Dogmanship, A Horseman's Ponderings
Renowned equestrian writer and horseman, Tom Moates, is back. In his 14th book, Dogmanship, A Horseman's Ponderings, Moates turns his attention to a whole new realm—dogs!
"I've been working with dogs for years now, including a ton of rescue dogs and studying Border Collies up close at work—truly fascinating animals with an amazing capacity for connection with people," Moates explains. "As a horseman first, I tend to approach dogs in my second-nature horsemanship ways. Sometimes this approach and understanding is spot-on. Other times, well, no, not so much. I began writing about these canine experiences to clarify them in my own head. But soon that grew to a whole book's worth of thoughts and encounters to share with others."
One of America's most respected and prolific writers on the subject of horsemanship, Moates now shares with the reader how his unique view of horsemanship applies to training dogs. The result is a thorough rumination on how getting a dog's mind centered and with a person is as key to building a positive and willing relationship with canines as it is with equines.
Breakthroughs with troubled rescue dogs, training challenges, and conversations with celebrated horseman Harry Whitney and distinguished dogman Jack Knox and others—Dogmanship, A Horseman's Ponderings is the comprehensive chronicle on the ins and outs of building a truly willing relationship between dogs and humans.
Considering Horsemanship
In Considering Horsemanship one of America's most prolific and devoted equestrian writers, Tom Moates, returns taking an all new approach to thinking about horsemanship. The subtitle sums it up: A Book of Ideas Inspired By Two Decades of Harry Whitney Horsemanship Clinic Journals. Moates revisits the tattered pages of a pile of clinic notebooks filled with observations and insights scribbled down at round pens, arenas, bunkhouses, and barns across America and over the years—then each chapter kicks off with a thought provoking quote from his mentor plucked from those pages. These sage remarks become launching points for in depth discussions on aspects of horsemanship with unique insights, inspirations, and often comical queries in Moates's celebrated style.
Mane Thoughts, Essays on Horsemanship
Mane Thoughts, Essays on Horsemanship at long last combines between two covers a comprehensive collection of Tom Moates’s essays that dive into the heart of good horsemanship. These 17 essays by one of America’s eminent equestrian writers share insights on a wide range of horse related topics including: side pulls, being particular, ground work, handling spooks on the trail, trailer loading, discerning if a problem is physical or mental...and many more.
Some of the essays are newly penned for this book. Others are updated essays, previously published in horse magazines like Eclectic Horseman and America’s Horse. The book includes more than 50 photographs illustrating many points. To top it all off, that dearly loved holiday horse classic “The Year Jubal Saved Christmas” finally makes it into a book and is included in this anthology.
Mane Thoughts, Essays on Horsemanship presents many of the main ideas central to improving one’s horsemanship—ideas to help build that better relationship between horses and humans.
Six Colts, Two Weeks: Volume 1
A Special Colt Starting Clinic with Harry Whitney
A masterpiece! In Six Colts, Two Weeks, celebrated equestrian author, Tom Moates, walks the reader through the once-in-a-lifetime experience of attending a colt starting clinic with renowned horsemanship clinician, Harry Whitney.
"This was...no ordinary clinic," Moates says in the introduction. "This...would be an extraordinary, singular opportunity to learn from a renowned horseman in a way that may never happen again."
This new title (Volume One) covers the first week. The longest of Moates's eight horse books to date with 290 pages and more than 100 photos, Six Colts, Two Weeks, is a unique memoir that documents how Whitney goes about preventing young horses from developing "people problems" in the first place.
Come along for the fun, challenges, and one-of-a-kind insights from Whitney recounted with inquisitiveness, astuteness, and humor as only Tom Moates can do. Six Colts, Two Weeks is destined to be a modern equestrian classic that no horse library is complete without.
Six Colts, Two Weeks: Volume 2
A Special Colt Starting Clinic with Harry Whitney
A masterpiece! In Six Colts, Two Weeks, celebrated equestrian author, Tom Moates, walks the reader through the once-in-a-lifetime experience of attending a colt starting clinic with distinguished horsemanship clinician, Harry Whitney.
“This was...no ordinary clinic,” Moates says in the introduction of the first volume. “This...would be an extraordinary, singular opportunity to learn from a renowned horseman in a way that may never happen again.”
This title (Volume Two) covers the first two days of the second week. These volumes are the longest of Moates’s horse books to date with 250+ pages and more than 100 photos each. Six Colts, Two Weeks, is a unique memoir that documents how Whitney goes about preventing young horses from developing “people problems” in the first place.
Come along for the fun, challenges, and one-of-a-kind insights from Whitney recounted with inquisitiveness, astuteness, and humor as only Tom Moates can do. Six Colts, Two Weeks is destined to be a classic modern equestrian book series that no horse library is complete without.
Six Colts, Two Weeks
A Special Colt Starting Clinic with Harry Whitney - Volume Three
This hefty volume (400+ pages and 200 photos) completes the Six Colts, Two Weeks trilogy--a series eight years in the making that is a unique memoir documenting the one and only colt starting clinic taught by distinguished horsemanship clinician Harry Whitney.
"You've got to know that it can be and let it happen," is Harry Whitney's quote that begins this new book. "You can't make it be."
This series shares a view of horsemanship that'll change how you think, how you perceive horsemanship, and how you approach horses--it surely has been a life changer for me. And as for starting colts, as Harry says, "So they're started, so they go...." And did we ever witness some amazing firsts with these six young horses! Enjoy!
The Old Sleeper
Tom Moates, one of America’s best known equestrian authors, releases his first foray into fiction: The Old Sleeper, a spy novel.
The Old Sleeper is a fresh yet timeless voice in the classic spy mystery genre, Moates says.
Agent Gene Davis, is horseback enjoying his first week of retirement from the CIA on his newly acquired Arizona ranch when his cell phone rings. It’s his old boss, Jeb, and Gene gets pulled back into action for one last mission.
Tom Moates cleverly weaves a suspenseful plot while depicting an historical crossroads as the age of World War II and the Cold War collide with our modern moment of extremist terrorism and shifting values. The story unfolds among America’s ranchlands, Washington, D.C., modern day Moscow, and reaches its climax with World War II era fighter planes and modern fighter jets in one of the most gripping aerial dogfights in all of fiction.
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A Horse’s Thought A Journey into Honest Horsemanship
Tom's latest book is an extremely rare written glimpse into implementing the teachings of renowned clinician, Harry Whitney. Tom Moates’s popular writings exploring his personal exploits with Niji, Sokeri, and other horses, as he sincerely attempts to improve his horsemanship skills with Whitney’s patient guidance, are regular features in Eclectic-Horseman and America’s Horse magazines. This book combines an abundance of new, previously unpublished material regarding this ongoing odyssey, with recently expanded and updated essays from the magazine series. Inquisitive as always, Moates applies his familiar candid and plainspoken style to probe the depths of very difficult aspects of horsemanship. The results are sometimes wrecks, occasionally triumphs, but always enlightening...and a lot safer experienced on the page!
Read one of the chapters from A Horse's Thought "The Myth of Natural Horsemanship" that ran in Eclectic Horseman Magazine online here or download as a PDF.
Journey into Honest Horsemanship Series: Part 1
A Horse's Thought also is available as an e-book for all e-readers and can be purchased at most e-books stores.
Between the Reins
A Continuing Journey into Honest Horsemanship
Equestrian journalist and author, Tom Moates, is back with more chronicles of his earnest attempts to improve his horsemanship skills with the tolerant guidance of renowned horsemanship clinician, Harry Whitney. This follow up to A Horse’s Thought contains fresh equine adventures and insights as Moates tirelessly pursues to understand Whitney’s uncanny ability to see things from the horse’s point of view. Whether riding at home in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, traveling to audit Whitney’s clinics in various states, or getting bucked off again while riding in a clinic himself--vital lessons unfold in these pages as Moates increasingly comes to a deeper understanding of horses and what goes on in that space Between the Reins.
Journey into Honest Horsemanship Series: Part 2
Western Horseman review of Between The Reins:
"In his 2006 book Discovering Natural Horsemanship, writer Tom Moates wrote of his quest to better understand the equine mindset and develop a true horse-rider partnership. His 2009 follow-up, A Horse's Thought, chronicled his efforts to implement into his riding the teachings of clinician Harry Whitney, who has since become a mentor to Moates. In Between the Reins, Moates continues his ongoing journey toward horsemanship enlightenment, sharing lessons learned while riding with Whitney and during horseback excursions into the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, Moates's home state. Containing 12 chapters and a foreword by Whitney, Between the Reins tells the story of a horseman who has survived the introductory phases of an equestrian education, and is now venturing forward, past the clichés of the clinic scene, in an effort to see the world from a horse's point of view. A skilled storyteller and gifted writer, Moates's ongoing contributions to the equestrian literary canon make for inspiring reading."
Further Along the Trail
A Continuing Journey into Honest Horsemanship
Equestrian author and journalist, Tom Moates, returns with more lively and thought provoking adventures in his ongoing odyssey to improve his horsemanship with the patient teaching of his mentor and friend, celebrated horsemanship clinician, Harry Whitney. This anticipated follow-up to Between the Reins digs deeper into understanding Whitney’s great skill at seeing things from the horse’s point of view through Moates’s own trials. Familiar characters return to the page along side new folks and horses, as Moates reveals the latest lessons he has gleaned from clinics across North America, horses at home in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, and other equine experiences encountered Further Along the Trail.
Journey into Honest Horsemanship Series: Part 3
Going Somewhere
A Continuing Journey into Honest Horsemanship
Tom Moates continues his journey into better horsemanship with the patient guidance of his mentor and friend, renowned clinician, Harry Whitney, in this fourth book of the series which follows A Horse's Thought, Between the Reins, and Further Along the Trail. Jubal and other regulars return, and meet newcomers like Mister Dinky the Mule, as new challenges abound. Ride along as Tom crosses 1500 miles of the west with Harry attending clinics and seeing first hand his life on the road. Enjoy another stretch of this ongoing, epic trail as Tom learns new horsemanship lessons and is constantly Going Somewhere!
Journey into Honest Horsemanship Series: Part 4
Passing It On
This much anticipated fifth title in the Journey Into Honest Horsemanship Series includes more adventures from many of the usual suspects--Dinky the Mule, Jubal, Festus, Niji and others are back to add their part in the next installment of Tom's ongoing horsemanship journey. The book also shares quite a bit about Tom's "Passing It On"--that is, sharing with others what he's been blessed to learn from horseman, Harry Whitney. Harry has written a foreword for the book, and as always, it is packed with great photos. Pre-Orders are greatly appreciated because they help to gauge the size of the initial print run. The book is expected to begin shipping in early July. All pre-orders are given top priority when the book is released.
Journey into Honest Horsemanship Series: Part 5
The Christian Horseman's Companion
Celebrated equstrian author and journalist Tom Moates explores horsemanship in a whole new way in The Christian Horseman’s Companion. Moates stimulates, encourages, and challenges the reader to think about the illustrations offered through the horse and human relationship as they pertain to and help us grasp a deeper understanding and a greater appreciation for a relationship with God.
"The Christian Horseman’s Companion exists that I might share with you some of what has been profoundly helpful to me as I’ve gained some scriptural understandings, particularly when my work with horses has provided excellent insights," Moates says in the Introduction. "I hope that you, too, will find these musings valuable, and that perhaps my sharing some of how God has used horses in my life might be a benefit and a blessing to you, too."
Order your copy of "The Christian Horseman's Companion"
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Round UP
A Gathering of Equine Writings
Round-Up: A Gathering of Equine Writings, is a compilation of articles and essays by equestrian journalist and author, Tom Moates. Renowned for his inquisitive nature and unconventional approach to the full-time pursuit of exceptional horse based stories, this award winning writer has more then 350 published articles to his credit. In this, his fourth horse-based book, Moates compiles twenty of the most notable of those equestrian works. The majority of the stories originally ran in magazines such as America’s Horse, Eclectic-Horseman, Equus, The American Quarter Horse Journal, and Western Horseman. A couple previously unpublished works are included as well.
In a foreword contributed by A. J. Mangum (creator of The Frontier Project and former editor of Western Horseman magazine) the collection is summed up: “Tom shares his pursuit of answers with a brand of journalism fueled by an intellectual curiosity his peers in the equestrian media would be wise to emulate, providing in the end a wisdom forged by observations, impressions and firsthand experiences.”
Remarkable horses and horse folk alike from an almost insanely wide spectrum of experiences are profiled in this compilation. From tremendous horseback adventures measured in the thousands of miles by such people as notable novelist, Douglas Preston, and Olympic medalist, David O’Connor, to the retirement of Joe, a beloved and long time Professional Bull Riders (PBR) pick up horse, to interviews with ranch women, Texas day work cowboys, Hollywood horse wranglers, and a vet pioneering innovative wound healing technology—Moates covers all this and more, now rounded up between two covers in: Round-Up: A Gathering of Equine Writings.
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Discovering Natural Horsemanship chronicles one man’s obsession to get better with horses in a gentle way. Author Tom Moates’s life and work were on a horseless path until serendipity brought Niji, a sorrel gelding, into his life. Nothing has been the same since.
In his candid and plain-speaking style, Moates shares the honest highs and lows that come with the territory of starting out in the Better Way with horses. Along the road, many well known clinicians—including Harry Whitney, Bryan Neubert, Linda Parelli, John Lyons, and Ray Hunt—generously tolerate his thirst for helpful information on getting better with horses, and Moates works hard to share their wise words in this book, alongside his personal experiences attempting to implement them.
Sometimes humorous, often inspiring, and always resonating with authenticity, Discovering Natural Horsemanship is an awesome read for anyone who loves a great true story, whether horses have knocked you from the regular orbit of your life, or not . . . yet.
Excerpt from the book:
“The sun on their fuzzy winter coats warmed them that morning to complete tranquility. All three stood, each with a rear leg cocked, in a sun coma when I got up there around eleven. Saddling up Soke went with ease, and I rode her down the farm road and over to the house just fine. Soke and I had been going for rides away from the other two for several weeks now in preparation. Even the still-nursing colt was fine when the mare was absent for an hour at a time, perhaps a testament to Niji’s babysitting skills. Just as the house came into sight, we saw Terrie’s green F-250 pick-up and gray two-horse trailer driving down another farm road toward the house from the other side. Sokeri changed. I felt the change. The sensation was not just in her body—which did stiffen, her head raised with ears focusing on the trailer—but was also in the energy field around her, which included me. She became electric, like the air just before a storm.”