A Life with Horses: Spirit of the Work [Paperback]

Mark Rashid (Author), Kathleen Lindley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2007

In this beautiful full-color book, popular authors Mark Rashid and Kathleen Lindley team up to provide the reader with an intimate look into a world of horses and horsemanship clinics that few people get to see close up. Lindley's vibrant photographs, accompanied by descriptive text by both authors, chronicle the spirit of their life's work. In covering subjects such as a young wild Mustang's initial handling, softness, friendship, and hands that employ the tools of the trade, this book offers the reader an unflinching and compassionate pictorial account of a life with horses.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mark Rashid is an internationally acclaimed horse trainer known for his ability to understand the horse's point of view, and to solve difficult problems with communication rather than force. Mark's clinics center on one-on-one work with horse and rider and are immensely popular with people around the world. Rashid is the author of six previous books. He lives in Estes Park.

Kathleen Lindley got her first camera at age 14--about the same time she got her first horse. Upon graduation from high school, she professionally trained hunter/jumper show horses. Her photography has appeared in popular equine magazines in the UK and in several books.

Kathleen became one of Mark's students in 1995 and they continued to work together until 2005, when she became his full-time assistant. Together, the pair has traveled over 100,000 miles in three different countries giving clinics and helping people with their horses. Today, Mark and Kathleen both have busy individual clinic schedules, and also enjoy working together whenever they can.

Product Details

• Paperback: 185 pages
• Publisher: Johnson Books (November 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555664075
• ISBN-13: 978-1555664077
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 11 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #245,672 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #75 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Animals > Horses

More About the Author

Trainer and clinician Mark Rashid has been a guest on NPR's The Horse Show and was featured on the PBS Nature series. He is the author of seven books, including A Good Horse is Never a Bad Color and Life Lessons from a Ranch Horse.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful book!!, June 27, 2008

By 

Lisa A. Flynn "Lisa Flynn" (Cottageville, SC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Life with Horses: Spirit of the Work (Paperback)

I recieved this book yesterday, and I have not been able to put it down yet. I find myself reading through the pages and then flipping back and forth to view these amazing pictures again and again. Mark and Kathleen are masters at the work and I am hoping that I will one day be able to participate in one of these clinics. I have always felt like they do about the gentleness of training and building a trusted relationship with my horse, and when I read one of Mark's books for the first time last year, I was hooked. I have read them all... What a treasure this book is.. It is now my offical "coffee table" book...

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Totally Mark Rashid!, November 2, 2009

By 

Joanne M. Friedman "Schoolmarm" (Newton, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Life with Horses: Spirit of the Work (Paperback)

You don't have to be a Rashid fan to enjoy this book, though you're likely to read some of his work after you've finished it. Kathleen Lindley does a bang-up job of chronicling a year on the road with Rashid and her own training and clinician experiences. There is a great deal to learn about horses, and this book offers some wonderful insights into why certain methods are more successful than others. Pair any of Rashid's works with something by Temple Grandin, and you've got a top-notch animal behavior and training course at your fingertips.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not what I expected, November 17, 2010

By 

Horse Lover (PA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Life with Horses: Spirit of the Work (Paperback)

I am a big fan of Mark Rashid. I love his laid-back style and the way he tells a story. He is humble and modest and always seems willing to learn new ideas. I was excited to read this book. I couldn't wait to see photos to go along with the wonderful stories he has to tell. I was disappointed. The photos, while artistic, I guess, had little meaning for me. Of all the places Mark has been, the people he must have met and the horses he must have interacted with, the last thing I was expecting to see was a close-up of a body brush or the tooling on his saddle. The photos and accompanying descriptions made Mark sound full of himself. I think the photos have a "you had to be there" kind of quality. They weren't nearly as meaningful as the authors made them out to be. As I said, I am a big fan of Mark's. Buy his other books, but take this one out of the library.