This week on The Mounting Block, it’s been A LOT. Oriel rides solo in her lesson (and misses Marissa terribly), we fall head-first into the absolute minefield that is horse float shopping (kitchens? tack boxes? air-con for the horses?!), and Oriel shares the story of copping a full-face head-butt from Hickatee and ending up at the doctor before the school Christmas concert.

Then we’re joined by the incredible Gemma Manning – entrepreneur, author of About This Girl, single mum and all-round powerhouse. Gemma takes us from growing up on a fish farm in Cairns, to being pushed out of corporate life after having a baby, to building an international business across Australia and Asia entirely off her own back. We talk about misogyny that still shows up in boardrooms, raising strong daughters, being perimenopausal and exhausted but still showing up, and why women in their 40s and 50s are more powerful and needed more than ever.

If you’ve ever felt unseen at work, wondered how to keep going when everything feels “too hard”, or you’re juggling horses, kids, ageing parents and a changing body, this one will hit you right in the heart.