Jackie Potts on the quiet graft, deep knowledge and sheer love of horses that built one of Britain’s most respected grooming careers
Not many people can say they’ve spent more than three decades at the very top of their game. Fewer still would say it wasn’t even the plan. But Jackie Potts never needed a grand ambition – just a pony, a yard and the simple joy of being around horses.
‘I was ten,’ she says. ‘A friend at school wanted to go to the local riding school, and she wanted someone to go with her. I’d never even thought about riding a pony before. Our family was not at all horsey. But I went along … She didn’t like it, and I never stopped!’
As a teenager Jackie started working three evenings a week for 50p a night: ‘Big money then! I’d work the weekend, and would run around for five hours with ponies just to get a free ride at the end of the day.
‘I just liked being with them. I did compete a bit, I rode whatever horses were going spare where I was working or riding – I could ride, and I had a nice feel. But nowadays, a lot of people think they’re going to be a rider … and they’re not good enough. They don’t have the backup, they don’t have the horses or the sponsorship. And I think the sooner you realise what your category is, where you might do better, then the happier you are in your life as well. I thought, “what an opportunity if I can just get to ride nice horses!” I used to watch showjumping lots on the television, see them coming out of the arena, and I always wanted to be the person with the horse – I love the horses, for themselves, it’s never just about riding them.’
Jackie didn’t begin full-time equine career until she was 25. Before that there was office work (‘hated it’) and studying part-time to get her BHS AI and Stable Managers certificates – driving an hour and a half each way to practice her teaching, and teaching evenings and weekends for free just to gain experience.
Eventually she announced to her mother that she was done: ‘When I was 25, I came home from work one day and said to my mother, “I hate it there. I’ve got some savings, I’m leaving for the Yorkshire Riding Centre to train for my Intermediate.”
‘I said goodbye to a regular wage and all that sort of business … but it was the best thing I ever did.
‘I didn’t even take the exam in the end – I realised I didn’t know enough. Instead I spent time on all sorts of yards, picking up experience. Then I broke my leg while I was working at Di Lampard’s yard – she’s now Performance Manager for British Showjumping. It was a bad break, and I was out of action for a year. After that I went to do a BUNAC summer camp in America. They asked me to return to run the riding programme the following year, so I was just working for an agency, going to a few different yards to fill in time, and I ended up at William Fox-Pitt’s. He was 23, and he had one horse – he’d maybe won an OI, he’d been around Badminton once …
‘Now, of course, people say, “Oh, I’m going to go and work for William Fox-Pitt!” but back then it was just him. I stayed because I liked it: I was only meant to be there a week.’
That was 32 years ago.
The big moments, and the little ones
Jackie’s CV reads like a wish list for anyone in equestrian sport. Six Olympics. European and World Championships. The biggest horses, the biggest names. But the milestones that really matter to her are different.
‘It’s brilliant to go to the World Championships, and the Europeans … the Olympics never compares, it is just that bit different, it’s extra special.
‘But it’s also brilliant when … for example, Moon Man: we’d had him since he was five and I loved him. When he went to Badminton, it was like my child doing Badminton! And it’s not always the horses that win and do well, either – sometimes it’s the horses that have simply got a kind heart, and put everything into it. I’m quite a soft one for that. I’m always for the underdog.’
And then there are the golden moments, the flashes of joy that slip through an ordinary day and remind you what a life with horses can be.
‘There’s one that I always remember – William couldn’t get back in time once, and Tamarillo needed cantering. It was 6 o’clock on a Sunday evening, the sun was setting, and I was cantering along on this horse that was like driving a Porsche. I just thought – I’m getting paid to do this. This is my job. Those small moments make up as much of the highlights as anything else.’
‘I have always tried to make sure that the horses become my friends. You will always get on better with some horses than others, but I’ve always tried to work out what makes them tick: what they like and what they don’t like. When they understand that, and they realise you’re trying to work with them, they’re so much easier to handle, it makes my life a lot easier.
‘I can walk past a box and I only have to glance. I can tell instantly if that horse is okay – if it’s happy, or if it’s not feeling quite right that day. Working with Kazu (Japan’s Kazuma Tomoto), he had a really funny horse. He was one that you just had to work around, and when you did, he would try his best for you. Yet there’d still be a day I’d say, “oh, it’s one of those days today, and we just need to be careful”. But the fact that you knew that, and he knew that you gave him that little bit of rope, then he would try his hardest not to be crazy.’
People outside the sport often see the big competitions and think it’s all glamour and high-adrenaline moments on a big yard – but what’s the reality of daily life like behind the scenes?
‘Well, hard work, really, isn’t it? I think people come into the industry thinking it could be nine to five, that somebody else will take over … they don’t. And I spent a lot of my life sitting around waiting. It’s a hard, physical job. Why am I stil here? It’s quite odd, isn’t it? Probably only because I’ve got no friends! But I really do love it. I suppose I’m a bit of a goody two shoes, I’ve always wanted to do my best. But I’ve always wanted everyone to be able to do their best and to have the knowledge too – a lot of things are missed or not done because people just don’t know nowadays. You don’t have the riding schools, and everybody’s got a horse box, so you don’t have that mixing the way you used to, which means ideas aren’t thrown around.
Old-school horsemanship
She won’t call herself a ‘super groom’ – though many others do. But what Jackie does is far beyond brushing coats and packing kits.
‘I wish I’d charged a pound for every time somebody’s asked me what studs we’re going to use, I’d be rich by now! Over all the years, people would come to me and say, “what are you going to do about this?” Or “can you just come and feel my horses legs?” And I would always share my knowledge, because I want the horses to be looked after. And if they don’t know, I’d rather they’d come and ask. I’m always saying this to the guys on the yard, and they will message me any time of the day, whether I’m working or not. It doesn’t matter if you think it’s a silly question. You can only learn. I’ve only learned by things going wrong or by asking – you only learn when things go wrong, you don’t learn anything when everything goes right.’
Ask Jackie about horsemanship and she’ll tell you it’s not something you find in a book.
‘It’s about the eye. About using your gut. Colleges and science do a great job, but I can watch a horse walk past and say that one’s bang on and ready for an event – or equally that something’s not right. It’s like the way feeding has become so scientific now: you measure them, and you do X times by this, and poundage that, and the other … we just feed by scoop, and they get a half or a one. If they’re fat, they get a bit less. And if they’re thin, they get a bit more …
‘I think a lot of people nowadays are afraid of using their gut instinct: sometimes it isn’t what’s written in a book. It’s what you feel is right, and it takes time to get to know your horse.’
Jackie says the key is to always be consistent – same routine, same handling, same quiet presence: ‘You never move the goal posts. Don’t change the rules one day to the next, and let them push you over, or stand on your feet. Say the same thing to them all the time, because they love routine, and they love to know what you’re going to say next. Always lead them the same way, always tack them up the same way. It’s especially important with the nervy horses and the ones that are very insecure.
‘We had a horse whisperer here a few times, and Tamarillo was very quirky and very nervy. She said, “he looks on you as his security blanket”. Because I’m the one who tells him he can’t do this, that and the other – which he absolutely knows he shouldn’t be doing anyway! But if you’re consistent, a horse is reassured, he knows where he stands.
‘I mean, I’ve handled stallions. I groomed Chilli Morning, and I’m a midget! I’ve got no strength in me at all. While he was very well behaved, he was still a stallion: I’ve seen him misbehave with other people that are far bigger than me. But I had that relationship with him, we had mutual respect, and he would automatically do what I said.
‘In return, I never groomed him in his stable, because that was his territory. He was always groomed in the cross ties, while I told him how lovely he was … it was always the same. If I ever led him anywhere, he always had a head collar on and a bridle on top. I never took that chance – you can’t decide one day that you can’t be bothered.’
Wanting it
It’s clear that one of Jackie’s greatest strengths is her ability to observe, to notice the one small thing that makes all the difference – and to earn absolute trust from both horse and rider.
‘I think if you’re observant, and you see the horses and you’re noticing them, then that’s where your rider trusts you. There’s a story I often share about being at Badminton one year, when I had a girl helping me. She legged William up onto the horse, but as he came past me he asked me to check his girth. The girl said “I checked it! It was fine!” – but she wasn’t me. I’ve been there every time for William. You really do become their security blanket. You’ve set them off thousands of times, told them “watch that,” or “I’ll fix this,” and they trust you completely.’
Though she doesn’t do so much of the physical work now, Jackie’s still based at the yard, living on site, checking things after hours because ‘I want to know it’s right and it’s finished.
‘You do slightly sacrifice your friends and relationships if you’re going to groom at the highest level. You have to say, “that’s what I want.” To do it at that level, in a yard going full blast, you couldn’t do it part time. I didn’t want to.’
She might not be in the thick of it like she used to be, but she’s still doing what she loves – still plaiting, still prepping, still quietly running one of the most respected yards in the country.
‘I don’t ride now. I haven’t ridden for a while. I’ve got a bit old and creaky, and to be honest, I quite like staying on the ground.
‘People still say my plaits are perfect. To be honest, they’re not as good as they used to be! But I hear “I could never plait like that” – well no, obviously. Nor could I at first! I remember I was at Chris Hewlett’s, many years ago, and I plaited a horse that was going to the Royal International. The groom took one look and said to me “that’s great that you’ve tried to do that … but I’m really sorry, I’m going to have to redo them.”
‘I was devastated! But rather than just accept I couldn’t, I started doing two plaits every day when I finished work. I was determined to get it right. Every night – no matter how long my day had been. That’s how you get better. You’ve got to want it.’
Jackie’s always passed on her knowledge freely – on the yard, through mentoring young grooms like The BV’s Jess Rimmer, and now through her work with the British Grooms Association, the International Grooms Association and the FEI too – fighting for better support, better conditions, and a proper voice in the sport.
‘At Badminton this year I’ll be going around the stables to encourage people to join – when they’ve got a voice, then you can be heard. We can effect real change on the ground at events.
‘I mean, you’ll always get the riders that will try and work their groom to death and not be very nice. But do you know what? Don’t work for them. There’s plenty of jobs out there – go to somebody where you are going to learn. Make it a career, recognise that it’s a good thing to do. Nowadays, there are so few people that just want to work with horses, it is actually a groom’s market.’
Top tip for horse owners?
‘Just get to know your horse. Treat them as individuals. Learn what they like and don’t like. And don’t move the goalposts. That’s how they learn to trust you.’
