Sally Robertson likes to change things up in her life—whether it’s riding, grooming, working in a spa or driving big rigs on a construction site, the New Zealand native has traveled around the world and back again.

But she keeps finding herself back where she started—with a brush in her hand, a smile on her face and a willingness soak up all the knowledge she can as a top groom.

“I just love it,” she said. “I feel like I’ve kind of stepped away from it a couple of times, and I keep coming back to it. Everybody knows we don’t do it because we get paid really well or things like that, but when you find something that you love doing, you kind of think, well why not do it?

“As long as you’re getting what you want out of it and feel satisfied at the end of each day, then it doesn’t really matter what you do for a job. You can clean toilets if you’re happy doing it. I think that’s the main thing. It seems to be what I love doing, so I might as well stick with it!”

Robertson’s latest job has reunited her with longtime friend, U.S. Olympic eventing team member Clark Montgomery, and she’s in Rio de Janeiro with one of her favorite charges, Loughan Glen.

Sally Robertson and Loughan Glen as they got ready to load up for the journey to Rio. 

“When you talk about a horse of a lifetime, it’s Glen. He has the biggest heart—his soul is just beautiful. He’s just such a special dude,” she said. “He’s very handsome, and he just doesn’t do anything bad, which makes your job as a groom so much more pleasant. Not that the tricky ones are unpleasant, they just take a bit more time. I think Glen is just one of those really special horses that’s very rare to find.”

A Winding Road

Robertson grew up in Auckland, New Zealand. Her father died when she was 9, so her mother moved her and her two siblings to the more rural Coromandel, where they were able to keep horses.

Robertson rode in Pony Club and loved eventing. Dedicated to horses, she recalled jumping the fence to the neighboring racing barn at 4 every morning to help, then getting on the school bus.

When she was “two weeks shy of 15,” she left school—after a long conversation with her mother—to get a job working for show jumper David Murdoch at Isola Equestrian Centre.

After six months, she met Australian show jumper Chris Chugg during an international show hosted at the barn and went to work for him for 2 1/2 years.

Chugg’s wife Helen had show horses, similar to show hunters in the United States, so Robertson learned the basics of good turnout and attention to detail.

“All of our show horses, from the lower levels up to grand prix horses, were always immaculately turned out,” she said. “Everything had to be fully braided, mane, forelock, tail—everything had a false tail, everything had to have quartermarks, everything had to be studded. It was hard, but I didn’t know any different. That was definitely a stepping stone for learning a really high standard straight off the bat.”

Robertson decided to move home for a while after working for Murdoch, and felt a little lost. Unable to find the right job at a barn, she picked up work at a construction company where she drove rollers and other machines for four years.

During that time she kept a horse, but knew she wasn’t cut out to be a professional rider. Not wanting to drive a truck the rest of her life, Robertson enrolled part-time in a beauty therapy course at a local college where she learned the art of facials, waxing and manicures.

Grooming drew her back though, as she met Donna Smith, a New Zealand event rider who needed a groom but couldn’t afford one full-time. Robertson began grooming for Smith on weekends and attended three-day events and show jumping competitions.

She also decided that she’d much rather work with horses on the ground than ride them.

“I loved working with the horses on the ground and getting to know them,” she said. “I just feel more comfortable on the ground than I do on them.”

Sally Robertson (right) with Loughan Glen and Clark Montgomery. 

As Robertson saw many of her friends heading off on their overseas experience, or OE, a months- or years-long trip many Australians and New Zealanders take because travel is so expensive and far, she felt it was time to take hers, so she got a five-year visa and headed to England.

She found a job at a spa to put her beauty therapy degree to use, but was drawn back to grooming again during a trip to Virginia on her way home to New Zealand for a visit.

Learning Everywhere She Goes

Robertson met up with Smith, who was basing herself with Karen and David O’Connor, and helped her at the Dansko Fair Hill International CCI*** (Md.) in 2003.

At that point, Robertson was “well and truly over” the beauty industry and being stuck at a job inside, so she stayed on with Smith for about two years.

“I thought it was great, having been in New Zealand where things are very, very different,” she said of American eventing. “It’s such a small scale over there. Coming over here was fantastic. It took everything to a whole new level. The great thing about Donna being based with the O’Connors was the experience and the knowledge that you’re around on a daily basis. Karen, David, Donna, all the other grooms like Max [Corcoran.]

“The biggest person who had an influence on my care for horses was Sue Clarke, who manages Stone Hall,” she said. “I learned so much from her, especially the health care and the veterinary side of it. Everybody knows, if you’ve got a question, you ask Sue. Everyone was very helpful and willing to help you learn and pass on knowledge. It was great.”

From Smith, Robertson went on to work for Sara Kozumplik Murphy for six years in Berryville, Va. Wanting to spend less time on the road, she took on more of a management role with six to eight people and close to 50 horses.

“That was an amazing experience. Sara’s the most genuine person you’ll ever come across,” she said. “She’s wonderful with her horses and whoever works with her. Her sponsor Edy [Rameika] is fantastic. It once again allowed me to increase my knowledge and learn even more being in a different role.”

When her visa was about to run out, Robertson was resigned to going home to New Zealand, but then she got some phone calls. “Clark rung me about two times, and I said no, then [Clark’s wife] Jess rung me three times, and then I basically was like, it’s the middle of winter in New Zealand, I’m not going home to a job, so I might as well go and do that until my visas up and I have to leave the country,” she said.

By June 2011, Robertson’s visa had finally run out. Feeling a bit burned out, but still upset to have to leave Clark and Jess, she packed up her things and her beloved lab Rupert and headed home.

Sally Robertson and her ever-present friend Rupert, who has traveled the world with her for 10 years. 

“I’m not a spring chicken anymore, so I kind of got to that age where I thought, maybe I should stick to my plan that I was going to do the year before,” said Robertson, 41.

Next Up? Rio

But her plans changed yet again when she got home. “I was home for a week and decided it was not for me! I gave it a bit of a go—not much of one and probably very half-heartedly,” she said with a laugh.

Robertson arranged for a U.K. and U.S. visa and headed back to America in 2012 to work for Clark and Jess again, this time in Ocala, Fla.

When they decided to move to England later that year, she had planned to follow them, but another grooming opportunity that she’d hoped would be her “forever job” came up.

When that didn’t work out like she’d hoped, she freelanced for several eventers to make as much money as she could to pay for her green card

A call from New Zealand coach Erik Duvander brought Robertson back to England in 2014 to work for Jock Paget.

When the Montgomery’s British groom Karen Hughes was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2015, they called Robertson to see if she could help out, and she’s been there ever since. Hughes sadly passed away in May, so Robertson has taken on her duties at the Montgomery’s Tetbury yard.

“I think the reason I keep coming back to work for them is that we have a wonderful working relationship,” she said. “Clark is not only a beautiful rider, but also the relationship he has with his horses I just have so much respect for. Dealing with him, he’s amazing. We always have open conversations between him, me, and Jess. He values my opinion as I value his, and we always make decisions together. I think that’s a good quality. When we’re talking about Glen we always bounce things off each other. He asks me my opinion so we can come up with a plan.”

Sally Robertson (right) with Loughan Glen and Clark Montgomery. Photo by Lindsay Berreth

With so much experience in so many different programs, Robertson brings a little bit of everything to her job.

“I’ve found it pretty easy [to adapt] if you’re willing to communicate and listen and have respect for everyone around you and the horses. It’s not hard,” she said. “The main thing is you’ve got to have an open mind—everybody’s program is different. The relationships you build with people are very different. You have to know your boundaries and keep an open mind and learn as much as you can and take away from every job as much as you can. You’re always going to learn something in this industry, and whether you agree with it or not, somewhere down the line with a certain horse you might be like, ‘Oh, OK, I get it now.’”

Robertson admitted she get’s bored easily, but she loves that her job keeps her occupied with different tasks all day.

“I love just grooming them properly—actually curry combing them and using a stiff brush. I think I have like 11 different brushes—soft ones for the face and ones that make them look shinier. I do enjoy doing that,” she said. “The only downfall with that is that Glen puts a time limit on that for me, so I don’t actually get to stand there for half an hour and groom away. He reaches the 15-minute mark and he’s like, ‘Yeah, I’m done thank you!’”

While Robertson has gotten discouraged and felt burned out at times, her love for the horses keeps bringing her back.

“When I went home to New Zealand and was not happy and missing the horses, I said to Jess that I thought I should go home and that I was at that age where I needed to settle my feet a little bit and get something else going, that I was getting too old to be a groom,” she said. “Jess was the first person to say, ‘Sally, age is just a number. If you want to do this, and you’re happy doing this, then do it.’ And she’s right.”

Make sure to follow along with Sally, Loughan Glen, Clark and all the Olympic riders and horses with the Chronicle at their dedicated Olympic Games page.