on their face and dealing with it. Over the years a thousand pieces of paper have floated round this kitchen with everybody’s team choice inscribed, in all of those years not one person has left themselves off the list and that’s the belief you need to do well at this game (Ok, there have been one or two that have been seriously delusional!) but its always hard once that selection is out for the World to see. To watch Esib Power and Emily Dunn stick around at Barbury for a team jog at the end of the day was both heartbreaking and made me proud at the same time. This is a tough game but I have also had some hysterical rejections dumped on me too. When we departed for Athens David Green memorably introduced the glum faces left here at the local pub as “the American rejects” and that set the scene for the eventers rehab…. Lots of drinks and maybe the rest is best left unsaid!
I have been lucky enough to see an unlikely alliance between the Australians and a displaced Irish rider that somehow joined the training (and can still remember the Irish groom who had not spoken for a week and then floored us all with a comment that is totally unrepeatable!)…we had taken said Irish rider to a tanning salon to prep for the Greek sun and she had such bad sunburn she could not ride for a week. Phillip Dutton (and Colby then Emma) brought so many class horses here and each and every one was special. The Canadians have been so much fun and Graham Thom in particular is a favorite guest. Kyle Carter entertained us to no end with his right of center views and watching him go jogging with Madison Park up the gallops is one of the best memories of all. Sinead and Meg have replaced the Will and Nat show this year and been as much fun as their predecessors although the Will call of “Jacks I have a problem” is somewhat missed. Kiwis, Aussies, Americans, Canadians, Irish and the odd Brazilian and Jamaican have sunk a beer, drunk a glass of wine and sat on the deck in the sunshine to discuss plans . I would not change it for the World but I wish, after all these years, that I could do the triumphs endlessly and the tears a bit less but hey, that’s eventing it seems. Life does go on…with its quirks and those lovely horses…
