The thing that I am trying to bring out here is this feel and timing.  I used to say all there is to it is feel, timing and balance.  I still can't improve on those three words, but there is so much that goes on within that. - TD

Although he looked like the "cowboy next door", Tom's been profiled in People magazine and has been called the "patron saint of horses" by the New York Times.  Horse owners from around the world have looked to Tom for his kinder, gentler, much-proven technique of training horses.  

It seems to go in pieces.  That's how it seems to go even for a horse.  There's "time" in there; it's just as well not to crowd the horse if he isn't ready for it.  You keep offering, trying to help as much as you can, without troubling him too much about it.  Then, there will be a day when it will just clear right up.  - TD  

(photo taken 8-27-79 Elko, Nevada Ray Hunt & Tom Dorrance clinic)
 

Listen to the horse.  Try to find out what the horse is trying to tell you. All we are trying to do is fix things up to where he can find them; then it's the horse's idea. - TD  

(Tom is saddling a stallion "Pic Remedy" with an English saddle. Year 1990.)
 

Tom in his 80's on a 3-year-old filly with dog Flipper.

Tom in Battle Mountain, Nevada at Wilson Ranch.  circa 1984-1985
(photo taken by Mary Branscomb, Lamoille, Nev.)

The best thing I try to do for myself is to 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 operate from where the horse is. - TD