How to Buy and Care for Your First Horse
by Jacqueline Dwelle, 0-9655048-6-7, 184 pages, $17.95
Hoofbeat Publications (c)1996 P.O. Box 2133, Southern Pines, NC 28388
Phone / Fax: 910/695-1644, e-mail jdwelle@ac.net, http://www.ac.net/~jdwelle/
![[Your First Horse Book Cover]](yourfirsthorse.gif)
This combination horse reference manual and guide to horse ownership, by an experienced, international groom trained in England, is worth a read. Excellent charts on conformation, feeding and de-worming products amplify what a tentative novice might find in lengthier publications. Chapter Ten, "The Foot and Shoeing," supplements what a horse owner ought to know about the old saying: "No Foot No Horse!"
The author provides some helpful tips on horse shopping, i.e. ride the horse, and always have a pre-purchase veterinary exam by other than the seller's veterinarian (letting the buyer determine thoroughness). However, Dwelle's recommendations that the prospective buyer "Stop by unannounced in order to observe the horse," and a trial period of one to two weeks (based upon a written agreement) until money changes hands, seem to detract from the complementary nature of her book. A surprise visit implies mistrust and a trial period introduces the question of unsupervised possession. Both are contrary to a smooth and equitable transaction between satisfied traders.
Despite my picayune comments- as one who has been burned as a buyer, spurned as a seller, and pommeled by the gods of equine economics- I would recommend this book for its plain language and largely explicit rendition of common horse information.
- Bob Howdy, Ph.D.
