The book that
Thomas Herding Technique Founder Kerry Thomas and I co-authored – Horse Profiling, The Secret to Motivating
Equine Athletes – has been out three months now and several flattering reviews
have been posted on the internet:
“This is an ingenious book and long overdue. I could not put it
down. As a trainer of dressage horses through Grand Prix, I have studied with
many ‘masters’ of dressage including Herbert Rehbein, Conrad Schumacher to name
a few. The horse as an individual, the conformation, temperament and breeding
was always emphasized to me to be a key to determining the training of any
horse. This book takes that knowledge a giant leap and bound further for all
equestrians. The work contained within this text is without question an
absolute ‘must know’ for all horseman. Even better, the knowledge this book
provides will, without question save the lives of horses, as they will not be
discarded and thrown away for training issues or broken down due to
misunderstanding. Many of those ‘issues’ will just never occur, as horsemen
discover the best way to train and handle each horse as an individual. Serious
kudos to Trafalgar Square Books for publishing this wonderful title, and to
Kerry Thomas and Calvin Carter, what can I say – except a heartfelt thank you.
All of my students will be receiving this book as their holiday gift this
year.” – Please note: This is a
copyrighted review and may only be published elsewhere with credit clearly denoted
as “TheHorseStudio.com, The
International Equestrian Shop.”
“I have read and re-read, and am still re-reading this amazing
book! For me it was an illumination of what I had already figured out about my
own horses and then it became so, so much more! I want to know even more!! I
think the Thomas Herding Technique (THT) is something that can benefit each and
every horse and horseperson out there!! A must read for all those who want to
"figure out" their own horses and help them reach their potential in
any discipline.” –
Aniis (Amazon.com).
“So just how does one discern whether or not a horse has a
trainable mind? By watching them, of course. [Kerry] Thomas clarifies, “To
understand any species, means to understand the environment in which they are
geared to live.” And this is what Thomas spent several years doing, while he
was out studying wild herds in Wyoming and Montana. What he learned about how
horses manage space and react to stimuli, offers a window into their emotional
world. These patterns of behavior, Thomas explains, then translate into physical
patterns of motion.
“What this means to the equine therapy world is that the way
horses manage space within a herd is very telling in terms of the emotional
make-up of the horse. For those who work with horses, namely equine therapists
and the horse experts they often work alongside, much of their education should
involve watching horses in their natural environment — in the herd, that is.
“For the thoroughbred racing world, what Thomas brings is a
fascinating resource. Simply by watching a young thoroughbred with his herd
mates, or even in a race, this seasoned horseman can often predict the outcome
on the track. And those whose money rests on the determination and grit of the
sleek performance machine that is a thoroughbred racehorse, may just want to bet
their money with Thomas. After all, he predicted Animal Kingdom’s Kentucky
Derby win after simply watching a video replay of his past races.” – Claire
Dorotik, Licensed Marriage Family Therapist (psychcentral.com).
“As a long-time horse racing fan and horseplayer, I found the
book to be both interesting and a valuable new handicapping tool! We tend to
forget Emotional Conformation and Herd Dynamics when handicapping races. Why do
certain horses hang? Why are others, such as Zenyatta, able to move through a
field so easily? With only a small number of foals/runners in his first crop,
why has Hat Trick already sired two graded/group stakes winners? You will get a
much better understanding as to the answers of these questions after reading
Horse Profiling!” – Alan Levitt (Amazon.com).
The preceding is just a small sample of the reviews about our book
and we are excited by the enthusiastic response it has received from a wide
spectrum of the reading public.
Early in the
book, Kerry and I ask the questions: How can we as caretakers of the horse
embrace the magic within the spirit of this noble creature and provide for his
physical and emotional well-being? How can we return the full measure of what
the horse has given to us?
That’s what Kerry
and I set out to explore in our book and it’s been a fantastic journey.
Burchard vonOettingen, the director of Germany’s Royal Stud, knew how to embrace the magic
within the spirit of the horse and his work was immortalized in the outstanding
book Horse Breeding in Theory and
Practice. One of the greatest owners, breeders and trainers of Thoroughbred
racehorses was the Italian Federico Tesio – the Wizard of Dormello – and he was
influenced by the work of von Oettingen.
Kerry and I wrote about von Oettingen and Tesio in our book and here’s
an excerpt about the amazing von Oettingen:
The Benefits
of Nature Nurturing the Horse: Burchard von Oettingen and the Royal Trakehnen
Stud
One of my
favorite authors and published sources of the benefits of making the farm
environment as natural as possible for the horse is Burchard von Oettingen who,
at the turn of the twentieth century, was director of the Royal Trakehnen Stud,
where the Trakehner breed evolved, in what was then East Prussia. Von Oettingen
was a world-renowned expert on horse care, and in his book, Horse Breeding in Theory and Practice (Sampson
Low, Marston & Co., 1909), he outlined the benefits of pasturing horses.
Although written over 100 years ago, the universality of his writing, extolling
the benefits of nature nurturing the horse, bears repeating here:
Even the best soil requires, in order to derive any benefit from its
advantages for breeding good, capable and sound horses, two very important
factors, i.e., paddocks and permanent pastures…But the method of rearing in
the stable without paddocks and permanent pastures, which is still so
widespread in Germany for all kinds of breeds, threatens to ruin many
breedings…Paddocks and permanent pastures serve, therefore, as a contrast to
the method of rearing in the stable, to keep the breeding material as long as
possible outside the stable and in conformity with nature, to nourish same.
The following advantages thus arise:
1. The
influence of light. The recently well
recognized beneficial influences of light consist principally in destroying
many very dangerous microbes, especially tuberculosis bacilli, and in
increasing the energy of life by multiplying the red corpusculli and the
haemoglobis.
2. The influence of good air. The air rich in oxygen in the open is a primary condition of every
healthy development. The continuous remaining out in the open increases the
need of oxygen, and in order to satisfy their needs, horses must, by deep
breathing, make a greater use of the lungs. Accordingly, the lungs will be
extended and strengthened, and also the energy of life increased.
3. The influence of wind and weather. The constant skin massage by wind and weather strengthens the whole
nervous system. As a matter of fact, wind and weather preserves the whole
animal organism in a continuous and beneficial training through frequent and
sudden changes, and forces it to get accustomed to outside circumstances for
the sake of self-preservation. In conjunction with the beneficial influence of
light and air, wind and weather, owing to a normal and strengthening
development of the nervous system, favour the health in such a good and
energetic way altogether impossible if the horses are brought up in the stable.
4. The influence of exercise. A voluntary, continuous and mostly slow exercise on the meadows is
necessary when seeking their food. By this means the sinews, muscles and bones
are under the influence of a favourable slow, continuous and effective training
quite impossible outside of the meadows. The longer grazing is possible…and
especially night grazing, the more distinctly is to be observed a favourable
development of the formation of the body, especially of the shape of the limbs,
as well as that so important to correct walk. The voluntary desire of the
horses to visit distinct parts of the meadows, the possibility of their moving
about as they please, and so noticing all that is going on around them, the attention
which is required for observing changes, the many chances to caper and play
with their companions—all these strengthen the intellect and senses, and are
the best and only preventives against timidity.
5.
Food grazing. The advantages of grazing on the meadow, as
against green food in the stable, lie, firstly, in the fact that the horses
never get as much in their
mouth in the meadow as in the stable, and that, therefore, sudden
overloading of the stomach is avoided; secondly, many and just the best and
youngest grasses lose their taste between the time of being mowed and eaten;
thirdly, the useful combination of amids are, for the most part, in the younger
plants, and these are the most difficult to mow, but the horses whilst on the
meadow get them easily. For the good preservation of pastures it is very
important that they should be grazed alternately, as far as possible, by horses,
cows or oxen (but not by sheep).
From the strengthening of bones and tendons as well as the heart, lungs
and limbs by exercise over varying terrain, to the continuous beneficial
nurturing provided by environmental stimuli that the casual observer, man,
long ago ceased to rely on for survival, indeed, there is no better nurturing
process than that provided the horse by Mother Nature. It is not practical to
breed or train the equine athlete without fully understanding the “view from
the hoof” and the necessity of nature’s beneficial nurturing of the horse. Only
then can one hope to grasp the reality of the horse and the Equine Circle from
the vantage point of man, and do one’s best to provide the setting, albeit
artificial, where the equine athlete can prosper.
Burchard von Oettingen’s work at Trakehnen and other stud farms owned
by the Prussian state, such as Beberbeck and Altefeld, was exemplary. During
his tenure with the Royal Stud until retirement in 1920, von Oettingen
diligently worked to improve the training and stud operation. …
After the establishment of the Royal Stud, select English Thoroughbred
and Arabian stallions were purchased and added to the breed. One of von
Oettingen’s crowning achievements for the improvement of the Royal Stud was the
purchase in 1913 of the English-bred Thoroughbred Dark Ronald for £25,000
(about $40,000). It was, definitely, money well spent as Dark Ronald became a
foundation stallion of the Royal Stud and one of the most influential sires in
the history of Germany.
Dark Ronald sired the German Derby winner Herold,
and his sire line produced other
notable Thoroughbreds such as Alchimist, Birkhahn, Surumu, and Acatenango, all
of whom were classic champions and important sires. In all, the sire line of
Dark Ronald has produced 25 German Derby winners, and his influence has even
recently been seen in the United States—as Acatenango is the broodmare sire of
Animal Kingdom, winner of the 2011 Kentucky Derby and Eclipse Champion
Three-Year-Old Male.
In addition to
becoming a tremendous influence on the German Thoroughbred, the sire line of
Dark Ronald also is a powerful worldwide influence on the European Warmblood.
The highly regarded Moorlands-Totilas, viewed by many as one of the greatest
horses in the history of dressage and a triple gold medalist at the 2010 World
Equestrian Games in Lexington, Kentucky, is a direct sire-line descendent of
Dark Ronald (fig. 4.6). In the show jumping world, Dark Ronald is a direct
sire-line ancestor of the deceased jumping champion and influential improvement
sire Cor de la Bryére and his sons Caletto I, Caletto II, Caletto III, Calypso
I, Calypso II, Calypso III, Calypso IV, Corrado I, Corde-Star, and Cordalmé Z.
The result of
von Oettingen’s study and labor was the establishment of a first-class breeding
and training operation that relied on the foundation principle of making the
farm environment as natural as possible in order to produce the healthiest,
soundest horses. His efforts were integral to the development of the Trakehner
as a performance horse, as it went on in the 1920s and 1930s to win countless
medals and awards in jumping, eventing, dressage, and steeplechase.
Copyright ©
2012 Kerry Thomas
First
Published in 2012 by
Trafalgar
Square Books
North Pomfret,
Vermont 05053
ISBN
978-1-57076-508-7
If anyone ever
knew how to embrace the magic within the spirit of the horse it was Federico
Tesio but I’ll post more about that on a future blog.
In August,
Kerry will be at National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame for a book signing
and here’s his latest Facebook post about the event:
“As we continue to develop behind
the scenes, making ready the THT Weekend and Book Signing at The Racing Hall Of
Fame for HOF Weekend, I thought I would repost this today from our team.
Exciting conversations going on between THT & NTRA and other outlets, so
now is the right time to reach out to be a part of it with us. Now, off to
meetings...
“Let's partner! Promote your brand
at THT Hall of Fame events, Nat Museum of Racing. For info email: THTCindy@me.com. Sponsorships include all pre
event publicity in Saratoga plus social media promos, as well as high
visibility on site at the events. This is a prime opportunity to showcase your
brand and have a presence during racing's most exciting summer meet. Thank you
for supporting the work of THT. We welcome your partnership.”
If you get the opportunity, please
check out this short slideshow of pictures from the book that I posted on
youtube:
