Customer Reviews

Keeping a Horse the Natural Way: A natural approach to horse management for optimum health and performance

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book uniquely offers equine advice from the perspective of the horse - this is most unique in the stabling/turn out advice. The author also goes into detail about how relationships can be built with the horse, from horse to horse (or other animal) and how those relationships change over their lifetime and a caring touch to loss. In addition to useful information, the author keeps it interesting with lots of pictures/illustrations. This book is not an all-inclusive equine textbook, but it has that "something" the others do not.

This book has some good advice when it comes to looking at stabling from your horse's point of view (he'd rather be out in a field, rolling in mud than be shiny clean and locked in a stall all day). However, I was disappointed that it didn't go into more detail in other areas. For example, I thought it was strange that the topic of sheath cleaning was never even mentioned. The author tries to address horse behavior and the horse-human relationship, but I think it was handled a bit awkwardly, as large portions of the text seem to be directly copied from Pat Parelli's book. The author acknowledges that she does this, but I just didn't like how it was done. The book was also a bit awkward because the author is apparently from Great Britain and parts of the book seemed to assume that the reader is also. I ran into some terms that I, being American, was not familiar with. But like I said before, the book does contain some good advice and I did learn a few things from it, just not as much as I had hoped.

I was a bit skeptical upon purchasing this book, but it was inexpensive and worth a shot. I am happy to report that I am more impressed with this book than by any other horse book I have purchased. I was trained in classical dressage and european style horse keeping. I have always thought that there must be a better way. So...as I try to shake off bad teaching (from a horse's perspective) and learn new ways, I have been researching and buying different books on horses. I was introduced to natural horsemanship about a year ago, by sheer chance. This is what I was looking for! This book is great for anyone. The experienced rider who wants to be a horseman and for the novice. This book starts at the basics with body language and shows what each means, explains the nature of a horse, how to keep them happy and healthy (ex: stabling, feed,and mental stimulus). It goes on to explain how to keep a pasture, healthy and poisonous plants, and much more. It answered all my questions that other books did not answer. It also goes on to address any problems that may arise and ways you can correct them. I am extremely happy with this book!

This is a very useful book for a beginning horse owner or a person evaluating the idea of horse ownership.