Long long ago, when I was young and adorable, I went to Germany to look for the horse that would be Billy. Billy was the first horse I sat on on that trip, out of about 20, and I kept coming back to him. My mom kept saying, really? Really? The first one you sat on? But it was true; I just knew.

I'm getting down to the wire training for my first triathlon, next Sunday, and that's meant some time on my bike trainer, watching movies in my apartment. I pick movies that are inspirational—you know, with lots of heavy music, gunfire and punching people. Last week, it was the Matrix Trilogy.

Three days, a thousand miles, and two cups of coffee later, I'm back in Virginia. And really, I don't think I've ever been happier to leave Florida. It seemed like everything I touched this winter fell apart, and I refuse to let it get me down, but I'm really quite glad to be home.

I've gone through all the plans from A to about Q at this point, so we're on Plan R:

- Midge is staying in walk work to try and keep good muscle tone while he heals.

Earlier this month, Michael Pollard wrote a great blog, a rallying cry for American breeders. He comes from an eventing perspective, but the need for more, better horses bred in the United States is true across all the international disciplines. Between the cost of importation and the euro, European horses are expensive and not easy to get.

It's T-minus one week until we start the trip home from Florida, but of the many, many things I learned this year, some were equipment-related. Every year I get better and better at living the Floridian life: what stuff to bring, what products to use. And it's important, because I'm pretty convinced that there is no place on the entire North American continent worse to keep a horse than South Florida.

Here are some of my 2013 season essentials.