New! 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.
"I'm extremely pleased to announce the follow up to Between the Reins, entitled: Further Along the Trail, is now open for pre-sales! The book is completed and well into the production process which usually takes 4 to 6 weeks to get through before it ships. We greatly appreciate folks making advance orders because it allows us to more accurately pinpoint how many books to order for the initial print run. As always, pre-order sales get first priority and ship immediately upon arrival of the new book. Further Along the Trail is expected to ship by mid-March, and we will keep you posted about its progress here and on facebook at the Tom Moates author page."
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 A couple previously unpublished works are included as well.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.
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.
The New Edition of A Horse’s Thought A Journey into Honest Horsemanship is Now available!
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.
Click here to order from Eclectic Horseman
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.”