Dressage With Mind, Body & Soul—A 21st-Century Approach to the Science and Spirituality of Riding and Horse-and-Rider Well-Being

Dressage has long been a means to accessing the greatest partnership on earth: that of human and horse. But today it is challenged and changed by the critique of both the competitive arena and the online global community. Riders and trainers are motivated for different reasons and exposed to new and powerful pressures. Technology urges us into a world of instant gratification and nurtures a faster-is-better mentality—and this is the round hole into which the square peg of dressage struggles to fit.

Linda Tellington-Jones has worked with top dressage competitors and horses from all over the world during the course of her amazing career, which now spans more than 40 years. Through the Tellington Method, Linda has provided tools riders and trainers can use to better a horse’s attention span and ability to learn; surmount behavioral and training challenges; improve flexibility, balance, and way-of-going; and recover from injury or illness.

In the pages of this very unique book, Linda combines her understanding of horses, her world famous TTouch bodywork, her proven groundwork techniques, and her innovative methods under saddle with exciting ideas specifically for the dressage rider and trainer. Her intriguing ways of looking at the Classical Training Scale, her tips for harnessing the power of intent, and the guiding principles in her Circle of Well-Being provide desperately needed keys to keeping dressage horses happy, healthy, and performing their best.

To demonstrate how the Tellington Method can be practically applied to the dressage horse, Linda shares more than 20 problem-solving stories, featuring the world-class riders, trainers, and horses with whom she has worked. In addition, she includes techniques to help riders improve their ability to focus, cultivate habits of observation and patience, and practice the arts of understanding and thankfulness with both their horse and other human beings.
Linda’s methods hold the promise of a new generation of dressage horses who love their work, thrive in it, and demonstrate soundness of mind and body. She dares to innovate while adhering to what time has tested and proven successful. Dressage with Mind, Body & Soul bears a message of true horsemanship certain to resonate, whatever level you ride and whatever language you speak, wherever you are in the equestrian world.

Linda Tellington-Jones is the internationally recognized equine expert who developed the Tellington Method approach to healing, training, and communicating that can be learned and practiced by horsemen and women of all levels. She was honored as the 1994 Horsewoman of the Year by the North American Horsemen's Association and presented with the ARICP Lifetime Achievement Award, given annually to a person who profoundly affects the equine world in a positive manner. Linda has worked with many top dressage riders from around the world over the course of her career, including Klaus Balkenhol and his daughter Anabel; Ingrid Klimke and her father, the late Dr. Reiner Klimke; Carl Hester; Nicole Uphoff; Kyra Kyrklund; Robert Dover; and Charlotte Bredahl-Baker, to name just a few. Linda is the author of numerous books and DVD programs, including the bestselling The Ultimate Horse Behavior and Training Book and TTouch for Dressage with Klaus Balkenhol and Nicole Uphoff, and she routinely travels worldwide teaching her methods. When not on the road, she lives in Hawaii. Rebecca M. Didier is an editor and author, and a writer, blogger, and graphic designer, as well as a lifelong horsewoman. Rebecca has worked at Trafalgar Square Books, the leading publisher of equestrian books and DVDs, since 2002, and has also recently explored the joys of freelance writing and graphic design with her business Rude Girl Ink & Design. Rebecca lives in the Boston area with her husband, son, and Redbone Coonhound.