Herefordshire’s Lucy Scudamore at the Olympics

When Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin are competing, you know super-groom Alan Davies will be there too, looking after the horses, but he won’t be the only groom in Tokyo.  Each horse has a designated groom and Carl’s ride ‘En Vogue’ will be looked after by the ever smiling 24 year old Herefordshire born and bred Lucy Scudamore.

Lucy was born and brought up at her family home at Kentchurch, Herefordshire and must have inherited her love of horses from her Mum who was involved with hunting, showing, polo and racing. Aged 7, the Scudamore’s acquired a 7 year old coloured Irish Cob from the ILPH who, coincidentally, were based at the yard formerly owned by the racing Scudamores. One of the first questions Lucy is often asked is whether she’s related to the racing Scudamores, but no, she isn’t.  Lucy was a keen member of the Golden Valley Pony Club and competed in any competition it was possible to enter, especially working hunter pony classes, coloured pony classes and eventing.  Aged 11 she was awarded a riding scholarship to Stonar School, but quickly discovered she didn’t like being away from home and after a term, moved to the Hereford Cathedral School meaning she was free to ride in the evenings and at weekends. Lucy went on to represent both her school and pony club in eventing and dressage teams, competing at the National Schools Equestrian Association (NSEA) finals and the National Pony Club Championships twice.

Lucy always had a yearning for a black Welsh cob and eventually found a totally unsuitable 3 year old!  However, she broke him in herself and with lots of hard work and dressage lessons she trained him up to Prix St Georges (PSG) level at home. Her interest in dressage was duly sparked. Now, Lucy has an 8 yr old Trakehner by Silver Moon, stable name Rodney. She bought him as a foal as a project and sold him as a 4 year old. The buyers then tried to accuse Lucy of selling him to them with an injury and took her to court. Lucy won! Rodney is still with her and she’s using all she’s learning at work to train him. He’s very talented and has a huge personality but he’s also very hot so while he’s working at PSG at home, he’s competing at novice.

While doing an equine business management diploma at Hartpury College, Lucy got a work placement at Carl Hester’s one day a week. After finishing her course, Carl recommended a job at Sandra Biddlecombe’s, just a mile or so from Carl’s yard. Charlotte Dujardin had a few horses at Sandra’s, one of which was Vogue. Lucy’s first encounter with the enormous young black horse was seeing him snorting at the back of the stable.  Lucy immediately fell for him so when 3.5 years later Charlotte asked Lucy if she would come and work at Carl’s as a travelling groom and one day take over from Alan when he retired, Lucy said yes, but on one condition… Vogue had to come too.

It was thought Alan might retire after the Rio Olympics, but he didn’t which has given Lucy the golden opportunity to shadow the ‘supergroom’ at International shows gaining invaluable experience. 3.5 years working for Carl has included a trip to the World Equestrian Games at Tryon in the USA and the European Championships. Of course the last 18 months have been frustrating with very few competitions, but work continued as normal apart from the additional difficulties imposed by Covid restrictions. Work is far from 9-5 with many extra hours worked preparing for, or at, competitions, but the rewards looking after such top dressage horses far outweigh the workload and Lucy says working with Carl and Charlotte is an inspiration every day. It’s a lifestyle as much as a job.

Lucy lives her life around work. She lives in a flat above the indoor school at Carl’s and on work days she’s up at 6am to do Rodney before starting work at 6.45am, finishing at 5.15pm and back to Rodney to put him to bed. On her weekly day and a half off, Lucy enjoys eating, sleeping, time with her partner, walking and training 7 dogs and, since lockdown, kayaking on the River Wye.

When asked about the Olympics, Lucy said she was really looking forward to a proper International competition again after a year and a half of Covid restrictions and to seeing the best dressage horses in the World together with a reunion of riders, grooms and their support teams.  Seeing another part of the world is also a great experience. She found WEG in the USA a huge eye opener and no doubt Tokyo will be the same. The biggest worry is still Covid…. if any member of the team catches it, the whole team is out and you just don’t want it to be you! Those going to Tokyo were fast tracked in the vaccination programme, so Lucy has had both her jabs but of course she’s had to be extremely careful doing the day to day things like shopping for her food and has been tested many times.

The horses have been clipped and wearing extra rugs prior to their departure to Tokyo. They will have a week to acclimatise in Tokyo where the temperature is 25-32 degrees and the humidity an uncomfortable 70-80%. The horses arrived on the 14th July with Alan on the flight looking after all 4 of the British Dressage team horses. Lucy flew ahead of them to prepare the stables for their arrival at the facilities where every possible need for the horse’s welfare is taken care of including air conditioned stables and arenas. The dressage will take place late in the evening when it will be cooler. Accommodation is conveniently on site for the grooms while Carl and Charlotte will be staying in the GB athlete’s hotel off site.

So what about Vogue? “He has a heart of a lion and is very hot and fiery, but he’s a gentle giant” says Lucy. He thrives on exercise and although he’s never flown before and the Olympics will be an enormous challenge for him, Lucy says he’ll be happy. When she first saw him all those years ago, she never dreamt she’d be accompanying him to the Olympics – it’s a dream come true!  She says she’s so lucky to be able to go to the Olympics and to be fully kitted out with Olympic Team GB kit….from sunglasses to socks!

The British Dressage Team:

Charlotte Dujardin (35) based in Newent, Gloucestershire riding Gio (chestnut, gelding, 10yrs, Apache x Tango, Breeders: H J de Jong, A Valk NED, Groom: Alan Davies). Owners: Renai Hart, Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin.

Charlotte Fry (25) based in Den Hout, the Netherlands (from Scarborough, North Yorkshire) riding Everdale (black stallion, 17.2hh, 12yrs, Lord Leatherdale x Negro, Breeder: P Kluytmans NED, Groom: Steven Caley). Owners: Van Olst Horses and Charlotte Fry.

Carl Hester (54) based in Newent, Gloucestershire (from Sark, The Channel Islands) riding En Vogue (dark bay, gelding, 12yrs, 17hh, Jazz x Contango, Breeder: A Van der Goor NED, Groom: Lucy Scudamore). Owners: Sandra Biddlecombe, Charlotte Dujardin, Lady Anne Evans and Carl Hester.

Travelling Reserve: Gareth Hughes (50) based in Southam, Warwickshire riding Sintano Van Hof Olympia (bay, gelding, 16.3hh, 11yrs, Sandro Hit x Silvano, Breeder: Hof Olympia NED, Groom: Steph Sharples). Owners: Judy Firmston-Williams and Gareth Hughes.

Good luck Team GB and good luck Lucy!

Update: 22nd July

Lucy has another write up on the Horse and Hound website – https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/features/tokyo-olympics-groom-lucy-scudamore-753777