The infulence of Tom and Bill Dorrance.

These men gave so much to the idea of a different approach to training a horse and inspired many of the modern trainers.
They lived in a time before computers and DVD videos and mass marketing through the Internet.

Have you been fortunate enough (in the past) to come in contact with one of these men?
Have you read their books or seen any of their videos?
Do you use any of their ideas in your training?

Please talk about some of their ideas and approach to the horse.

No doubt they were very influential. I'm only 20 so I never had the priviledge of meeting them, but I really wish I could have.

The greatest horseman I have ever met, Ray Hunt, talked with great reverence about Tom Dorrance. Tom gave us the philosophy of teaching horses in a better way. Ray helped give it to the world. The difference between Tom and Ray's way and the current crop of clinicians is that they gave you the why before the how. The clinicians now mostly give you the how in a 5 DVD series for $1000 and leave the why out mostly.

OK,
A few quotes from them and see if they sound familiar.
People have been robbing from them for years and not giving them credit.IMO


From True Unity by Tom Dorrance pg13

"Sometimes the horse doesn't seem to understand,but it doesn't seem to bother him too much. Other horses,if they don't understand-they get bothered all over. So there again,it's the individual variation.
The best thing I try to do for myself is try to listen to the horse.I don't mean let him take over. I listen to how he's operating:what he's understanding or what he doesn't understand;what's bothering him and what isn't bothering him.I try to feel what the horse is feeling and to operate from where the horse is.

This is what I'm trying to get riders to do,to operate from where the horse is instead of trying to operate from where the rider is. Usually the horse is supposed to do everything the rider decides to do.I like to work from where the horse is,to get him to be able to operate wherever and whenever I need him".

Wise words.