Erin Jarboe has been working for U.S. event rider Will Coleman for almost five years and groomed for him on April 27 when he who won the Lexington CCI4*-S Three-Day Event on 16-year-old Irish Sport Horse Off The Record. Jarboe started riding at 8 and eventing at 15. And while still in high school she was not only competing on her own horse but working as barn manager for Dublin Downs Eventing. Originally from Athens, Georgia, Erin attended the University of Georgia where she was on the UGA Eventing Team for four years and led them as president for two.
What led to your job working with Will Coleman?
I originally thought that I wanted to go to vet school. When I was in college, I realized that wasn’t going to be the path for me, but I knew that I wanted to work with horses. So I thought, well, I’m going to see if I can find a professional to work for and if that turns into a career, then that’s what I’ll do. Or if not, then I’ll go from there. But that was at least a starting point.
When I first started working for Will, I kind of came in as a working student, and I had a horse with me. Then I pretty quickly transitioned to do more grooming and barn managing. I have been working for him for five years now.
How would you describe Off The Record’s, aka Timmy’s, personality?
The first thing about Timmy is that he has the world’s best appetite. He’s always hungry, and he will seriously eat anything. I think that has really helped him in being a high performance horse, and with his ability to travel. Because no matter what, he’s going to eat and drink and take care of himself, and he manages his own stress pretty well. That is a major part of a horse’s well-being – being able to travel and perform because of how they deal with stress. He’s very hearty, and he’s such a fighter. He is also very smart, seasoned and well-traveled, and so he knows what is happening at these events.
He’s actually a pretty easy keeper, and he’s not the most blood horse. So, keeping his weight at a reasonable point has always been a struggle as well as making sure that he has enough energy to do the job. It’s been a fine balance.
He is 16, but when I first started grooming for Will five years ago, Timmy had a lot more antics than he does now. His behavior used to be sort of questionable at times – only because he was excited about the job or being at the horse show.
How did you prepare Off The Record for the Lexington CCI4*-S Three-Day Event?
Getting him out and grazing and moving is important, especially now that he’s older. He is generally sort of a stiff horse, so the more he kind of walks around and grazes, the better it is for him both physically and mentally.
We have a good physio. She does sports massage, and she comes to most of the shows, and that’s been helpful for him. We also have our own stretching board that we designed, and one of the guys that manages our farm in Virginia built it. We have a bigger one at home and a smaller one that travels with us and is used before and after each ride at the show. It has different levels of a sort of wooden step that he can reach to stretch.
He doesn’t get hot, especially at this point in his career. So it’s not like he has to go out lunging for hours. If he gets ridden multiple times a day, it’s only just to keep his body moving and stretching. Once we get to the show, it’s about just keeping him physically feeling good and then he knows how to do the rest.
What do you love most about your job?
I would say two things that are kind of the same. One is the partnership that you build with each individual horse. They’re all different. They all need different things from you and they all want to connect with you in a different way. That is very rewarding. And on the flip side of that, getting to watch the horses perform and really see their passion for the sport is also a very rewarding part of the job.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to work as a groom at the top level of the sport?
Whether you start out working for a young rider that’s sort of up and coming, or whether you’re going to work for a more established team, it’s important to find someone that you believe in their system, and someone that you click with. Just because you go and work for someone and you think, “Oh, I don’t like this,” or “This isn’t going well,” doesn’t necessarily mean that this job or the industry isn’t for you. It just might not be the right place.
Finding the right place where you fit in, is really important in making this job sustainable. Each rider and professional is going to have their own quirks and differences, so you need to find someone that you match up well with.
Featured photo courtesy of JJ Sillman.
Sarah Eakin has a long history of sports reporting and covering equestrian disciplines – particularly show jumping, polo, racing and dressage – for a range of international publications as writer and editor-in-chief. In 2024, Sarah launched Paper Horse – an online magazine with an eclectic mix of stories from the horse world at www.paperhorsemedia.com. Paper Horse is an official Media Partner of Wellington International. Sarah was born in England and came to the US in 1996 as Sidelines’ Polo Editor; at the time she was chief polo writer at the Horse and Hound and Polo Correspondent to The Daily Telegraph. She married US professional polo player Gary Eakin and stayed Stateside traveling throughout North America while covering equestrian events. She is also an author; Wed, White and Blue, her first novel is on Amazon.
