# Tom Dorrance



## deserthorsewoman (Sep 13, 2011)

Hi, and welcome to the forum 
I had the same problem when I first read it, quite some time ago. 
I found his brother, Bill, did a better job in explaining the hands- on part. Can't think of the title of the book, and don't have it here yet, I'm in the middle of moving, sorry, but maybe someone else can jump in here.
Another one would be Buck Brannaman, he worked with Tom, and is even more"practical" in applying these principles.


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## midnighthighway (Jun 6, 2011)

Just from another perspective. Another way of showing it hands on is through Bryan Neubert, Jim Neubert, and Joe Wolter. They did a video series called the First Week that puts the ideas to use. Good information.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

it's one of those books that make more and more sense, the more time you spend working with horses. personally, I am pretty thick headed and don't have the passion to learn all that is in those books. but, if a person takes on even a small portion of the ideas, it's a good thing.


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

Giving a horse space to think was a new concept to me. Often it just means backing away a few steps and turning your back to the horse. Women are inclined to want to pet and speak soothingly as tho to a toddler. I'm not sure horses like to be touched except for mutual grooming, as it goes against herd hierarchy. I've often felt it was more about tolerance when it comes to people so by giving a horse space, as in the herd, the pressure is released.


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## Ian McDonald (Aug 24, 2011)

It's okay, it's not meant to be internalized all at once. Keep in mind Tom's age and long lifetime of experience to become the person he was. If you can just allow the ideas to percolate through your consciousness organically rather than struggling too hard to grasp them, they'll reveal themselves gradually through your experience. From your videos it appears that you have some feel already. It's a good place to start.


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## Ian McDonald (Aug 24, 2011)

deserthorsewoman said:


> I found his brother, Bill, did a better job in explaining the hands- on part. Can't think of the title of the book, and don't have it here yet, I'm in the middle of moving, sorry, but maybe someone else can jump in here.


"True Horsemanship Through Feel" by Bill Dorrance/Leslie Desmond


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## AnrewPL (Jun 3, 2012)

I felt the same after reading it too, too many years ago now to really remember it. At the time I didn't really get much about actually how to apply the stuff; it comes with experience. Its the kind of thing where you will read what he wrote and not really get it, then, a year, or more later, you will be working with a horse and it will suddenly make sense. I think his experience was so immense that the way he wrote the book is a bit over the head of you if you haven't had a fair bit of experience yourself.


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## calicokatt (Mar 5, 2012)

I've no idea what you all are talking about and yet... a man unloaded 'his' horse out of my trailer (against my objections) and flipped said horse over on my riding lawnmower, which should have been FAR out of range. So I told him to pull forward a bit, and I'd move my rig, and we'd work on the horse. He pulled the rig most of the way up my driveway, and since I didn't want gravel as the backdrop if the horse repeated the procedure, I made him move it back into the grass. I loaded and unloaded the horse three times with no incident. He showed up the other day to unload the horse after a show, and she reared up, nearly going over backward, while I yelled at him to let go. I loaded her back up and unloaded her with no incident. He asked me why and I told him: first of all you told her to 'step' before she reached the step, so she was searching and couldn't find it. And secondly, I told you to ask her to back one more step and THEN ask her to 'step', which he did, but kept a tight hold on the lead. So when she was reaching around with the leading hind hoof, he had her head in a vice-grip. She freaked out until he heard me yell 'let go!!!' and then she walked quietly the rest of the way out. I really wish I had remembered the first time, and been in there with him, to guide him to let her quietly back out, as she did for me, immediately following. The best horse is only as good as the person handling him/her.


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

Putting knowledge into print can be a daunting task. To prevent the book from being a tome, much editing needs to be done. It can lead to difficulty in understanding what the writer is trying to say. It's similar to clinics. The clinician may have a wealth of knowledge but is the pits at conveying it. This is one of the reasons Pat Parelli is a good clinician as he's an excellent teacher.


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## Reiningcatsanddogs (Oct 9, 2014)

The Dorrance brothers used a lot of Vaquero techniques and philosophies and modernized them. Maybe this will help.

Giving the horse space to think into practice works like this. We ask for a single concept, say move the shoulder over. When he reads the cue and does it we don't ask again immediately, you give him a rest and just stand there, let him think about what he did to get release. Then you try it again...repeat, respond, release, rest until he gets it more quickly and don't over do it. Give him a day off after an important break through session to relax and think.

Prepare the horse, means two things in practice. Don't set your horse up to fail. Don't ask for something that he or you do not have the complete foundation to do and don't ask for something, for instance a lead change when you are out of balance, your hands are not in position ect. 

Learn to feel the horse and let him feel you, has to do with two concepts. One is physical, riding in balance with the horse's movements, being aware of which foot fall he is on and which one he will be on next. The other is emotional, being in a good frame of mind always when around your horse, and in turn be aware and acknowledge his moods.

All three of these things explain your #1, considering the horse's spirit.


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## TXhorseman (May 29, 2014)

damianabem said:


> Hi, folks! I bought "True unity" , a book from Tom Dorrance and I'm just about to finish it and can't help to be a little lost trying to grasp his ideas.
> 
> Wish I could hear from everybody what they think about it. Thank you!


I have not yet read this book, but I have read "True Horsemanship Through Feel" by Bill Dorrance and Leslie Desmond. Leslie Desmond said that, in writing the book, she tried to stay true to Bill's way of expressing himself. If Tom was anything like his brother Bill, I can understand how you could get lost. The first time I tried to read "True Horsemanship Through Feel", I gave up. Years later, I picked up the book again and appreciated what Bill had to share.

In his introduction to the book, Buck Brannaman tells of an instance when he called Bill for help with a problem he was having with a horse's frontquarters. Bill didn't seem to understand the problem and began talking about the horse's hindquarters. He said, "You know Buck, if you can move the hindquarters right or left on a horse you can get him arranged to where he can do some things that you didn't think he could do." Buck tried to restate the problem with a similar result. Buck finally decided Bill was going senile.

Some time later, Buck was trying to solve his problem with the horse. He finally gave up on this. He decided he might as well work on the hindquarters. As a result, his other problem took care of itself. The point is, Bill saw a connection between the front and rear of the horse that Buck did not understand. His explanation, while helpful, did not connect with Buck at the time. Still, it proved useful later on.

One of the frustrations with reading Bill's book was his frequent use of the word "feel". When trying to understand what Bill meant, I found my head spinning. His definition of the term "feel" seemed to be constantly changing. I have subsequently learned that this term is flexible and hard to define. But this does not mean it is not valid. 

In studying various approaches to riding and working with horses, we can often become confused and frustrated by seemingly different terminology. Some use different terms to describe the same thing while others use the same term to mean different things. When reading a word, we should take the context into consideration and try to understand the concept rather than simply the word. Then, we experiment and observe the results. In this way, we develop our own way of communicating with our specific horse.


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## Marecare (Jan 1, 2009)

I have kept his book next to my bed or at the dinner table for many years reading a passage or two from it over and over.

I have slowly understood what he was trying to say but it is my own inturpretation of his words.

I offer this only as MY understanding of his words.


*FEEL* The active connection between the horse and the handler at any given moment. (This connection can be broken and reconnected by misunderstanding on either side).


*TIMING* The ability of the handler to apply method in sync with the horses physical and mental body that helps that horse understand.


*BALANCE* The ability of the handler to move and act in physical and mental harmony with the horse at any given moment.
(This can be lost as fast as it is gained).


*READ* The ability of the handler to assess the state of mind of the horse accuratly from moment to moment during interaction.


*SPIRIT* This I still struggle with but it seems to be composed of all of the above plus the very heart and willingness of the horse AND handler to connect and stay connected.
It is the joy of *that connection *and the try that both put into it moment to moment.


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## Reiningcatsanddogs (Oct 9, 2014)

Bingo!!! Good job marecare! There is so much more to what the Dorrance brothers were trying to communicate than has been translated to practice in what we now think of as "Natural Horsemanship". I hadn't realized it in my youth.

Most people reject many things because it involves a lot of time to implement the philosophies, something many horse owners, riders, trainers have little of to spare. 

Think about it....even just your definition of balance...."mental harmony" you can spend a lifetime trying to obtain that with just one horse and yet we expect that bond to be universally formed in a day, week or month. 

....and preserving and being considerate of the spirit of the horse, becomes "just get him to do (fill in the blank)" before the next show, event, outing. 

If we could all just slow down a bit, many of the "issues" we have with our horses would resolve themselves.


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