“It’s mental in the
summer, you’re doing at least 20 hours a day, at least three days a week.”
Sabine Crowe (22 years
old) is travelling head girl at Declan Carroll’s Malton based stable. She
explains the daily challenges especially in the height of the season. “We
normally start at five or six. If we have five runners here, there and
everywhere we need more than one person to go racing.”
Often the stable staff
have started at all hours in the morning so she can get the stables done and
ride out before she goes racing.
Despite the hard physical
and mental aspects of her job, Sabine loves it.
In the summer there’s no
time to rest and like the other 6,000 people that racing employs she doesn’t
have time to think until the season ends. She explains the everyday work, her
love clear in the rapid nature of her voice, a Yorkshire accent creeping
though.
“In the winter I have
time to think OMG get me out of here. You’re literally out there 20 minutes each
time getting drenched multiple times a day.” These mornings make the rows of
stables seem dark and dreary with little shelter. “Even wearing waterproofs and
jodhpurs aren’t enough.
“Today I got up about
six, got ready and went to work for seven. We get in, get our tack and get
started straight away.”
There are three horses
immediately taken to the walker. Dec her boss tells Sabine what to ride and she
starts riding out. If she doesn’t ride out a lot, she mucks out stables. Sabine
normally rides out five lots of horses. The first part of her day finished by
12.30.
Sabine goes about all her
tasks with a smile on her face and her long brown pony tail swaying as she does
her work.
By the look of
concentration on her face it’s a difficult question to answer what she would
change. After a long pause a small smirk appears as she replied: “The outdoor
ring covering. That would be amazing. The worst thing is, you
can have all the waterproofs on in the world and you can go outside and get p****ed
on and then you’re wet the for the rest of the day.”
This is the price Sabine
pays for doing the job she adores.
Finally, for her last
task of the day she returns to the yard about half past four for the evening
feed and feels lucky if that’s finished by half five. This rushing is a normal
part of her life.
Sabine shows me the
photos of the winners she’s led up that adorn the walls of her room. The
passion and pride for her job that she’s been involved is filling her face and
her blue eyes widening.
Despite the dedication to
her job, it wasn’t always the plan to get involved in racing. As with many she
started riding young about four or five but was doing a business apprenticeship
at an office. “Funny story, Di (Declan Carroll’s wife) had Green Park up at the
stables where I had my horse and she’d seen me ride and said if you can sit him
you can easily sit on ours.”
And so, she did. First
doing weekends while continuing the apprenticeship, working seven days a week.
Three years ago, where she used to work let everyone go and she’s never looked
back.
Last year alone she did
50,000 miles… yes 50! Her forehead crumples calculating it. She agrees: “I know
it seems crazy but it’s only me that really drives the horsebox.”
With all this travelling Sabine’s
had some amazing memories. She offers up two. There’s a soft smile on her face.
“The best is … leading Justanotherbottle up when he was second in the Steward’s
Cup just beaten a short head.
“The other one was Music
winning at York because I do everything with him. I ride him, bring him up and it’s
a surreal moment having a horse you do everything with winning at York. It’s a
big thing.”
That day she admits
bawling like a baby and in shock and overcome with emotion. Even talking about
it now her eyes glisten.
But with these highs come
the lows. The worst part of the job is the injuries and having to put horses
down.
Her tone is sombre as she
recalls the horses that have been loved and lost including the stable stars
Santry and Crazy World. Her voice wavers. “It was horrible.”
However, Sabine has the
support of the other staff and her boss Declan Carroll, who she considers one
of the most influential people on her career.
“Dec’s quite
inspirational although he is hard on you. He doesn’t hold a grudge and knows people
mess up, and as much as you put in for him, he’ll put it back.”
Another influential
person has been Carole Easton. She was travelling head lass for Tim Easterby
for 30 years and now works in transporting. All this experience means Sabine
has been able to learn from her.
These people behind the
scenes are vital to the sport.
“People think sitting on
a horse is easy, the horse does it all. Driving everywhere is as easy as
anything. But it takes a toll on you. The horses mean everything. Every horse has a soft spot in
everyone’s hearts. No one ever wants to see a horse hurt. We don’t see them
just as a business.”
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| Sabine leading in Music Seeker at York |
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