A Voice for the Horse by John Saint Ryan

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More than three decades of serious study, research and teaching are brought to light in this book. The work I show here is the direct result of those experiences and my love of the horse. I have been very fortunate in having some excellent tuition and coaching from many world-class teachers in many different disciplines. Throughout all I will often refer to my time with Tom Dorrance, who despite never having taken a lesson from a human in his life about horses, still accomplished more than any man I know with regard to understanding how a horse thinks and behaves. Tom once said "A lot of people ask me to teach them how to do something. I say, I can’t teach you anything. I might be able to help you learn to do something, if you want to learn it, but it has to come from you.” I hope this book will shine a light in the right direction. JSR

John Saint Ryan was born in England and raised in Ireland. He taught Martial Arts for 27 years throughout Europe, coaching 12 individuals to become National Champions.

During this time, he rode horses for fun and managed to fit in an acting career, which included theatre work in the provinces and the West End, followed by guest star roles on TV and in films, working alongside several notable stars including Sean Connery, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Heath Ledger. He has written and co-produced independent films and co-starred in many international features.

In 1992, John emigrated to the USA and was invited to Robert Wagner’s ranch outside Los Angeles to watch Ray Hunt work with horses. John spent four days entranced by Ray’s philosophy and work. However, Ray continually gave credit to Tom Dorrance, saying: “If I’m doing anything good with a horse, I got that from Tom.”

John had to find Tom Dorrance, and the rest, as they say, is history. John became an avid student and friend to Tom. Together, they created his first training video, Greetings from Tom Dorrance, which was a great success and led to several other training videos, including Feel, Timing & Balance and Visits with Tom. John also narrated Tom's classic book True Unity.

John is a recognized Equine Behavior Consultant and a Practitioner Member of the International Society for Equitation Science. He was the USA National Champion in Doma Vaquera in 2004, 2005, and 2006.

John now spends his time teaching horsemanship using his experience with Tom Dorrance through the lens of Equitation Science.