Southeast Equine Monthly, August 2001, Feature Story

Groomer gets training of a lifetime with Olympian

By David Gower and Brad Thatcher

Twenty-one-year-old Kristi Livingston has worked for two years as a groom for Michelle Gibson, a member of the 1996 U.S. Bronze Medal Olympic team. She got the job by answering an ad on the Internet.

Having ridden hunter/jumpers since age 5, Livingston found exactly how linked she was to horses after spending a year in the Dominican Republic without a horse being a part of her daily activities.

“It was the worst year of my life,” Livingston says, adding that this year was an integral part of her decision to answer Gibson’s ad. She had always been responsible for the care of her own horses and had groomed and readied her pony for shows. She was confident that she could earn a living and gain valuable experience working under someone like Gibson.

She viewed her position as her “college” education and realized that with it came hard work and dedication. She was given the responsibility for the maintenance of the horses Gibson trains. From scheduling vet and farrier visits to untacking and cooling out mounts, she was assigned to manage the healthcare of each mount. She always thought that international travel might become part of her duties. “If you work for a person like Michelle, you are going places,” she used to tell herself. That became a reality. She was honored but also apprehensive about the responsibility of her latest assignment, to accompany and assure the safe transport of Gibson’s new stallion, World of Dreams, on his trip across the Atlantic.

Kristi Livingston with her equine friend in his shipping container. Livingston is helping Olympian Michelle Gibson, who is training for the 2004 Games.

As the big 747 lifted off the runway in Germany, all she could hear was the roar of the engines and the rumble of the pavement rolling by. A fully loaded cargo transport, it was a lonely sensation to be on board with only 4 people, 12 horses, and tons of cargo. Livingston had a good seat though, only available to transport grooms during take off and landing, a jump seat in the cockpit with the pilot and co-pilot.

The trip for Livingston had started a week before at Applewood Farm in Alpharetta, Ga. Her trip to Germany was uneventful, but for a person who has never been to Europe, the process of German customs was intimidating. Then there was the week of getting to know the horse, and getting to know the “German way” at the stables. Livingston stayed in a small hotel within walking distance from the farm. The first several days were great. Gibson was there and could help with the translation of German. But after the third day, Gibson returned home, leaving Livingston to tend to World of Dreams. Despite all of her study of the German translation books prior to her trip, she never found words like “lead rope” and “hoof pick.”

The trip for the horse had started the day before at Rudolph Zeillenger’s farm as her charge, World of Dreams, was loaded onto a shipping truck for the half-day trip to the airport. This was the beginning of her return home with World of Dreams. After arriving at the airport, the horse was allowed to rest in a stall for a period of time and was loaded into an aluminum shipping container. The container is a mobile barn stall. Three horses are loaded into the three slots and the entire unit is lifted high onto the cargo deck of the 747. Livingston originally wanted to ride with World of Dreams during the loading process. But as the time came and she saw how high the containers had to be lifted, she opted to wait on the ground until the horse and his two shipping companions were safely aboard. There is a small area at the front of each container where a person may stand, but it is so small that extended stays are impossible. World of Dreams was loaded on the far right of the container. In the center was a veteran of international air transfers, who took the entire flight as just another day at the office. On the far left was a young horse that spent most of the flight nervous and sweaty.

After take-off, Livingston and the other groom who traveled with the horses made rounds, giving much-appreciated hay and water to all 12 horses. The pilots also appreciated that someone else was on the flight to deal with the equine cargo. The entire flight was spent on the upper deck of the 747. The lower deck where most people would normally fly was filled with nonliving cargo. Fortunately, Kristi was small enough to fit between the wall of the plane and the horse-shipping containers and back into the small space at the heads of the horses. She spent most of the flight sitting with World of Dreams, talking to him in calm tones, maybe somehow giving him a hint of how his life was about to change now that he had met Michelle Gibson.

Kristi knows horses, but the paperwork and process of international customs was her biggest fear. She spent most of the last hour of the flight worrying about clearing World of Dreams through the customs process. These fears evaporated after arriving at the freight terminal, and the experienced men from the shipping company took over the process and sent her on to clear customs herself. She waited with World of Dreams and stroked his nose while the final preparations were made to transfer him into the Miami quarantine center for the next three days. After that, he would take a long truck ride to Virginia, where he would spend four weeks in further quarantine for breedable stallions. From there he would be shipped by truck to his new home at Applewood Farm in Alpharetta, Ga. Livingston waited until he disappeared behind the gates of the quarantine area. As she left, she knew it would be about four weeks before she would see her new equine friend again. But then she knew they would spend lots of time together as they started with Gibson on the road to the 2004 Olympics.

W. Bradford Thatcher is an electrical engineer and is general manager of Applewood Farm in Alpharetta, Ga. David J. Gower, MD FACS, is a partner in the Atlanta offices of The Northwest Neurosurgical Associates, P.C. They are directors of Applewood Foundation for Excellence in Dressage. Applewood Foundation, a charitable 501(c)(3) Georgia corporation, was developed by Applewood Farm to underwrite the training of individuals exhibiting extraordinary talent in the sport of dressage. Individuals and corporations can make tax-deductible contributions to the foundation in an effort to support future Olympic competitors from this region. All proceeds from the foundation go directly to selected students for training, equipment, travel and equine needs.