‘We call him Buster The Bull because he’s full of it’ – Jess Elliott on grooming for Sixmilewater and Austin O’Connor at Burghley
Top eventing groom Jess Elliott, who works for Austin O’Connor, talks about what she learnt from the showjumping circuit and more
Jess Elliott, groom to Austin O’Connor at this year’s Defender Burghley Horse Trials, says his ride Sixmilewater is known at home as Buster – but she’s nicknamed him Buster The Bull.
“I gave him that nickname because he is full of it. He’s got character. At the trot-up yesterday, he was towing me round, running about,” she says.
That said, the 12-year-old by OBOS Quality 004 has matured since his first five-star at Burghley last year.
“He was a little bit fruity last year and this year, he knows when he’s going to do something and he just switches. You can walk him hand grazing and he’s quite chill sometimes. And then when he knows he’s going to do something, he flicks and he’s a completely different character.”
Jess started working for Austin in August 2025 and is his head girl. She came to Burghley last year with Buster and then went to Mars Badminton Horse Trials with him in May this year.
She says: “He just keeps getting better every time and he’s stronger. Fitness-wise, in his canter work, we’ve got him exactly where we would want to be.
“On his last prep runs, Austin has put him up the gears a bit more and asked more of him, and he just keeps going. Sometimes he’s a bit of a bull and takes the rein and Austin’s like, ‘Whoa’, so we need just to keep between the flags and we’ll be fine.”
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Jess Elliott: from eventing to showjumping and back
Jess, 27, is from Ayrshire originally. She had horses herself when she was growing up and then started working for Padraig McCarthy and his wife Lucy, initially combining grooming with riding, then moving more towards the grooming side.
“They were looking for a head person, and I fell into the role, learning on the job. I did working hunters, so I had that background of tidiness and I could plait,” she says.
After four years with the McCarthys’, Jess was Piggy March’s head girl for a year.
She says: “Pigs is amazing and the whole team at Maidwell were brilliant. But Piggy was slowing down a little bit with her eventing, and I was keen to keep going and be busy. An opportunity with Ben Maher came along.”
Jess spent eight months with the British showjumping, experiencing the constant travelling of the showjumping lifestyle.
“My first week was London International and then I moved to Florida for four months. Then I came home from Wellington, had one week off for my birthday, went into quarantine in Germany, and flew to Shanghai for the Global Champions Tour,” she says.
Jess says she learnt much about the finer details of travelling horses and grooming tricks from the showjumping circuit. In return, she transferred her knowledge such as making ice pockets for horses legs with tubigrips.
She says: “I put it on when we were in Cannes and Ben was like, ‘What is this?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, it’s just what we use in eventing, I thought I could try it out’, and he was like, ‘Oh, that’s a great idea.’”
Grooming ambitions
Jess has groomed at championships, including the Pratoni World Championships with Padraig McCarthy, but didn’t go to the recent worlds in Aachen with Austin because his top horse Colorado Blue (“Salty”) is always groomed by Fran Denning at events.
However, she was in Aachen for the weekend because she goes out with Chinese rider Alex Hua Tian, so she attended to support him.
Her ambitions in grooming are to go to an Olympics – she’s gunning for Austin to be selected for Los Angeles 2028 – and to fly with horses.
What does she enjoy about her job?
“I love being with the horses – I really know my horses now. At Burghley last year I didn’t know Buster well, but getting a connection with them and just being able to take them to places like this is crazy,” she says, indicating Burghley House in the background.
“Whether it’s eventing or showjumping, we’re so lucky to come and look at that view. I’m really good friends with all the grooms, so you’ve got a group of you all together.”
Austin O’Connor trots up Jess’s charge, Sixmilewater, on Wednesday at Burghley
Groom Jess Elliott also says Austin O’Connor is “a good egg and his heart is always in the right place”.
“He’s a great person to work for and he’s very fair. I am scared to ride sometimes because we’ve got the Ridgeway up the back of the yard and if you fall off, the horses can go for miles, so he puts me down for lungeing – he takes into consideration that I don’t want to ride all the time,” says Jess, who also says Austin helps make it possible for her to see Alex.
“And he’s great with the horses and with his kids, Wilf and Alfie – on the yard, there’s always a family atmosphere.”
With Austin’s dressage at 11.42am tomorrow, it will be a early start for Jess.
She says: “Buster will have a good lunge and a session with Tracie Robinson – she’s brilliant and gets the best out of Austin and Buster. Because Buster is quite buzzy, him being out of the stable is better – in the mornings I’ll take him for a good graze or walk, then it’s a lunge or a little ride.
“It’s just keeping his mind ticking over, always having him thinking, otherwise he gets a little bit crazy in his head. You have to get the adrenalin up and then down and manage that. Then hopefully by the time you go to the test, you’ve managed the levels so the adrenalin spike isn’t crazy.”
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Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.