• “That [the horse] is so constituted by nature that he will not offer resistance to any demand made of him which he fully comprehends, if made in a way consistent with the laws of his nature.“
• “That he has no consciousness of his strength beyond his experience, and can be handled according to our will without force.“
• “That we can, in compliance with the laws of his nature, by which he examines all things new to him, take any object, however frightful, around, over, or on him, that does not inflict pain — without causing him to fear.“

These principles are clearly related to some concepts already mentioned in Natural Horsemanship: consistency, gentleness, desensitizing. It is quite interesting to read along the book some concepts and ideas that were contemporary to Xenophon more than 2,000 years ago.

Tom Dorrance is the most important reference when we deal with modern Natural Horsemanship in North America. He has launched this new wave of a more respectful horsemanship, although he probably never did it on purpose. This horseman was greatly skilled and reputed to be able to start a wild colt within a few hours, not by magic, simply by listening to the horse and speaking to it in a clear, gentle and comprehensive language.

The book contains different texts: some are written or said by Tom Dorrance _ they are the most interesting of course _, and some are written by students. Students are sometimes quite famous people such as Bill Dorrance, Martin Black, Bryan Neubert or Joe Wolters. Yet, I tend to be very critical with this kind of texts as people like to praise and idolize, and usually forget to be objective. Still, we can find some interesting information in these “Students’ feedbacks”.

True Unity is a very important resource as it contains lots of wisdom, all the natural horsemanship philosophy lays in these pages. That is also its main defect: you will not find any practical information, any exercise in the book. As in most books written by genius, it is full of treasures, but you have to dig hard to find them! In the present post, I try to dig up some of these treasures. I can not write about all of them as it would be too long and fastidious though.
There are three words, three concepts on which is based all Tom Dorrance’s approach to horses. The same concepts have been used to divide his texts in the book: