Hazel had been scared of horses all her life, and an earlier attempt to overcome her fear had ended in failure. She was still overcoming fear in other areas, travelling around the world with her job, reporting on areas recovering from war, famine, disease and catastrophe. And eventually she took up riding again - only to face bigger fears, when illness struck her. Even worse, her father's dementia grew so bad that her mother had a heart attack and Hazel had to put her father into a home. As poor health threatened to derail her career, and family tragedy looked likely to break her heart, she was loaned a big old horse called Duke. He stood far taller than her at every point, and she was afraid. Yet somehow, as she rode him through the Hampshire countryside, she found solace and healing. Gra...

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 develping 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 ...

Carl Hester is one of the greatest ever equestrians, leading Great Britain to Gold Medal victory at the London 2012 Olympics. In these vibrant memoirs, he tells the incredible story of the passion for horse-riding which revolutionised his life and made him the champion he is today. Carl grew up on the remote Channel Island of Sark, moving to the UK mainland at the age of 16 to work with horses, mainly as a way to leave home. He could never have predicted what a great affinity he would have for dressage. Carl's career enjoyed a stratospheric rise as he progressed from working as a groom/rider to riding international dressage horses full time for renowned owners Dr and Mrs Bechtolsheimer, to training his own horses, and other top riders, to international success. Carl's early career revealed...