Dressage Unscrambled

A dressage book that references Michael Jordan, ocean liners, magnetic bottles, juke boxes, cannibalism, crop circles, Babe the Blue Ox, Mitt Romney, Dilbert, Barbra Streisand's brother, green Jello, and a further cast of thousands—it's Dressage Unscrambled! Author Bill Woods has put together dozens of stories and anecdotes that elucidate, illustrate, and demystify hoary dressage principles while managing to skewer the sacred bovines—both two- and four-legged—of our sport. Read his slightly off-center takes on perennially burdensome topics like attention, self carriage, and connection. Mix in the hits and near misses of insight that a lifetime of teaching brings. Add in 40 years of weirdness gleaned from scribes, riders, teachers, and unindicted dressage co-conspirators, and you get a book that will bring a pile of smiles, a bucket of chuckles, an occasional spasmodic episode, and more than a few "I never thought of that—I'll have to go try that!" moments.