I judged a few schooling shows at the Quantico Marine Base stables when I first arrived in Virginia. While there I chatted with a few of the faithful Marine husbands, at the show to support their wives. I forget how we got on the subject, but one told me that there’s a saying that goes around Marine basic training: “Embrace the suck.” It’s boot camp, preparing you for life as an elite warrior—it’s going to suck. And the sooner you accept that it’s going to suck, the easier things get.

It's been nearly a month since my last blog, and a ton has happened, and none of it has been bad.

But you haven't heard from me because in the last month, a ton has happened, and even though none of it has been bad, it has been a ton. I am grateful for the work, so, so grateful. I have terrific horses to ride, for which I am also incredibly grateful. And I have about two more weeks to push through before I get to take a three-day vacation, and man oh man, am I ever grateful!

Understatement of the year: life in the horse business ain't easy. The ups are terrific but the downs can be so, so down—achingly long days, dirt and sweat and blood and tears, life and death and crushed expectations and placing hopes and dreams in the hooves of 1,200-pound prey animals on lean legs. 

But those ups. The days where the horses go well. The days were the clients make progress. The big wins. Those are the good days, and the universe has this funny way of handing them to you exactly when you need them.

I've known Ella almost 10 years, so I think I probably know her better than anyone. And while she's quietly confident in herself now, she's terribly introverted, so she probably wouldn't be all that excited about me sharing all of her wonderful little quirks with the world in a blog post.

But: I think she's wonderful, brilliant, and should be shared with the world.

Plus, I have thumbs and she doesn't. So world, meet Ellegria!

I've made the decision to offer my phenomenal 6-year-old, Johnny Road, up for syndication. Johnny's always been one of my favorites, not just because he's got freaky talented legs and a wonderful mind that takes pressure better than any horse I've owned at that age, but because he's my kind of nerdy—he's smart and clever and more than a little obnoxious, and I find that combination tremendously endearing (which probably explains why I'm still single.)