Q&A: Veteran Rolex Three-Day Event Groom Emma Ford

U.S. Olympian Philip Dutton’s head groom shares her secrets to keeping horses healthy during international competition.
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Q&A Veteran Rolex Three-Day Event Groom Emma Ford
Emma Ford (right) leads Mighty Nice as they walk with team manager Joanie Morris during the 2016 Rio Olympics. | Photo: Shannon Brinkman
Behind every high-performance rider is a support team that helps keep his or her horses healthy, sound, and ready to compete. For U.S. Eventing team member and 2016 Olympic individual bronze medalist Phillip Dutton, that team is led by Emma Ford, who serves as his head groom and barn manager at True Prospect Farm in West Grove, Pennsylvania.

Ford’s tenure with Dutton began in 2005, and she’s since groomed for him at two Olympic Games, two World Equestrian Games, and two Pan-American Games. In 2007, the U.S. Eventing Association named her Professional Groom of the Year, and she won the Professional Riders’ Organization Liz Cochran Grooms Award in 2012. Ford took a year off in 2013, thinking she wanted a “quieter life,” she says. “But that wasn’t the case!” In 2015, Ford and Cat Hill co-authored World Glass Grooming for the Competition Horse.

Ford is currently grooming at her 14th Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, underway at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. She’s busy caring for Dutton’s three entries—I’m Sew Ready (“Jackson”), Mr. Medicott (“Cave”), and Fernhill Fugitive (“Jack”)—but took time while traveling to answer our questions about the groom’s role keeping horses healthy at Rolex.

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The Horse: Your Guide To Equine Health Care is an equine publication providing the latest news and information on the health, care, welfare, and management of all equids.

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