Customer Reviews

The Draft Horse Primer: A Guide to the Care and Use of Work Horses and Mules

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The author describes this book as an assemblage of materials from published land-grant school materials of the 20's and 30's, articles in "The Draft Horse Journal," articles in "Western Horseman" and "Organic Gardening and Farming," and some new material. A fair percentage of the book is more-or-less generic horse material - hoof care, breeding, feeding, housing and the like. Although interspersed with comments specific to draft horses, much of this could well have been left out. There is a large section on horse-drawn machinery, but this is starting to look dated. The emphasis is on traditional/antique horse-powered and drawn machinery of a type that is getting harder to find. There's a rising interest in adapting tractor equipment to horse-drawn use these days through the use of forecarts, which the book barely touches. The most valuable section of the book may be the section on harness and harnessing, which gives specifics on a wide range of hitch types. The next-to-last chapter is titled "sidelines" and covers several topics including decoration and logging. It's interesting reading but doesn't go into enough detail to be very useful. This is a worthwhile book to own. It probably is "must" reading for someone new to draft horses, but really points up the need for a tighter, more focused book that is up-to-date.