Riding Towards the Light Paul’s first and most-loved book. This is Paul Belasik’s honest and compelling account of his personal struggle to discover the ultimate truths of dressage riding.
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Paul’s first and most-loved book. Paul’s reflections on this book below. As a celebration we are offering a very limited amount of copies of Riding Towards the Light with a special inscription commemorating this occasion. Please contact us directly for ordering information: PM on Facebook, email PARidingAcademy@aol.com, or call 484-459-9811.
I remember going to London to the Dickensian offices in the famous building across from Hyde Park. The steep stairs, and being graciously escorted around by Caroline, and meeting Mr. J.A. Allen himself on the stairway, where Caroline introduced me as one of their new authors. I think Mr. Allen asked me if I was going to make them some money or something like that. They were “the” equestrian publishers and I was thrilled to be in their catalogue. No one could have predicted how the book business would change in the next years with the coming of the internet. People still remind me that Riding Towards the Light is one of their favorites. After many personal letters, I began to realize people had their personal relationship with that book, it took on a life of its own. If it could talk, I am sure I would have lots of questions for it.”
-Paul Belasik (2015)
This is Paul Belasik’s honest and compelling account of his personal struggle to discover the ultimate truths of dressage riding. His apprenticeship, as he calls it, lasted about thirteen years. It involved traversing thousands of miles. It entailed countless hours of rigorous practice. It meant researching through centuries of literature penned by the great riding masters of the past. It took in hours and hours of observation and lectures from latter-day masters, such as Henri Van Schaik and Nuno Oliveira. It even encompassed the study of Zen Buddhism and martial arts.
Riding Towards the Light provides more than an enthralling narrative. It discusses and offers practical information on important issues such as the use of the seat, hands and legs, balance, and the half-halt. As such it will be of tremendous value to riders, trainers and judges and therefore deserves a place in the library of every dressage enthusiast.
Praise
This is a gem and an immensely good read…as well as satisfying the mind this is also a practical book…
Horse and Hound | London
There are a number of very good books about this equine process, among them is Alois Podjasky’s book, My Horses, My Teachers; and another I like is Paul Belasik’s Riding Towards the Light.
Kathy Connelly
I realize with I like about Belasik, about his book, about his example. It is the integrity. He points us to our own responsibilities, our own choices with great joy and optimism.
Richard Weis | The Horse Magazine | Australia
All serious horsemen continually look for better methods…Here is a tale of an individual’s torturous journey to discover the best way to ride to let the horse be at his best.
Sylvia J. Wilson | Dressage & CT
…I feel, that the most significant contribution is the philosophical dimension which will give readers a fresh perspective…and a sense of fellowship…
Eric Herbermann
This is one of the best books I have ever read…As a dressage trainer and former judge. I have a great respect for this author.
The Late Chuck Grant
Horsemanship is essentially paradoxical…It is an introduction to the mysteries of BEING a kind of exploration of the Divine…Paul Belasik’s report of exploration is a great, great one.
Jean-Claude Racinet
…he proves that dressage is as mental a quest as it is a physical one. Rarely has a horseman revealed so much of himself as Belasik does in discussing his progress toward harmony with the horses by using everything from measuring the angles in the legs of the dressage greats pictured in books to eastern philosophy for coping in the ring.
Nancy Jeffer | New Jersey Sunday Star-Ledger
