Merryland : Two Years in the Life of a Racing Stable

Third-generation Maryland horseman Josh Pons chronicles the daily adventures, challenges, thrills, and sometimes sadness facing his family's small training stable of Thoroughbred racehorses. Merryland combines the immediacy of the author's evocative diary entries with thoughts on horses, racing, America, families, and life amid the uncertainties and pressures wrought by encroaching development, casino gambling, and political ennui. Join Josh Pons as he introduces readers to the rhythmic cadence of life on a lovely little farm called Merryland in Hydes, Maryland.

Josh Pons won two Eclipse Awards for his journalism in BloodHorse magazine, presented for best stories of the year in the sport of Thoroughbred racing. He is the author of three books published by Eclipse Press: Country Life Diary: Three Years in the Life of a Maryland Horse Farm, which sold 10,000 copies, Merryland: Two Years in the Life of a Thoroughbred Training Farm, and Letters from Country Life: Adolphe Pons, Man o' War, and the Founding of Maryland's Oldest Thoroughbred Farm.

Pons joined BloodHorse upon graduation from the University of Virginia, where he majored in English. After three years as a journalist, he entered the University of Kentucky Law School, graduating in 1982, then returned to his family’s Country Life Farm.

Professionally, he served as president of the Maryland Horse Breeders Association for six years and is currently president of the foundation responsible for the Maryland Horse Library and Education Center. He and his wife, Ellen, live in Fallston, Maryland, on Country Life, the oldest Thoroughbred farm in the state, together with an extended Pons family of all ages.