Country Life Diary
By Josh Pons
I have just started re-reading my personally signed copy of Country Life Diary, a day-by-day account of three years in the life of a family-run Thoroughbred stud in Maryland, USA. Although over 30 years have passed since Josh Pons wrote the first chapter of a diary that was published every month for three straight years, the daily happenings of a working Thoroughbred farm are still the same every day around the world.
The arrival and prospect of making a new stallion, covering the first mare of the season and later the foaling process, bringing into the world the latest crop of prospective Triple Crown winners, describes the yearly natural cycle of an industry which has ebbed and flowed throughout the years.
Rather than try to find words beyond my mortal comprehension, let me quote the eloquent words of the late, great writer Joe Hirsch, who wrote, “Like Herriot, Pons sees more than the trees. He sees the forest, has the ability to capture the spirit as well as the letter of life in a bucolic setting, and has the grace of a true storyteller. The Diary is delightful, informative, amusing, touching, sensitive, perceptive.”
The book outlines the constant battle with retaining good staff, finding new investors to replace those who have given up the chase, trying to get that last broodmare in foal before the end of the season and battling the encroaching commercial development are all themes that still resonate today. A truly great read by a third-generation horseman whose family has been a part of Maryland racing and breeding for over 100 years and whose eloquence with words accorded him an Eclipse award in 1981.
Josh Pons later wrote Merryland, Two Years in the Life of a Racing Stable. Josh and Mike Pons purchased the famed racing nursery Merryland in 2001 and this book is a two-year trip down memory lane of the ins and outs of producing the young horses who will fill the racetracks around the country. I will also be re-reading this edition once I have taken in all the Country Life Diary can offer.
I met Josh Pons in 2011 after emailing him out of the blue to say that I, a New Zealander with a lifelong career in the Thoroughbred industry and a lifelong interest in the American Thoroughbred, was visiting the eastern part of his country and could I call in to see the stall where the champion Cigar was born. Not only did Josh welcome my wife Jo and me to Country Life, he put us up in the wonderfully historic Merryland House for a couple of nights and fed and watered us as well, including some of the famed Maryland crab. A true gentleman from a family that epitomises what is great about our industry.
In these challenging times, I can only hope our borders open up soon so that I can again visit Country Life and enjoy the hospitality of the Pons family. Until that time I am truly enjoying revisiting a great read.
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