Introduction

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For the past several years I have become increasingly aware of the inter-relatedness of many of the ideas and concepts I learned and discovered, even though they seemed at first to be remote in nature.  I saw these ideas through the facet of dressage, the classical training of horses, and as time passed I came to understand that the facet I had been given to know and learn was just one face of a diamond of incredible clarity.

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It seemed to me that each person is given a particular thing to know, and when that knowing is allowed to escape the bounds of conventional thought, then it is possible to see what is possible, the underlying trueness beyond a superficial reality.  As so because God gave me horses to know, this book is about the training of horses and riders.  I could not, with any authenticity, discuss architecture or international banking, say, although I am certain there are many who could and who may come to the same conclusion I have.

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But I will speak instead of what I know, of the necessity for the journey and the search for authenticity which led me to seek the ultimate reality.  I will discuss the purpose of horses in the rider’s life, the necessity of discarding the driving whip of the rider’s ego and the importance of choice and change.  Along the way this book will examine the relationship among horses, love, God, and outlaws.

Be assured from the beginning, I have made every mistake in discussed in this book.  But then, if you are about to ride the rapids of the Colorado River, you want to have with you an experienced tour guide…