FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
SIDELINES SEPTEMBER 2013 115
anyone work as hard as he does. I couldn’t believe how hard he
works. He’s at the barn all day. He goes home to his family, he
plays with his kids. To this day, there’s no one that works harder
than he does in this sport.”
Unless it’s the rider’s top groom. Emma places dedication to
the horses and to the sport at the top of the list. Now 36, she
still believes in the importance of self-assessment. She grew up
riding show jumpers and foxhunting in England and years ago
recognized her own strengths.
Good grooms are worth their weight in gold. They aren’t out
there enjoying the spotlight, per se, but they harvest monumental
reward and satisfaction when their charges do well. Life with
horses leads to intense joy and heartache. Emma dealt with the
devastating barn fire and then with the tragic loss of Phillip’s great
partner Woodburn by going all-out and working harder. “The
horses you have, the ones I took care of – they had such great
personalities,” recalled Emma. “Even now, I’m breaking up…Yes,
it was tough.”
At Phillip’s, every day was go-go-go. “You need to be a
person who can keep the energy going,” emphasized Emma.
“You have working students – they might not be paid, they have
their horses there, they’ve got their living and they’re getting
lessons. You need to keep them moving, doing the packing for
the show or whatever the job is, and they might not feel like
doing it.”
Slowing Down the Pace
Time is the big difference in Emma’s new life, working for the
Wildasin family. “If I have a horse now that needs an extra half
an hour, to do the laser or even just to groom, I can do it, it’s
no serious rush,” she said. “It’s about doing it to the max, about
enjoying spending time with the horses.”
Emma bought a house in Aiken in 2010, but until last December
hadn’t lived in it. She loves ballroom dancing and takes lessons
several times a week at a local studio. Sometimes she hits the
ballroom and Latin dance scenes in nearby Atlanta. She has a
beau. “He doesn’t dance, but we’re working on that one. As one
of my friends would say, the quality of my life has improved,”
Emma said. “My close friends, when they come to visit, are
absolutely amazed. I used to be a ‘throw it in the microwave’
person. Now I’m learning to cook.”
All this won’t change who Emma is at heart. “I do miss being
on the show circuit,” she confessed. “A good friend is helping
Phillip with the horses and she keeps me up to date on them. But
there are definitely times when I get to the weekends and I miss
being on the road. It was part of my life for 14 years. It’s hard to
shut it off and go in a different direction.”
Emma’s position as groom for the Wildasins involves a
19-year-old hooked on horses. There’s just no telling what might
happen in the next few years. After all, Arden’s new dancing
partner, Mystery Whisper, is an Olympic veteran.
“Emma brings huge knowledge of horses. We’re very lucky
to have her,” enthused Sarah Wildasin. “Arden is putting 110%
into working on dressage for Young Riders. Whisper absolutely
loves dressage.”
Emma’s current life of relative leisure might prove to be the
proverbial calm before the competitive “storm”: once a top
groom, always a top groom.
“I worked as hard as I did at Phillip’s
because I’ve never seen anyone work as
hard as he does.”
