My working student, Sarah, said something to me that I loved: "You don't lose. You learn. So instead of thinking if that if you're not winning, then you're losing, think that if you're not winning, you're learning." 

So I did some learning over the weekend of regionals. And win, learn or draw, it was still a resounding success.

Time flies when you're having fun!

It's been that time of year. The weather has been almost universally spectacular, save for the storms of a few weeks ago that basically drowned South Carolina. I'm riding a ton, teaching a ton, ramping everyone up for this week's Region 1 Finals, and realized that it had been three weeks since I'd put a blog out. Yipes!

Sunday, 9/13, 5 a.m. My throat is scratchy. My nose is running. My head is spinning. This is not looking good.

But I've got clients at a show at Morven Park where, thank goodness, it is GORGEOUS out. So I take my zinc and my decongestant and I log a day's work. But by the end of the day, things are a little grim. This head cold has been making its way around, and its victims are reporting that it's a few days of misery, followed by a lingering hacking cough. Ain't nobody got time for that. I go to bed early…

We had a lovely chunk of summertime let-down, where my students and staff were showing but not terribly hard and not at the upper levels; where I was traveling a lot to teach but still getting some time mid-day, particularly in Virginia's oppressive summer heat. I was even so bold as to take a teensy weensie three-day vacation. I'm refreshed; the horses are loose and cool.

It's go time.

I'm not a superstitious person by nature, but there are a few things I take with me to every show, and a few little routines I have that have become a habit. (Don't worry—no lucky socks in dire need of washing.)