What led to your job working with Emilie Conter?
I was looking for a change and I heard about this position with Stephex Stables on Instagram. I contacted the team and they took me on quickly. I started to work for them in Belgium on the first of April 2024 and then traveled with them throughout the year before coming to Wellington. This is my second year here, but first full season in Florida.
How would you describe Portobella’s personality?
She is really special. She has her moments. She is really, really nice – we call her Bella. And, well, she can really be a chestnut mare.
She loves horses. She doesn’t like to go to people that she doesn’t know, but I feel that the people she knows she really loves and appreciates.
For the night class, she knows when she’s going to the ring. When I start to plait her in the box, she’s really relaxed and she sleeps but when I tack her up – she knows.
“I feel that Bella really loves and appreciates the people she knows,” says Lisa. Photo courtesy of Sportfot
How did you prepare Portobella for the $500,000 Bainbridge Companies CSI5* Grand Prix during Winter Equestrian Festival’s Saturday Night Lights?
In the morning, I come to the stable, feed her, and take her out for a long walk. Then Emilie comes to ride her at lunchtime. Most of the time, we just leave her so that she can rest. Sometimes, we take her out by hand to eat grass, but most of the time, we just leave her until I have to start preparing her for the night class.
I started getting her ready around two hours before the class. It takes a really long time to plait [braid] her because she has a very long neck.
And then I let her rest a little bit so she can eat and drink and do whatever she wants. Then I take her up about half an hour before. When I go to the ring, I don’t say to myself, “Oh, she’s going to jump clear.” I just go there and say, “OK, however she jumps, she is great.”
What do you love most about your job?
I love the horses. Pretty much my job is my whole life. I’m just doing the horses. I don’t really have time for anything else. I sometimes spend time with my friends, but I really just do the horses. They change our lives, and in the end we live for the sport.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to work as a groom at the top level of the sport?
You have to be passionate. You have to work really hard, and you need to love your job. If you don’t love your job, I think it’s not the right job for you.
If you work over normal hours, you have to be OK with this. You have to love to work long hours. After the night class at Wellington, I was at the stable until 1 a.m, taking care of the horse. I got home at 1:30 a.m. and then got up early morning to go to the barn again.
You have to love it and put everything into it to do a great job.
Featured photo courtesy of Nicole Schultz Photography.
Read more stories about winning grooms of the 2025 season in Wellington:
* About German Rodriguez
* About Denise Moriarty
* About the team behind Ondine d’Orleans
* About Tim Delovich
* About Marina Lemay
* About Luis Mandujano and Ladislao Lara
* About Remigio Padilla
* About Sofie Karlsson
* About Anna Halasz
* About Tamiles Pezzim
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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.
