The Clinic That Almost Wasn’t

For the first time in literally years, I signed up for a clinic.

Ok that’s a lie, I signed up for the Kai Steffen-Maier clinic last year but then he had some issues with his visa and couldn’t come. That doesn’t count tho since technically it didn’t happen. The last clinic I actually rode in was like… 2017? I’ve had mixed experiences with riding in clinics, and generally tend to avoid them in favor of spending the money with my regular trainers.

BUT… my trainer brought in Tom McEwen, and I was like ya know what, why not?

Presto acting like it was his first time experiencing the substance known as water

I signed up for XC and SJ days pretty much as soon as my trainer posted it, and then a couple weeks beforehand told her to let me know if any dressage spots opened up. One did, because the person unfortunately broke her leg. (in hindsight, was this subtle foreshadowing? a cursed time slot?) So I went ahead and added that on too. YOLO. We’re not spending as much money on showing this season, and I’ve really focused hard on education, so spending the money on a clinic seems to align.

We had a private dressage lesson scheduled for Wednesday, SJ group lesson on Thursday, and group XC lesson on Friday. The timing seemed perfect, because the following Wednesday was set to be my and Presto’s first full horse trial back together since June. After a light mid-November through December, we’d only had a couple jump lessons this month and the first one was a little, uh… rusty, so I figured a few intensive clinic days might help snap us back into form. I gave him the Monday off, and planned to flat him on Tuesday.

He was great on Tuesday right up until the counter canter loops, which admittedly I haven’t worked on in a while. Sometimes in the counter canter, especially to the right, he wants to turn into a pogo stick while he has a moment about having to do actual work, and then settles in. Except this time he went to be a pogo stick, somehow tripped over his feet and ended up sitting abruptly on his hocks, and failed to right himself. Very slowly, like a felled tree, he flopped over on his side. He landed with my left leg under his shoulder, breaking my stirrup iron in two places, and then just kinda sat there on my foot like “weird, how the heck did that happen???”.

impressive, really

He did a real number on my foot. I didn’t think it was broken, but it was definitely injured. I got back on him and rode him for another 10 or so minutes with one stirrup, to make sure he felt alright (he magically did not offer to pogo stick anymore…) and he was great. I hobbled back up to the barn and figured I’d get on Bingo and see how hurt it really was. The verdict was that I could ride, but not with the stirrup on the ball of my foot. Cool cool. Noooo problemmaaaa.

I started Magnawaving and icing and NSAIDing the hell out of it, because SERIOUSLY?!?! I was determined to not miss the clinic. My foot was swollen for sure, and hurt for sure, but I was hopeful that I could at least make it through dressage day. I figured worst case scenario I could ride without the stirrup, right?

not a pogo stick

Luckily it was alright enough by the following afternoon. I had a significant limp and I couldn’t really press my weight down into my stirrup, but I could rest my foot in it just fine with my stirrup sitting a little further back than usual. It worked well enough, so we’ll call that part a success.

As for Tom, I really had no idea what to expect. I’ve not seen a lot of footage of him teaching so I really went into it more blind than is typical of me. I tend to be a little obsessive about trying to find info on people before I get anywhere near riding with them. I’m comfortable with the program I’m in though, so I figured if they were bringing him in, odds were good that his teaching would probably align.

Patreon Supporter and VIP folks – you have video from all 3 days on your dashboard as well as two podcast clinic recaps with lots more details

After a quick little intro, Tom put us straight to work. To no one’s surprise, he was big on precision and quality (the Brits don’t get as good as they are without it, I suppose). More fluidity in the gaits, being more precise with the shapes, making sure that the aids don’t just get a response, but a specific and deliberate response. We did a lot of lateral work, starting with leg yields to and from the quarterline and centerline, and then moved on to shoulder-in, and then progressing to doing the two back to back, to and from particular spots.

We also did a lot, I mean A LOT of 4-loop serpentines and 12m or 15m circles. The change of bend was to be precise, and he got onto me several times about looking UP and THROUGH the next movement. He said that if he was just watching ME and not the horse, he should know where my next movement is by where my eyes are. (Stay tuned, that was a recurring theme throughout the clinic.) He also pointed out that my right shoulder was always collapsed a bit, although he gave me the benefit of the doubt and said that it might be compensatory because of my left foot. I appreciated his tact, but realistically I think it’s a consistent trait that I can’t blame on the foot.

I really liked the flat lesson and felt like we got some good feedback out of it. None of it was completely new information that I hadn’t heard, but he had some different exercises to try and worded a few things differently in a way that helped, I think. Also, we walked for maybe 2 minutes of the entire lesson and cantered for what felt like (to my foot anyway) 70 years, so… we got our money’s worth I’d say.

***Special shoutout to Kathleen who came and endured not just dressage day but also XC day, so that I could have video. MVP.***

The trees in this shot look like Ocala on the left and Wellington on the right lol

I was a little bit more worried about the foot for showjumping day. Landing in your stirrup from a jump is obviously harder on your foot, and I wasn’t sure how it would hold up. Luckily I was in the last group of the day, so I had some extra time to work on it. I wrapped it up in vet wrap with a lidocaine patch, downed plenty of NSAID’s, Magnawaved the absolute hell out of it, and hoped for the best.

And for the most part, it was fine. At least for a while. This lesson was, however, quite extensive as well. We got right down to business immediately. I’m not sure why, in my head, I was expecting more a gymnastics type of experience… I guess maybe that’s pretty common for clinics. But no, we had a full course set (by Peter Wylde, who had been here teaching Mia Farley and Woods Baughman, who are leasing the other half of the farm for the season) and we got right to it from the get go. There was no cavaletti exercise or single jump to start us off, we went straight to stringing a few jumps together. Mostly off of turns, looping rollbacks.

Presto was really good

After that we went straight to some lines, the first of which we had to add in a stride, and then to a longer set line that was really forward. Tom did not hesitate to use all the jumps in the ring for all of the courses. Once again, we really got our money’s worth and we did A LOT of courses. I though I perhaps might die by the end… my foot was screaming. We jumped like 8 courses and a couple partials.

There was a lot of feedback, but two major themes. First, I need to do a better job of getting him off my inside leg in bending lines (we definitely don’t always put enough bend in them) and in short turns off the left lead. He tends to drop his shoulder a bit that way and we end up slightly out of balance.

wheee good boy

The second big takeaway was that I have to do a better job of staying ahead of Presto mentally. Tom said that when I was a jump or two ahead of him, thought-wise, everything flowed much better. But if I went a little lala and let Presto take charge of things, I ended up in a reactive pattern instead of a proactive one, and while Presto was genuine and happy enough to do the job, when he did it his way it was certainly much less polished and effective. So – eyes up, brain engaged, and always be riding the NEXT thing, not the thing right in front of me. Hmmm it’s almost kinda like he said the same thing to me on the flat…

Presto was HYPED for XC day

We were the first group of the day on Friday, so I didn’t have as much time to help my foot recover, but it really didn’t seem much worse for wear after jump day. Swollen, yes. Bruised, for sure. But the pain wasn’t any different, and I did alright with my foot in the stirrup. So, off we went bright and early in the FREEZING COLD (it’s been so damn cold here – for Ocala anyway, I know not as cold as most of you but COOOOLD for Florida) on Friday for our XC lesson.

XC was at Robin Walker’s place, which Presto and I have never been to before. I was kinda like “oh great, this is really gonna be just the perfect scenario to make his little demons come out”. New XC place, which can make him spooky for sure, AND a group lesson setting, which has historically made him nappy. I warmed Tom of this in advance, so naturally Presto immediately set about making a total liar out of me. He wasn’t nappy or spooky at all, not even once.

Any guesses as to what Tom said to me most on XC day?

I’m trying my best

$20 if you said “Eyes Up”. I know, you’re super shocked by now, I can tell.

He also thought most of my left turns were garbage (rubbish?). Ok he didn’t use those exact words, but ya know… basically. I was once again reminded that my left foot, while perhaps slightly mangled and marginally useless, still had a job to do. I also got called out at one point for not being PRECISE about the trot fence (he had us canter around to a mound, trot at the top of the mound, and jump a rolltop at the bottom of the mound). I did not jump it dead center, and it didn’t go unnoticed.

He also had us walk down and up banks, which I confess to hating. It went fine, and his reasons are very valid, I just personally don’t like doing it. Good for me to have to, though, I suppose.

right before I got dinged for a shitty turn

A lot of the carryover was the same as the day before. The left bend in particular, keeping my eyes ahead to the next thing, etc. Presto, to his credit, was really quite good for all of it. I kept expecting some naughtiness and there just wasn’t any to be found. Tom probably thought I was crazy.

Presto’s shining moment was when we went to the crater in the back corner of the field that had a wide ditch in the bottom of it, where Tom set up a coffin. We jumped a brush rail on a steep angle, then came around and had a showjump vertical coming down into the crater, 2 or 3 strides to the wide ditch at the bottom, and then it walked more like 3.5 strides to a skinny Jump4Joy shoulder brush. It rode a little rough for the people that went ahead of me, so I was just like well… I’m gonna keep my eyes up (because I was probably almost as tired of hearing it as Tom was of saying it) and keep my leg on and let Presto figure it out.

And ya know what, he was clever as hell. He popped down into the crater, over the ditch, did 3 strides up the slope and popped in a little one before the shoulder brush to make the distance work better on the way out. I wasn’t sure if Tom would hate that we essentially did 3.5 strides, but he said that was actually the perfect ride and he wouldn’t have done anything different. He said that he doesn’t like to chase horses out of things like that, they end up flat and that’s when you have a runout, but also pulling isn’t helpful up a slope. It’s best to just sit in balance, keep your eye up and your leg on, and let the horse pop out. Makes a lot of sense honestly, and he was right, Presto was perfectly happy with that ride. A good reminder that eventing isn’t about being perfect, and getting hung up on that kind of stuff can sometimes be a detriment.

perfect Pasta

We ended with the water, which Presto trotted through the first time as if he’s never done it before in his life. Feet to his belly. Tom was like he’s a little funny about the water huh… I said the word is “precious”. He’s precious about the water. Always has been. Probably always will be. He goes in, but he’s dramatic about it touching him. Presto was really good through the questions there though, including a mound out of the water with another Jump4Joy shoulder brush on top.

All in all it was a great few days of learning and Presto was actually on his best behavior for all of it. For my first clinic in 9 years and his first clinic ever, it was a good experience! We came home with some helpful takeaways, and all of what Tom said compliments our normal program really well. I’m always kind of worried that I’ll end up with conflicting instructions or advice in those situations, but no problems with that here. And even better, my foot didn’t really give me too much trouble, all things considered (granted, a week later I’m still hobbling around on it and it’s still swollen and bruised, which is really annoying). The clinic was definitely worth it!

It just feels wrong…

I have a post that’s been sitting half-completed in my draft folder since last week. Presto and I did a clinic with Tom McEwen, and it was fun, and I’d already made it about halfway through writing up my recap.

And then Saturday morning rolled around, and I watched a man get murdered in the streets of Minneapolis by the government, right there on my phone. Two weeks after, on the same phone, I watched a woman also get murdered on the streets of Minneapolis by the government. For the past year we’ve watched increasing violence, racism, misogyny, and blatant disregard of the law. Not to mention the propaganda and gaslighting.

We are 27 days into 2026 and ICE is already responsible for the deaths of 9 people. I’m struggling to wrap my head around that, and especially struggling to wrap my head around how to just… continue carrying on with the rest of my life, as if nothing is on fire. As if we aren’t currently living through the most dangerous moment of my lifetime. It doesn’t feel right to move along as if none of it is happening. To not at least acknowledge how absolutely insane and dangerous and heartbreaking this all is. How it absolutely DOES and WILL affect the horse industry and every single one of us… everything is connected.

just so we’re clear

On the other hand, I know that demoralization, stagnation, and fear are the goals of this regime. A populace that has no joy left is easily cowed. While it doesn’t feel right to just carry on as usual, it also doesn’t feel right to go dark and silent. There’s a constant push and pull. The horses are helping me cope with all this, and reading everyone’s updates helps to balance out everything else. I have to assume it’s the same for many of you, as well?

I don’t really have an eloquent, poetic message here. I wish I did. What I can offer is acknowledgement and solidarity. I know many of you are feeling the same way I am, and it’s just an absolutely surreal way to be moving through day to day life. I’m sad. I’m pissed off. I’m scared for our country and its citizens. But I still have horses to ride and care for, and work to do. I don’t know the right way to balance all of that alongside my online presence.

If anyone needs a safe space to talk or vent, my PM’s are always open. If you know someone who needs help, I’m happy to assist with that however I can, too.

In the meantime, I felt like it was important to at least put this out there and say that for me, this is NOT business as usual and I don’t want it to appear like it is. I’m struggling to make odds or ends of it. Struggling to know what the right way forward is, as far as content. As someone with a platform, I feel an obligation to say something, but I really have no idea the right way to handle all of this together. This is my first dystopian hellscape experience, please bear with me while I find my way through it.

And so it begins again

Ready or not, winter season has officially started in Ocala. All the snowbirds are trickling in, the circuit shows have kicked off, and suddenly the calendar is full to bursting. Depending on how you feel about all that, it’s either annoying or exciting.

honestly the highlight for me is the return of my favorite acai bowl dealer at HITS

It also means a return of the Great Seasonal Side Hustle for me, because we definitely do like extra money. Last year I mostly worked at HITS, which is my preference between the two major h/j facilities here. The vibes are better, the parking is close and easy, and the vendor area is near a couple food options. As a vendor, those are selling points. This year, however, the store is doing something a little different. We have 3 locations in Ocala – a really nice cabin at WEC over by the hunter rings with all the latest and greatest, a clearance trailer at WEC up by the vendor village with literally everything inside 15-50% off, as well as a trailer at HITS. Since my hours of availability are the least predictable and consistent, I’m in the clearance trailer at WEC this year. Which, let’s be real, is probably the best place for me anyway. Who loves a good deal more than me? Literally no one.

The downsides are that parking at WEC is a literal nightmare and there’s nowhere for me to get food anywhere nearby. Also, the WiFi blows (to be fair it also blows at HITS… and in this entire town, really…). The clearance trailer is kind of fun though, since discounting stuff always makes people happy. Also, one of our customers has the cutest corgi puppy. Bonus.

obsessed

This is also the time of year where everyone starts to come visit, so it seems like friends are always trickling through, and I have a couple business meetings set up next month with people I’ve only ever talked to on the phone or through Zoom.

Things are also back in full swing with riding, too. I started up lessons again this week, and I’ve got a clinic and a show on the calendar for this month. I’m trying very hard not to think about the fact that we’re less than two months from foaling season… the first mare hits 320 days in mid-February and after that they’re pretty much all just bambambam one after the other through mid-May. We’ve got 9 expected foals this year, which sounds relatively terrifying because 6 felt like a lot last year.

a local store was clearing out all their Ulcergard so I stocked up… the question is should I use on me or the horses?

I guess I should do a post on what all foals we’re expecting, in case anyone is thinking about adding a cute little baby horse family member to their herd this year. You know you want one. We all want one right? Of course we do. Baby horses are fun (mostly).

The OG Baby Horse

Anyway, on to more fun things. Bingy boy and Presto have both been in regular work, gearing up for the season. Presto got a bit of a chill time/mini hack vacay around Christmas and New Years since I knew we’d be hitting the ground running in January. Bingo has mostly just been chipping away at the basics. Like learning to go straight, the beginning of lateral work, transitions and half halts, etc. He’s pretty clever, and gets better ride over ride.

Bingy ❤

He’s naturally pretty well-balanced but was very crooked when we started and, like most racehorses, is a bit stuck in the base of his neck and wants to do everything with this weight down in his shoulders. That’s the way they run, after all. He is a very big and long horse so it’ll take him some time to build up the muscle and ability to truly carry himself from behind, but he’s starting to understand what I’m asking and shows glimmers of it now and then. He’s naturally quite well balanced and definitely has the ability to be uphill, so I think as soon as we get the “shoulders up” concept and muscling established, he’s gonna be fancy on the flat. I haven’t really done much jumping at home aside from trotting and cantering cavaletti… I’m alone most of the time and it’s difficult to start one over fences without a ground person to set things and pick up rails, so I’ve been holding off on much of that.

As of this week we’re back in our regular lesson schedule. Presto had a jump lesson on Monday, which was rusty at best.

first Pastrami the Pig sighting of 2026

I haven’t jumped a course on him since mid-November, aside from XC schooling, so I was honestly expecting him to be a little wild and wooly. Presto was the opposite. A little TOO quiet, and behind my leg. We finished up better than we started, but we’ve got another lesson scheduled for today to try to polish that back up a bit more. My trainer is hosting a Tom McEwen clinic next week and I signed up for a private dressage lesson plus both the SJ day and the XC day, so Presto will be busy. Hopefully we’re back in sync by then.

As for Bingo, he had his first training ride on Tuesday, which was very exciting. I’m maybe like 5 weeks into actual retraining with him, and the past two weeks are the first ones where he’s done more “working” than hacking. He’s still pretty brand new to all of this, but I really wanted my trainer to sit on him because 1) she’s a much better rider than I am, and can help him understand things more clearly 2) obvi I wanted to see what she thought of him.

hey there cute kid

He loaded and traveled great, and while he was definitely wide-eyed and interested at all the activity (their place always has a lot happening, it’s overstimulating to the max compared to our very quiet life here at our home farm) he was reasonably behaved. Trainer did some groundwork with him, which he was mostly good for but tried a couple times to bolt and exit the arena, so she went absolutely skiing. He eventually gave up and focused and decided that maybe he could circle her politely after all.

She got on him for maybe 10 minutes at the end and he was foot-perfect for that. He trotted and cantered and did his transitions and was straight and relaxed. A+ for sure. She said he felt really straight and even, and especially liked his canter. We’re on the same page there.

not bad considering how weak he is at this stage

After she was done I untacked him and grazed him by the ring for a while so he could take in more of the activity, and by that point he was very settled. He loaded back up like a champ and ta-da, first training ride in the books. I think the goal will be one a week, and then we’ll kinda see how things go week by week from there. The first one was kind of a “let’s see where we’re at” so we can make a plan for him going forward. The big thing at this point is obviously just strength. All of what we’re asking is brand new to him.

Patreon folks, you have video of him on your dashboard, and I’ll try to get some video up from every training ride so you can see the progression. Sometimes I set up my Pivo at home to get some footage of me riding him too… the goal is to document his journey pretty clearly from the start, so hopefully the change will be fun to watch over time!

maybe someday he’ll have a booty like Presto’s dappley variety

One other fun happening that I’m finally able to announce publicly – I was invited to join, and elected to the Retired Racehorse Project Board of Directors. They have some really interesting ideas as far as breeding, registration, databases, pedigree tracking, etc so I was approached due to my history with those things. I’m very honored to have been asked and looking forward to seeing what we can do over my two year term!

Bingo Progress Report: 8 weeks in

Time is FLYING, it feels hard to believe that it’s already been almost two months since Bingo got to Florida!

He arrived on November 11th, and his transition from race mode to sport mode has been, knock on wood, relatively uncomplicated so far. New shoes, ulcer treatment, 24/7 turnout with 24/7 forage, massage, magnawave, chiropractic adjustment, daily stretches, and learning how to move and carry his body differently… he’s already started to morph into a new animal.

Here are pics from November 4, his retirement day:

And these pictures are from December 20th, so 6 weeks off the track and 5 weeks in Florida.

I think it’s safe to say that the off-track life definitely suits him!

He still needs another 50-100lbs of weight and has PLENTY more frame to fill out with muscle, so I can’t wait to see how he keeps developing. He’s going to be massive when all is said and done, I think. He’s just turning 6 at the end of March so there’s still a bit more development to come, in every regard (he really doesn’t need to get taller tho please… he’s tall enough…).

I’m also pleased with how he’s coming along under saddle so far. The first couple weeks were a mess of tangled limbs, body parts going different directions, and tripping all over himself and everything in his path. He’s gotten better week over week, and is starting to feel a) stronger b) straighter c) like he’s beginning to have the slightest little inklings to push and carry (listen, the moments are fleeting, but they do happen).

We’ve got a very long way to go, of course, but considering that half of his rides are just walk hacks, I think he’s starting to put things together pretty well.

On Christmas Bingo went on his first off-property adventure, just a quiet hack around a local XC venue, and he was a little superstar. It took him a few minutes to believe he could walk in the water and not drown, but once he was in he seemed to have fun.

I’m hoping I can get him to a lesson or training ride this month to keep the progress rolling!

2025

I’m a bit stumped at how to even begin to write a 2025 wrap up post, or what to say. For I while I decided I just wouldn’t say anything at all, and intended to let the end of the year pass without fanfare. Ultimately, though, that didn’t feel right either. Y’all know by now that I’m not a woman of few words (how many times do you think my editors have asked me to shorten something?).

I turned 42 years old this year – my favorite number. The nerds among us that have read or seen The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (if you haven’t I will pause here to insist you go culture yourself immediately) will recognize the number 42. In the story, people build a supercomputer called Deep Thought, and ask it to figure out the meaning of life, the universe, and everything in it (side note, this book is from 1979 but that sure is sounding reminiscent of how so many people use modern day AI, is it not?). After 7.5 million years of computing, Deep Thought spits out the answer to the ultimate question: 42. The significance or lack thereof when it comes to the number 42 is never explained in the story, and people have been debating it ever since.

Personally I’ve always found that answer to be amusing, and deeply satisfying. It embodies the idea that the meaning of life is whatever you want it to be… it’s what you make it. It certainly isn’t for someone or something else to figure out for you. In April I had the number 42 tattooed on the back of my leg, and I dunno how to explain it, but I just had a sense that this year would be one of clarity for me. (am I getting more woo woo with age? Perhaps. Please do not ask questions about my Tiger’s Eye necklace, it’ll make me seem even more like a feral bog witch than I already do)

In every way, that feels like exactly what happened. I learned A LOT this year. About myself, about the world we live in, about the systems we’re part of (for better or worse), about my role in it, and about what really “fills my cup”, so to speak. Authenticity has always been incredibly important to me, and although I tend to keep my cards pretty close to my chest (my close friends really deserve awards for persevering enough to actually get to know me), I do feel like I’ve become more and more authentically myself as I’ve gotten older. I used to fear aging, and now I find myself embracing it. The bullshit really does start to fade away over time.

But the process of that – it’s not always great. It’s uncomfortable. I could probably try to throw some kind of motivational quote at you about how everything you want is just on the other side of discomfort or blah blah blah. Don’t worry, I won’t do that to you because it would irritate the shit out of me, too. The truth is that some changes – the ones that aren’t really physically SEEN – almost feel more like a reckoning. They shake you to your core. For me, someone who has a very hard time being vulnerable and is slow to understand/process my own feelings… this year has seen some hard days. I’ve spent a lot of time questioning literally everything.

This year I saw things in our federal government, local and online communities, and equestrian governing bodies that I cannot unsee or dismiss. I simultaneously feel like I know too much but not enough. 2025 was one of those that said “do we take the easy way out and just give up, or do we stand up and fight in whatever ways we can?”. I choose the latter.

I’ve done a lot this year to cultivate my life to reflect what I want to see, hear, and embody. I unfollowed social media accounts that don’t align with my values. I stopped shopping at some stores and websites. I cancelled A LOT of accounts with businesses that were using my money in ways I don’t agree with. I started actively searching out companies and people that feel true to ME and what I stand for. It’s easy to feel like you’re just one person and one person doesn’t make a difference, but MANY people sure do, and you can’t get many unless you start with one.

In all the ways that 2025 sometimes felt like living in a house on fire, there were still plenty of highlights for the reel.

  • My second-gen homebred that very nearly didn’t make it past the first two weeks of his life moved up to Preliminary, and did the 1.20m jumpers at WEC. And while of course those things are fun little checkboxes to tick, really I learned just how much I love this horse, even when he sometimes makes it difficult to do so. He brings joy to my life every single day, and that’s the part you can’t capture in a social media highlight reel.
  • I figured out that truly, I like the process of learning more than I like competing. I’ve always had an on again/off again relationship with competition, but this year was the first time since I was a kid that I was actually able to be in a consistent lesson and training program all year long. Honestly, that’s the part that keeps me going. For me it’s just FUN to learn, and to see my horses get better. Competing is fun too, and definitely has it’s place in my world and probably always will, but it’s not what fuels or fulfills me.
  • I got to see my top 4 FAVORITE bands/artists in concert (Bad Omens, Sleep Token, Billie Eilish, and Motionless in White), and share the experience with some of my bestest friends. Music is incredibly important to me, so this was big. I dunno if it’s the neurodivergence, but music and lyrics have always helped me understand myself and connect to people, especially the music of those particular artists.
  • My business has taken off such that, for the first time since I started, I’m currently not taking on new clients for 2026.
  • I found that when I started to shut the door on things that don’t align with who I am, other opportunities found me. Potentially big ones, and ones that give me a feeling of ongoing purpose. I’m understanding more and more just how precious TIME is, and I want to spend it wisely and meaningfully. There’s so much potential for big and purposeful change in our industry, and these could be opportunities for me to take some of that disillusionment I’ve felt this year and turn it into something positive. (We love being a do-er and not just a complainer, amiright?)

But most importantly of all, when I think back on the moments that added the most value to my life this year, it really wasn’t the accomplishments or the achievements on the highlight reel. It was the moments that held a lot of deeper meaning. Like the moment the curtain dropped at the Sleep Token concert (that my crazy ass flew to SEATTLE for) and simultaneously my friend belted out a series of squawks that could only be described as cockatoo-esque. Or the time when the maiden mare didn’t lay down during labor and it took three of us to get that slippery gooey dolphin of a foal safely into the world (a truer and slimier bonding experience does not exist, lemme tell ya). Or hacking around the farm after a particularly challenging horse show and realizing that this – getting to ride horses that I love, live in a place that I find to be incredibly beautiful, do life with people that add meaning to it, and admittedly sometimes participate in some exceptionally weird shit – those are the things that make up my 42.

For that, 2025, I thank you.