Understanding Your Horse's Behavior: Your Guide to Horse Health Care and Management

by Sue McDonnell, Dickson D Varner (Foreword)

Understanding Your Horse's Behavior is a fascinating compilation of real-life questions from horse owners about problems they face with their horses, with answers supplied by renowned equine behaviorist Sue McDonnell, PhD. Today's horse owners are dedicated to learning more about how and why their horses act as they do, and how to correct problem behaviors. McDonnell, founder of the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center Equine Behavior Program and Laboratory, is a master at simple explanations of complicated issues that will help every horse owner be a better caretaker.

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Heather Herring · Rating 3 out of 5]

true rating - 3.5
short summary: questionable advice but good facts

I like the facts, there's tons of good information I didn't know about horses in the wild and the natural instincts of horses. for the facts alone, I reccomend this book. however, the advice is outdated and a bit rough for horses. the scientist that wrote this book denies any idea that horses can have higher thinking similar to that of a human. however, I counteract that because WE are animal to. So how is it humans and animals and not simply, animals. I highly reccomend the book "are we smart enough to know how smart animals are" written by Frans De Well which brings the idea of anthropomorphic animals which is heavily denied in "Understanding Horse Behavior" and brings real studies to the table to prove that animals can (and in my opinion do) have a higher thinking. in the authors opinion, horses rely solely on instict and there is no thinking or spiritual idea that they could converse with each other. This black box thinking, that horses CANT think, only act on instict alone. as I stated, the facts are good but some information is outdated.

this leads to advice, and while I agree some is good the advice on teaching an animal to catch made me feel sick. her idea is to lock them in a paddock with no grass, hay, food, or water, and every 12 hours you hand feed and water them. the idea is that if they realize the only way to get food and water is by approaching you, they will eventually catch easier. however, I don't agree with restricting food or water and I believe their are more humane ways to train this found in many different training books.

[SteFF · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative (even of the unusual) The pictures of "managed breeding" I could have done without. Most of the pictures in the book were of odd or sexual related references. Most of the book was about free-ranging horses. I'd pass

[Belle Meade School]

636.1