Horses in Company, a revolutionary (¿radically??) new analysis of horse social behaviour, opens the way towards a better understanding of horses on both ethological and practical levels. Based on first-hand observations of wild horses and their evolutionary need for collective defence against predators, it shows how domestic life distorts horses' natural social relations, encouraging misinterpretation, mistreatment and human-horse problems.
This book will open your eyes to the world of horse boarding and all that it encompasses. One of the most often asked questions I get from people who want to start a boarding business is, "Where do I start?" Great question! Most people, including myself, usually start with a couple of horses and then progress into boarding. This book is a step by step guide on what you need to do to get your barn or stable up and going and how to maintain a strong and healthy boarding business. Whether you want to run a large facility or a small stable this book will cover everything you need to know to help you start off with a strong foundation for your business. I have included a current business plan (designed especially for the horse boarding industry), boarding contract and barn rules which is only the beginning. This book will walk you through every step and give you tasks lists and suggestions for every part of your business from designing your barn to seeking a loan. This book includes designing a barn or stable, your tack room, horse stalls and riding arenas. It covers extensive pages on herd management, turnout and paddocks and how to design them and what to think about before you put the first post in the ground. It will include business insurance, accounting and lawyers and what they mean to your business. I discuss the financial part of business ownership throughout the book and how to streamline your chores and hire employees. I discuss conflict resolution, the barn manager's role and client relations and the intention of this book is to help you avoid some of the common pitfalls of barn management and business ownership and that is only the beginning. The topics that are covered in this book are extensive and you won't find a more current book on running a boarding business. This book will benefit any size boarding operation. A large boarding barn equates to a large scale effort and risk. A small boarding stable carries lower financial risk but requires the same planning to be successful and can have many of the same issues as a large facility. Every area of the horse industry is impacted by the boarding stable and no matter the size; each plays an integral part in the success and stability of the equine industry.
M. R. Bain shares his experiences of developing successful horse businesses. Told from the standpoint of one who actually did what he writes about, he talks about how to structure your business, how to protect your assets, what you can expense or depreciate, marketing, insurance needs, maintaining your horse business and many other things.
A smart, funny memoir exploring the evolution of a man and his relationship with his daughters as they grow up in the grips of the equestrian life. When Chad Oldfather found himself the parent of a toddler who, out of nowhere, became obsessed with horses, he had no idea what awaited. With his younger daughters similarly afflicted, Oldfather was soon enmeshed in the consuming subculture of barns, riding, and horse shows, learning not just about the animals that so inexplicably drew his girls, but also about the people and personalities that populated the spaces around them. A book for parents, whatever their children's interests, and for equestrians, who know what it's like “on the inside” (but maybe not what it's like on the outside, looking in), A Man Walks into a Barn is a wise, witty, and, at times, critical look at both the light and dark sides of youth sports, and equestrianism in particular. Readers find themselves rooting for Oldfather as he struggles to be the best dad he can, supporting a child's dreams in the face of long odds and extraordinary expenses. He writes about his parenting choices and the strange world he finds himself in with humor and honesty, critically examining riding's high cost and the inaccessibility and inequality that results. Aware of the flaws and dangers of youth athletics, as well as the benefits, he strives to protect his girls while supporting their ambitions the best ways he knows how. Filled with the joys, heartbreaks, and life lessons that come from training, competition, and time in the company of horses, this is mostly a book about family, and the strong bonds that can form when parent and child join hands and pursue a passion together.
This book describes the development of horse behaviour, and the way in which the management of horses today affects their welfare. Horses for sport, companionship and work are considered and ways of improving their welfare by better training and management is described. The book assesses welfare, nutrition, and behaviour problems with horses. The authors include internationally-recognised scientists from Britain, Ireland, USA and Australia.
"Comprehensive, authoritative, and accessible, Horses, Third Edition is an essential reference book for anyone who cares for a horse, from novice to experienced owner."--Jacket.
Felton shares the profound life and business lessons that horses have taught her. Through her candid story telling she provides insights into how horses can help people become more self-aware and connected to themselves and others. The result is improved leadership skills.
Gentle ways to improve the horse’s core fitness while relieving pain related to conditions such as kissing spine. Every equestrian wants to know: what is the difference between the horse that “dances” when you are on him, and the one that doesn’t? According to Visconte Simon Cocozza, Trainer and Examiner for the La Fédération Française d'Equitation (FFE), it all comes down to the horse’s posture. The horse’s ability to use the powerful mechanisms already built into his body relies not upon the strength we can see on the outside but the strength on the inside. This invisible and complex arrangement of internal “core” muscles control the horse’s posture, suppleness, and agility. Their good condition is the key to the dance. Equine core muscles are very difficult to isolate with the traditional training techniques common to horse sports. However, by examining what we do with the human body when faced with a weak core, we can find new methods for conditioning these areas of the equine body. Cocozza has taken principles of the human practice of yoga and used them to develop novel ways of reaching deep within the horse’s body and: Gently “unlock” areas that may be a little “rusty.” Improve core fitness. And even relieve pain related to conditions such as kissing spine. In this highly illustrated book, he provides step-by-step instruction explaining easy mounted exercises that enhance the horse’s posture, and boost his confidence in his body and movement, making him easier to ride, and ultimately, the dance partner you’ve always imagined.
Did you know that a miniature horse weighs just a few pounds, while a giant draft horse can weigh well over a ton? Or that from a standstill a mule can jump, kangaroo-like, more than five feet high? With answers to hundreds of questions about behavior, physiology, training, and special breed characteristics, Knowing Horses has all your horse quandaries covered.
Before crude oil and the combustion engine, the industrialized world relied on a different kind of power - the power of the horse. Horses in Society is the story of horse production in the United States, Britain, and Canada at the height of the species' usefulness, the late nineteenth and early twentieth-century. Margaret E. Derry shows how horse breeding practices used during this period to heighten the value of the animals in the marketplace incorporated a intriguing cross section of influences, including Mendelism, eugenics, and Darwinism. Derry elucidates the increasingly complex horse world by looking at the international trade in army horses, the regulations put in place by different countries to enforce better horse breeding, and general aspects of the dynamics of the horse market. Because it is a story of how certain groups attempted to control the market for horses, by protecting their breeding activities or 'patenting' their work, Horses in Society provides valuable background information to the rapidly developing present-day problem of biological ownership. Derry's fascinating study is also a story of the evolution of animal medicine and humanitarian movements, and of international relations, particularly between Canada and the United States.
