Synopses & Reviews
Mark Rashid shares personal stories about events in his life that helped him on his journey to softness,as well as the stumbling blocks along the way. The narrative includes a section in which Mark passes on the experiences of other from a wide variety of walks of life and occupations, all sharing their views on how feel, connection and softness apply to their respective professions. Those interviewed for this special section include a musician who has written and performed several number one country music hits, a highly decorated helicopter pilot, a movie actor, a college professor, a master carpenter, an artist, and numerous others.
What the reader learns by example is how to develop feel, relaxation, connection, and softness in both horses and riders. The methods and techniques Mark demonstrated have been gleaned from decades of work with horses and horse people, as well as while he trained with world-class aikido masters and martial artists whose lives have been dedicated to developing softness and connection with a partner through feel.
Synopsis
Internationally acclaimed horse trainer Mark Rashid shares and analyzes the remarkable events, quiet moments, and humbling stumbling blocks that--looking back--he can identify as significant in his personal journey to finding "softness" with both horses and people. "Softness," via what many in the horse world today might refer to as "feel," begins, Rashid says, with one simple truth: "It's not about what we do that starts us on the path to softness, but rather, it's what we don't do." Softness is having the sensitivity we need in order to feel when and if the horse tries to "give."It is about developing the kind of awareness and feel it takes to know when we are working against our horses, rather than with them. In these forthright stories, readers get a glimpse of a life that has produced a man known for his ability to solve difficult problems with communication rather than force, as well as methods and techniques gleaned from decades of work with horses, horse people, and the "way of harmony" through the martial arts.