True Unity: Willing Communication Between Horse and Human

by Tom Dorrance

Tom Dorrance has been referred to as the "horse's lawyer." Tom gives the horse credit for his knowledge of a horse's feelings and problems. He says, "What I know about the horse I learned from the horse." In "True Unity," Tom shares his ideas to help achieve a true unity for human and horse.

Genres: Horses, Nonfiction

151 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1994

Reviews

[Laurie Putthoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

For horselovers, Tom Dorrance is one of the legends of natural horsemanship. This book should be in every horse owner's library. It's a little hard to catch all the wisdom until you get further along in your own knowledge of the horse. I'm rereading now and understanding much more.

[Ken Oder · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book, but it didn't fit my needs. If you're looking for instruction and insight about training horses for show with high performance outcomes, this is your read. That's not me. I'm a trail rider. I take it easy. I don't care that much if my horses follow my every cue without hesitation. I'm more interested in the relationship between the horse and me. Dorrance and his ghost writer have trouble expressing the magical connection that can be forged with a horse. Dorrance breaks aspects of a horse into three categories: physical, mental, and a third feature for which words fail him and his writer. I don't blame him for that. I can't express that feature in words either. He says "spirit" is the closest he can come to it. I think he's right about that word and the fact that it doesn't capture the full meaning of this third, kind of mystical, feature. The book focuses on that, but mostly in the context of training horses to perform. You've got to know the horse in all three aspects to achieve that goal, he says, and I think he's probably right about that. But my quest is different. I want to understand better why, no matter how stressed or upset I may feel when I visit my horses, within minutes they bring me a sense of peace. Do their big hearts synchronize with the beat of their human companion, as some contend. Do they know what I'm thinking and feeling? This book didn't move me farther into the exploration of whatever it is Dorrance is calling "spirit." That's where I want to go. But it's not his fault. He's addressing a different need, and the book is good for that.

[Skye Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has great thoughts and ideas, I love Tom Dorrance and his amazing way with horses, but I will say this book was very poorly put together or maybe poorly edited. I have heard many of these things already from my mentors so I knew what he was talking about but I can only imagine trying to read this and understand what was going on as a newbie.

It’s still worth reading, but if you’re a little on the green side of this type of horsemanship, you may need to read more than once or maybe find a clinician that teaches similar to Tom’s ways and get some basics from them first.

[Caren · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book, I really did, but WOW! I can handle poorly written if they are so full of helpful information or well written but not really useful. This book is poorly written and not very helpful. It contains gems like "I just don't know how to go about getting these things across. I used to say 'If I could just crawl inside your hide for five minutes then you could do it.' But I don't know." Excuse me, if you could crawl inside me for 5 minutes, I wouldn't need to read your book. And if you don't know about how to get these things across, DON'T ATTEMPT A BOOK!

The parts where outside people wrote about Tom were especially poorly edited. Most of them start with "I have thought a lot about the feedback you asked for." or It's really hard for me to put into words, what I've gotten from Tom. I did sit down and write some things one night and then after I read it, I wasn't very pleased." I feel like I'm reading some poorly written rambling email, not a published book (although, self-published I'm guessing). Also, naming the authors of that section would have helped.

I've read lots of horsey advice and communication book and have learned something from all of them, except for this one. Just telling me it's "feeling" isn't helpful. I would fire a trainer that only said that and that applies to this book also.

[Susan Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another reread. I know that I read this book many years ago. Funny that I don't have a real recollection on it. The book is very esoteric and is definitely a book that you need to read and reread to glean very subtle information out of.

From this rereading I gleaned keeping the horse straight, getting the feet to move lightly in your hands, finding feel and timing. These are all things that I will continue to work on with my young horse to help her get better. Finding feel between legs and hands and when to give so the horse can learn.

[Marjorie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book to read for anyone who cares about horses. Because of this wonderful man, Tom Dorrance, horses are finding a better deal across North America and perhaps the world. To the uninitiated this concept may be difficult to grasp. Those who worked with Tom admit that it seems simpler than it is.
Milly Hunt Porter is the editor of True Unity and the horse world has Milly to thank that horsemen such as Tom and Bill Dorrance and Ray Hunt are well known in many horsemanship areas today.

[Jayne Bonner · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had really high hopes for this book but it’s so poorly written it’s hard to understand what on earth he is going on about. I’m not sure how it got through the editing process.
I had read Warick Schillers book beforehand which is excellent, everything is explained clearly and much more accessible! If you want to learn about connection and communication with your horse buy Schillers book instead!

[Goele Lousbergh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had expected to love this book as much as I love "Think Harmony with Horses" - since Tom Dorrance was Ray Hunts mentor and it always feels like you should move your way closer and closer to the source. Surprisingly, I didn't. And I am not exactly sure why. So I have decided to just jot down some points, reread the book next year and see if anything changed for me.
1. it was a bit discouraging. Where Buck Brannaman and Ray Hunt stress the fact that there is no magic and anyone can learn who is dedicated and willing to work hard, this book seemd focussed on how hard it is. Which is probably true, but also a bit discouraging.
2. I think it is fair to assume that I am not far enough in my horsemanship journey to be able to truly understand large parts of this book. Hence the yearly reread decision.
3. It is just not as easy to understand a transcript of a clinic than seeing a video of it.
4. Yes, we get that it is hard to put in words what happens between a horse and its rider, but if you're going to write a book, it's a bit annoying to say over and over again that you cannot put it in words.
5. Interestingly: the words "straight" and "straightness" are everywhere, I had never noticed this so much in other horsemanship books. I am glad I have started on that path myself.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book I've found on Tom Dorrance's methods for working with horses. It is definitely worth a read, and I've found many useful tips, observations, and pieces of advice to underscore and come back to. Dorrance's key principals of riding and working with horses are identified in this book.

The editor, Milly Hunt Porter, includes both Mr. Dorrance's words & also many testimonials from people who have worked with him. That said, his methods remain less clear after reading this than the key principals of his work. This isn't necessarily a flaw in the book - just my observation.

The omission of step-by-step instruction is intentional, as Dorrance says he can't put it all into words, and so its omission is just the result of so much of Dorrance's work being based on 'feel' -which is challenging to explain in a book.

Readers of this book will get a clear understanding of what Dorrance believed was most important when working with horses in terms of attitude and overall philosophy, but step-by-step advice or specific 'how-to's' are not the main focus of this book (as above).

PS - just as good on the reread in May 2025!

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard read and written in Tom's style. You have to understand horses to understand this book or it won't make too much sense.

[Marjori Ollson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good if you want to learn more about how to be patient with any horse. Wish I could have met him.