Finding the Missed Path: The Art of Restarting Horses

by Mark Rashid

Overview

“Horses are a lot like people,” says renowned horseman Mark Rashid. “When there are gaps in understanding, confusion, and thus frustration, worry, and even anger are sure to follow.”

Horses often grow up with these “gaps” in their training and education. When this happens, it can be difficult for the horse to be a willing partner to a human, and he may need to be “restarted”—that is, given a second chance to learn what is expected of him and how he can find a place where he is confident and comfortable both beside a handler and beneath a rider.

In order to restart a horse successfully, we need to know how to retrace the steps the horse’s education has taken and find the path missed the first time around. In this book, the first of the expansive library of books penned by Rashid to include full-color photographs, readers are guided through practical steps for restarting horses, using Rashid’s simple yet impactful concepts derived from years of study of martial arts. We walk along with him as he proceeds with the quiet sorting of experience that provides the insight we need to give any horse the new beginning he deserves.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781570768415
Publisher:	Trafalgar Square
Publication date:	02/13/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	200
Sales rank:	260,902
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Mark Rashid (pronounced RASH-id) is an internationally acclaimed horse trainer known for his ability to understand the horse’s point of view and solve difficult problems with communication rather than force. He began working with horses at age ten, when he met the “old man” who taught him to work with horses, not against them, and to listen to what the horse is trying to say. Rashid then studied the martial arts as a way to improve his horsemanship, and he has now earned a second degree black belt in Yoshinkan aikido and teaches the “way of harmony” in the local dojo. Rashid has been a guest on NPR and was featured on the Nature series. He is the author of many bestselling books, including Journey to Softness and Out of the Wild, a novel that is now a major motion picture. Rashid’s clinics are immensely popular around the world. He lives in Estes Park, Colorado.

Table of Contents

Preface v

1 The Starting Point 1

2 The Cause 17

3 Tunnel Vision 39

4 Catching 53

5 Respect 77

6 Filling Our Own Shoes 83

7 The Beginning 97

8 Meeting Lily 111

9 Dash 127

10 Herd Dynamics 149

11 Lily's New Start 157

Index 189

Editorial Reviews

“This is a unique book filled with anecdotes of horses Rashid has worked with and helped, one that the astute horseman can delve into over and over again and learn so much about horses and how to improve our relationship with them. This book should be compulsory reading for anyone who works with, or rides horses.” Horse & Pony Magazine (UK), April 2017

In his newest book, Finding the Missed Path, Rashid explores how to retrace the steps in a horse's education in order to find the “gaps” in his training or understanding. —HorseNetwork.com, May 2017

“Horse are a lot like people,” says renowned horseman Mark Rashid. “When there are gaps in understanding, then confusion and thus frustration, worry and even anger are sure to follow”.

Horses often grow up with these gaps in their training. When this happens, it can be difficult for the horse to be a willing partner to a human, and he may need to be “restarted” — that is, given a second chance to learn what is expected of him and how he can become confident and comfortable both beside a handler and beneath a rider.

This book, enlivened with dozens of anecdotes and color photographs, describes how to retrace the steps of the horse's education and find the path missed the first time around.

Rashid (pronounced RASH-id), who lives in Estes Park, CO, began working with horses, not against them, at the age of 10. He then studied the martial arts as a way to improve his horsemenship and has now earned a second-degree black belt in Yoshinkan aikido and teaches “the way of harmony” in the local dojo. He is the author of best-selling books, including Journey to Softness and Out of the Wild, now a major motion picture, and he conducts popular clinics around the world.

Whether a horse is off-the-track or “perfectly” trained, sometimes steps are missed in the training process. Mark Rashid discusses how a rider can hit the rewind button to fill in these gaps successfully in Finding The Missed Path. Rashid's real-life stories and steps for restarting horses, accompanied by color photos for easy understanding, make this book surprisingly relatable. In the end, you'll have a newfound desire to examine your horse's training and maybe take a few steps back to build a stronger foundation for your horse–rider relationship. Bottom line: Read this book and you may find that your horse needs some more training with “the basics.” —Equine Journal

From the Publisher