“When I grow up, I want to work here”  

Across our four rescue and rehoming centres, our fabulous team of 46 grooms changes the lives of horses, ponies, donkeys, mules and foals every single day.   

Lorraine has been caring for horses for more than 20 years at Hall Farm in Norfolk. We caught up with her about her love of horses and how she came to work at World Horse Welfare. 

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Please tell us a bit about yourself!  

I have been working for World Horse Welfare for what will be 22 years this October. I started off as school work experience not knowing anything about horses, and this led to me volunteering at weekends and eventually getting paid. Once I left school, I got employed full time, starting off as a groom and slowly working my way up to now being one of the yard supervisors. I have a World Horse Welfare horse called Elvis and we are mainly happy hackers and enjoy going on fun rides. 

When did your love of horses begin, and do you remember your first visit to Hall Farm? 

None of my family are horsey, but my nan and my uncle lived in Snetterton village where Hall Farm is based and from the age of about three or four, they would take me and my sisters to the farm to visit the horses on a Saturday. I don’t remember my first visit as I was so young, but I do remember I grew fond of a horse called Copenhagen and from then on, my love of horses grew. And that’s what made me want to do my work experience at Hall Farm and I never left. 

How did it feel when you started working at Hall Farm? 

I suppose it felt a bit surreal as I started off not knowing anything about horses, I didn’t even know how to put a headcollar on. World Horse Welfare has taught me everything I know. It also felt good knowing that I was going to make a difference to these horses’ lives. 

What is life like as a World Horse Welfare groom?  

Life as a groom/supervisor is hard work but very rewarding. There are moments when I wonder why I do what I do. Especially when I’m standing out in a field waiting for a horse to eat their feed and it’s chucking it down with rain and blowing a gale, or when we lose a prosecution case and the horses have to go back to their owner. But then something happens, and it reminds me of why I love my job and helping these vulnerable horses and ponies. It’s so rewarding to be able to make a difference to the lives of these horses every single day. I do a lot of the handling of the feral, nervous horses and ponies and when they start to trust you it’s such a good feeling.   

Can you tell us some interesting things we might not know about a World Horse Welfare groom?   

Some of the grooms have smart watches and on average we do about 25,000 to 30,000 steps in a day, and at the moment, we are making up about 55 feeds a day, but this can vary.

One of the more unusual things we do is sand test the horses’ droppings to see how much sand they may have eaten when grazing, and we do this by putting a handful of poo in a long glove and adding water. We hang the gloves up and the sand settles in the fingers. This gives us a rough guide as to whether there is a little or a lot and helps us to know if we need to put them on a feed supplement to help move the sand through their intestines to prevent a blockage and colic. The farm sits on very sandy soil so for horses on restricted grazing, or shorter grazing, they can pull up the roots with the sand and ingest it. 

Can you sum up what it’s like to be a groom in three words?  

Rewarding, emotional, hard work (ok that might be more than three words!) 

What advice would you give to anyone visiting the farm today who would like to work at World Horse Welfare in the future?  

Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something because you have no experience. Show interest and ask questions. Be prepared to start off doing the not so interesting jobs and work your way up to doing the better jobs, gaining experience along the way. 

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A huge thank you to all our grooms, without them we wouldn’t be able to rescue the more than 300 horses that come into our care each year. 

If you have enjoyed Lorraine’s blog and would like to read more about what life as a groom is like at World Horse Welfare, please click the links below. 

Emily, Yard Supervisor at Penny Farm 

Abi, Senior Groom at Belwade Farm 

Nicole, Rehabilitation Groom at Glenda Spooner Farm 

Kathryn, Groom at Hall Farm