True Unity: The Ideas in Tom Dorrance's Book Oct 8, 2026 Zachary Leyden Horsemen do not just argue about what is in True Unity . They argue about how to read it at all. Tom Dorrance’s only book, published in 1987 under the subtitle Willing Communication Between Horse and ... History of Horsemanship The Natural Horsemanship Movement Read more
Cavalry Remount History: How Armies Bought and Bred Their Horses Oct 5, 2026 Zachary Leyden An army in the field consumed horses the way it consumed bread. Cavalry mounts went lame, artillery teams wore out, transport animals sickened in the mud, and every one of them had to be replaced or t... Cavalry & Working Horses History of Horsemanship Read more
The Two-Rein in the Vaquero Tradition: The Graduation Stage Oct 2, 2026 Zachary Leyden There is a stage in the old California horsemanship where the horse wears two headgears at once and the rider carries four reins, and far from being a muddle, it was the most careful promotion in the ... History of Horsemanship The Vaquero & Western Tradition Read more
William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle: Horsemanship Written Into English Sep 27, 2026 Zachary Leyden In the 1650s, one of the most admired riding schools in Europe was run by a man who could not go home. William Cavendish, Marquess and later Duke of Newcastle, had commanded a king’s army and lost, an... History of Horsemanship The Old Masters & Classical Tradition Read more
Silk Roads and Warhorses: Inside the Silk Road Horse Trade Sep 23, 2026 Zachary Leyden An emperor can command silk by the warehouse. He cannot command pasture. For the better part of two thousand years, that mismatch drove the silk road horse trade: settled empires rich in cloth, grain,... History of Horsemanship Horses & Human History Read more
Think Harmony With Horses: The Ideas in Ray Hunt's Book Sep 18, 2026 Zachary Leyden It fits in a coat pocket. Think Harmony With Horses , first published in 1978, runs shorter than most tack catalogs, and working horsemen have been rereading it for going on fifty years. It is Ray Hun... History of Horsemanship The Natural Horsemanship Movement Read more
Light Cavalry: A Short History of the Fast Half of Mounted Warfare Sep 15, 2026 Zachary Leyden The paintings all show the charge: big horses, massed knee to knee, sabers out, everything decided in one thunderous minute. But for every mounted soldier who ever rode in a charge, far more spent the... Cavalry & Working Horses History of Horsemanship Read more
The Hackamore: Starting Colts in the Jaquima Tradition Sep 12, 2026 Zachary Leyden A bosal looks almost too plain to matter: a braided rawhide loop, gently stiff, shaped like a teardrop, resting on a horse’s nose. No metal, no leverage, no mouthpiece. Yet for the California vaquero,... History of Horsemanship The Vaquero & Western Tradition Read more
Antoine de Pluvinel: The Gentle Master of the French Court Sep 7, 2026 Zachary Leyden In the long line of old masters who shaped classical riding, one name stands for a single stubborn idea: that a horse is better taught with patience than with force. Antoine de Pluvinel, a French ridi... History of Horsemanship The Old Masters & Classical Tradition Read more
Przewalski's Horse: The Last Wild Horse, With an Asterisk Sep 3, 2026 Zachary Leyden Stand next to a Przewalski’s horse and it looks like a horse drawn from memory of a much older world. It is stocky and short-legged, dun-colored, with a stiff upright mane that stands like a brush rat... History of Horsemanship Horses & Human History Read more
Ray Hunt: The Man Who Took the Message on the Road Aug 29, 2026 Zachary Leyden Tom Dorrance had the ideas. Ray Hunt had the road. That is the shortest true way to describe why the horseman Ray Hunt matters, and why so many riders who never heard Dorrance’s name learned Dorrance’... History of Horsemanship The Natural Horsemanship Movement Read more
The Destrier: The Medieval War Horse Knights Actually Rode Aug 26, 2026 Zachary Leyden In the movies, the knight’s horse is a mountain: a feathered-legged giant that shakes the ground and blots out the sun. Filmmakers mount their knights on modern draft horses because draft horses look ... Cavalry & Working Horses History of Horsemanship Read more
