Well over 150 years before Robert Redford directed and starred in The Horse Whisperer, inspired by Tom Dorrance, Ray Hunt and Buck Brannaman, Willis J. Powell was whispering to horses and training them much in the way the fictitious character Tom Booker did in the 1985 film. Indeed this volume was first issued in 1848, a hundred and thirty-seven years before the famous movie. By then Powell had been in business for over 30 years.

In this volume Powell and Rarey tell HOW TO BREAK AND RIDE COLTS; HOW TO TAME THE MOST VICIOUS HORSES AND GENTLE THEM TO ALL KINDS OF VEHICLES OR WORK; HOW TO BREAK THEM OF KICKING OR ANY OTHER BAD TRICKS; HOW TO TEACH THEM TRICKS OR ACTIONS; etc., etc. This volume also has NUMEROUS VALUABLE RECEIPTS FOR DISEASES OF HORSES.

As such, we recommend this book to anyone wanting to start a career in Horse Whispering. We also recommend it to young people who are just breaking into equine activities for either pleasure or sport, if only to give a valuable understanding of the nature of the equine breeds.

In this volume Powell recounts how he read of a man who had lived a century earlier who had a secret method of taming horses and he resolved to discover the method for himself. Powell commenced his career as a horse whisperer shortly after 1811 and was so successful he was invited to Mexico to train and tame wild and troublesome horses. Thereafter Powell lived in Mexico for about 12 years, and then travelled to Cuba, Guatemala and California taming horses and apparently making a good living doing so.