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In forty years as a country veterinarian John J. Mettler saw just about everything that can happen to horses and horse people – from the first time buyer purchasing the wrong mount to the experience owner coping with a case of acute colic. Here Dr. Mettler has shared that long experience, flavouring his straightforward advice with absorbing, and sometimes hair-raising, anecdotes.

True stories draw the reader into each chapter, illustrating the sensible recommendations that follow. For example, there is the thoroughbred racehorse who never learned about fences – and the pony who contracted a case of founder from eating cows’ food. There is the young girl who saw a champion in a riding-camp reject – and the lovely and promising filly who died of an easily preventable disease, tetanus.

Dr. Mettler gives invaluable advice on preventative health care for horses, describing immunizations, worming, and dental care and explaining how three common and serious equine diseases - colic, choke, and founder – can be prevented and treated. He clearly explains the steps involved in breeding, pregnancy, and foaling, and he gently instructs the reader in how to “put a horse down” when the end comes.

Written with clarity that allows the author’s deep love and respect for horses to shine through, Horse Sense is an indispensable handbook for the new or prospective horse owner.

Paperback.