Dark Horse [antikvár]

AUTHOR'S NOTEWelcome to my other world.In my hfe away from my desk, I am a competitive equestrian. In fact, I've been a rider longer than I've been a writer. Over the years horses have been my joy, refrige, therapy, salvation, and comfort. I've ridden in nearly every equestrian discipUne, from barrel racing to jumping. When I was thirteen and my girlfriends were baby-sitting to earn spending money, my father was bringing home young horses for me to break to saddle.Several years ago I setded on the equestrian sport of dressage as my out-of-ofrice passion. Dressage is aU about control and precision and the mastery of imperceptible cues between rider and horse. The ultimate result is something hke equine baUet, which appears elegant and efibrdess but requires the same physical and mental fitness as power yoga.I began competing in dressage in 1999. Being me, I didn't ease into the sport. I have one gear in everything I do: fiill-on. I bought a wonderfrilif difficulthorse named D'Artagnon from Olympic rider Guenter Seidel, and within a year's time went from my first dressage competition to being a nationally ranked amateur rider in the U.S. Dressage Federation. At the end of my first season, my coach, trainer, mentor, and great friend, Betsy Steiner (a world-class rider herself), encouraged