Meet The Contributor: Cat Hill

Planes took off and landed all around the horses, but still Cat Hill couldn’t go to her charge, Nicki Henley. Hopes for a smooth transition from the airplanes to the quarantine facility before the 2007 Rio de Janeiro Pan American Games dissipated as the horses got more and more distressed. 

When the horses finally unloaded, Hill and the other female grooms weren’t allowed to handle them in their amped state. But the man attempting to walk “Nicki” didn’t know his personality – and didn’t know the gelding’s bond with Hill. 

“He was a real jerk and was really sharp and would threaten and kick and bite and run off with you,” said Hill. “But I loved him, and I just thought he was the most magical horse in the world. None of his stuff scared me off. It turns out he was just the softest, sweetest horse on the inside who just wanted someone to not yell at him for biting them.”

“So, Nicki just kept running them over,” she added. “He had this wonderful trick of turning his head away, putting his shoulder into you and running you down. They couldn’t prevent it, and he got loose from the guy and ran right over to me. He buried his head in my chest and said, ‘This is my person over here.’ ”

In the 16 years since, that connection, boiled down to that poignant moment, symbolizes to Hill the rewards of grooming. 

“He taught me how to be a groom,” she said. “He taught me all of the wonderful parts of really being on the ground at that elite level; being a touchstone for a horse.”

“You get this relationship with them that I don’t think is possible in most other scenarios just out of the sheer time that you get to spend in the barn with them,” she added. “And as part of that you get this bond from them back to you.”

Horsemanship Mattered

As a child, Hill grew up on a working farm and had her dream fulfilled at 5 with a pony. Her family didn’t much extra money to spend, but through 4H she learned to love the horse beyond the ribbon. 

“I consistently won the horsemanship, because they would come through and do the barn stuff in 4H,” she said. “It made me really realize that the thing I loved the most, which was being with the horses, mattered to other people. Whether or not I came home with ribbons, there were people out there who it mattered to, too.”

Riding in College

She continued to feel the reward when she attended SUNY Geneseo (New York) and competed on their Intercollegiate Horse Show Association team. Her college coach recognized her hard work and gave her many opportunities to explore and spend time with horses. 

“She would have the college students work off-the-track Thoroughbreds and help make them into foxhunters and competition horses,” she said. “We learned a lot from her, and she was really encouraging to those of us barn rats. 

“It again sort of solidified the idea that there were people out there who valued the horsemanship.” 

Nothing But An L.L. Bean Duffle Bag

Upon graduating, Hill needed a brain break. She planned on pursuing a Master’s degree to eventually become a professor, but first she wanted to head to Ireland. 

“I sent off over a hundred videos and letter packets, back in the day before e-mail, to every yard that was listed in the equine section on Tourism Ireland,” she said. “I got a bunch of job offers back for basically for the semester and then picked one out of a hat; picked the one that offered a small stipend as well as some place to live. And I basically landed in Ireland with a giant L.L.Bean duffle bag of stuff.”

At the Mullingar Equestrian Centre with the Fagan family, Hill was exposed to different aspects of the horse world, from show jumping to eventing to running horse shows and events. 

“I loved the barn, and they were wonderful to me,” she said. “I got promoted to yard manager within two weeks of being there.”

Becoming A Top Groom

Though Hill’s stint in Ireland lasted longer than planned, she returned home when her dad got sick. Back Stateside, she resumed work on her Master’s, but quickly saw that her journey involved horses. 

“I packed up my pickup truck in December with The Chronicle of the Horse magazine open on the seat next to me in the ‘Job Wanted’ section,” she said. “I started driving South with my dog and a duffel bag and called everybody who’s looking for help.”

The Hard Conversation

She worked in the dressage and horse show world, but she felt a pull to eventing. She landed a working student position for Craig Thompson. Because of him, Hill pursued grooming professionally. 

“Craig had a really kind and very painful conversation with me about the fact that he didn’t think my riding would ever be good enough for me to be at the top level, but then he thought my connection with the horses was good enough for me to be one of the best grooms,” she remembered.

“At that point I was a working student, and I really wanted to be a professional rider,” she continued. “I really wanted to jump around Rolex. I wanted to be on the team. It was a hard conversation. But I can’t thank him enough for it. I came back two days later, and I said, ‘OK, if I want to shift gears, how do we do that?’ ”

Sparking from that conversation came a love. 

“I can remember being at my first Fair Hill with him,” Hill said. “It was my first time grooming there. Watching these horses do something they really love and the integration of all of it. It was like, ‘Oh this is what I want to do. I want to be part of these horses’ lives.’ ”

She next worked for Mara DePuy as barn manager, which led to grooming on the international team level and Nicki. 

New Doors

After years of the long hours and weekends of travel, Hill wanted to feel more rooted. She moved back to New York with her husband and took up freelancing. And from this new position, she started consulting for friends Holly and Doug Payne. 

“They kept telling me that I needed to start a consultation business where I would go into barns and work as a consultant,” said Hill. “I would clean up their staffing, clean up their yard practices, make things more streamlined. They both hired me to do that with working students and grooms over the years, and then one of the times that I went to Doug’s, I wrote down a book for him.”

World-Class Grooming

Trafalgar Square Books saw a market for a grooming book, and Doug pointed them to Hill. 

“Doug sent them my handwritten book,” said Hill, “and was like, ‘You need to contact this person. Look at what she just wrote in a weekend for me.’ ”

Co-authoring with Emma Ford, the pair wrote, “World-Class Grooming for Horses: The English Rider’s Complete Guide to Daily Care and Competition” only to publish two more books. From their in-print success came demand for clinics, and the two established World Class Grooming. 

“People started calling all the time, saying, ‘Can you come to my barn? Can you do this?’ ” Hill said. “So, we started the business the next year doing the clinics basically because of the demand.”

Taking Advantage Of Opportunities

When thinking back on her journey through the grooming ranks and the niche she created, Hill laughs. 

“It’s totally one of those things where it’s like God laughs while you make plans,” she said. “Because every step of the way fell into my lap. It could have fallen the wrong direction so easily so many times, and it just sort of all happened so organically.”

Hill hopes to continue to give back by contributing to HorseGrooms.com. She wants to help grow a deeper community by providing access and comradery. 

“There is nobody grooming,” she said. “Every single rider or farm I talk to needs more help.” 

“I think some of that is they don’t have the access,” she continued (read her thoughts in the HorseGrooms’ article on how to get started with little experience). “People don’t know how to get into it; people don’t know where to start. People who think they want to do it don’t have the knowledge to even walk into the barn, and then they’re too scared. Or they walk into the barn and get shouted at a bunch because they don’t know enough to really be there, and then they leave the industry altogether. I think that this website is trying to fix that.”

She hopes to see grooming transition into a sustainable, thriving profession. 

“This is a step in trying to address what is needed for grooming to become a modern profession,” she said. “I don’t think it will continue to go on the ‘People are just passionate and love horses, so they’ll be abused for 10 years while they work in it.’ I don’t think that’s going to continue to fly. The website is really trying to address a lot of those issues and bring grooms together and bring professionals together to help share information.”