Can a Horse be “Restarted”?

“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 FINDING THE MISSED PATH, published by Trafalgar Square Books (www.horseandriderbooks.com), 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.

Mark Rashid is an internationally acclaimed horse trainer known for his ability to understand the horse’s point of view. He began working with horses at age ten, when he met the “old man” who taught him to work with horses, not against them. 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 a 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.