Janet L Jones, PhD

Many of you know I have a new book coming out in about six months. Titled A Horse’s World, and published by Little, Brown, & Co, it will be the first popular animal cognition book about horses written for the general public. It looks at the horse himself, rather than his use as an instrument of human civilization as so many books before it have done. Don’t worry, the book contains a lot more brain-based horsemanship for equestrians, too. A Horse’s World is narrative nonfiction. In other words, it explains science about how horses think, learn, communicate, and bond with humans—but it does so through the story of one horse’s experience learning how to negotiate the human world from age 3 to age 9.
 

Guess who that horse is? Yep, True North, the main character of this True Training blog. So in the development of the new book, one of our efforts is to locate a good photograph for the cover. That task caused me to peruse photographs of True, just in case his photos are acceptable for A Horse’s World. I'm not sure which horse will end up on the cover of the book, but the process of looking back at old photos makes me realize just how much this one has changed.

First, he’s grown so much! He appeared to be a big horse when he had barely turned three years old—about 1100 pounds and roughly 16.1 or maybe 16.2 hands on his tiptoes. He had an awkward growth spurt around that time, causing his belly to look too big, his legs to look too thin, his head to look overgrown, his neck to look too short, and his croup too high. Poor fella!

Now he weighs 1500 pounds and stands 17.1 hands high without shoes. True’s a big boy! His conformation is near perfect—don’t worry, I’ll try not to brag too much here; he has a few flaws, too, like his fondness for bucking. Funny thing about True’s height: He grew two inches taller in his seventh year. That’s late for height; I expected more growth in width at that age, but thought he was done with vertical increase when he achieved 16.3 and stayed there through ages 4, 5, and 6. Then suddenly, two more inches, at age 7.

Compared to the baby who stepped off the trailer in 2019, looking around with big new eyes, True knows so much now. He is comfortable with groups of horses, with people, with known tasks and expectations, yet Truebie is also willing to try new maneuvers and greet new people. His early sociability stayed with him—he’s known throughout the barn as the horse who always says hello and watches to keep apprised of everything that’s going on at the ranch. He is usually turned out in a 30-acre pasture all day, but tosses his halter into the barn aisle at their feet whenever someone walks by on a day that his typical turnout did not occur.

Best of all, True and I have succeeded in building a deep bond of trust. We know each other well, we communicate clearly with each other, and we rely on each other for various forms of help at different times. I look forward to sharing this wonderful animal as well as the science of his mind and heart with the readers of A Horse’s World, due to be released in June 2026.