acknowledgments

Thanks Mom and Dad. Your love and support have made everything possible. On our journey through life, the right teachers appear when the student is ready. Each experience leads concretely to the next steps one needs to take.

Thank you, Mark Rashid, Wendy Murdoch, and Andrew Blevins, for being my teachers. Your ideas, integrity, lifelong learning, and gifts for teaching have greatly influenced this book, my horsemanship, and my life.

Mark, thanks for sharing your way of working with horses that transcends horses and applies to all of life. You’ve helped me see that the knowledge in my head isn’t much good until it’s part of my soul and that so many wonderful things happen when I bring all of me to my life. I’m a better person because of you. And eternal thanks for introducing me to Aikido.

Wendy, thanks for sharing your brilliant and passionate understanding of human and equine biomechanics. You’re helping me and other riders see how everything is possible with the right connections, physical and mental. Thanks for helping me open the door to find presence.

Blevins Sensei, thank you for sharing your talent, time, and passion in your teaching of Aikido and for being a role model in so many ways. Practicing Aikido under your guidance has blessed me and changed my life in more ways than I ever could have imagined.

Deep thanks to Crissi McDonald for your friendship and support and for showing me that stature doesn’t matter in working with horses when everything comes from softness; Kathleen Lindley, for your friendship and your insights into so many things; Shannon Brown, for being there in some critical times and sharing your beautiful connection with horses; Wendy Rashid, for all your help over the years; Cherry Hill and Richard Klimesh, for giving me a start and sharing your wisdom; Carole Williams, for being the best mentor ever; Dr. David Siemens, for your perceptive approach to equine anatomy and chiropractic; David Genadek for your ground-breaking ideas in saddle design; the amazing current and past teams at Horse Illustrated—Liz Moyer, Holly Werner, Kimberly Abbott, Moira C. Reeve, Karen Keb, and Toni McAllister—for the opportunities and your valuable suggestions over the years; and everyone at I-5 Press who made this a better book.

And thanks to Richard Bangs, Essie Becker, Frances Carbonnel, Peggy Cummings, the Douglas County Writer’s Group, Eddie, Joanne Hartmeister, Patricia Hendricks Sensei, Kei and Mariquita Izawa Sensei, John, Sue Littlefield, Mary Mueller, Eva Murphy, Katie Reid, Marion Schneider, James Shaw, Surino, Tasy, Linda Tellington-Jones, Sheila Varian, Suzi Zielinski, and Les-san and John-san and the wonderful students at Kiryu Aikido.

You’ve all been teachers, role models, guides, and companions on this journey called life. Thanks for sharing this path. I can’t wait to see what lies ahead.