2 comments about Fitness in Motion: Therapeutic Exercises for Horses.

1. This is a very nice book. I can work with my horse and put the book by the side and not have to weight the pages down with old horseshoes to keep our place. That is a nice feature, but it is also easy to follow the exercises. It has taken a couple of weeks, but my young horse is just beginning to actually enjoy and finally relax during the exercises rather than wonder what in the world I am doing to him now. So far I haven't seen a lot of change, because he came to me at two years of age with some wariness of people. The tension and worry he still holds in some amounts, I am certain, make the exercises considerably less effective. Having met Dr. Frick at the NC Equine Affair, I was impressed with her knowledge and her sincere wish to help all rider/drivers and their equines. I have been anxiously awaiting the ability to purchase this book and have been checking frequently. I think it will be a nice tool in my toolbox of horsemanship techniques and well worth the investment.



2. We have three elderly (20+)quarter horses we use for occasional trail riding, and an eight-year old Arab-quarter horse cross whom we also ride trails with on Colorado's front range. I ordered this book at the end of our riding season--it's been snowing, blowing and freezing here, so I haven't had a chance to put many of the exercises to use yet, but I'm impressed with the comprehensiveness of the book. Readers are encouraged to look at the whole horse, the barn situation, the tack and their own conditioning, then told some ways to assess their horse's functioning. Specific exercises name the targeted muscle and are illustrated with very clear photographs as well as explained in words. A chart summarizing the purpose, frequency and duration, muscles/areas targeted, indications it's effective or should be discontinued are presented for each activity. The book is spiral-bound, so it can be laid flat to make it easier to use with a horse around. Some techniques are
   massage, some seem to be drawn from chiropractic or accupressure and there are also ground exercises. Even though it's very comprehensive, I don't think it will be overwhelming if you just learn one or two techniques at a time, starting with what your horse seems to need. This is a great way to hang out at the barn and spend quality time with your horse. I think this will really help to build a stronger, more positive relationship between you.

1 comments about The Equus Illustrated Handbook of Equine Anatomy, Volume 1, The Musculoskeletal System: The Anatomy of Movement and Locomotion.

1. The Equus Illustrated handbook on the anatomy of the horse was exactly what my 14-year-old granddaughter wanted for her birthday. She plans to be a veterinarian and is collecting books to read and study. It was so easy to find the book, order and have it shipped to her. It saved a trip to the bookstore and or the post office. Marvelously easy.

5 comments about Trail Riding: Train, Prepare, Pack Up & Hit the Trail.

1. This book is an excellent guide for an A to Z overview of taking a horse out on the trail. I only wish i had read it sooner!
   Makes a great gift for the beginning trail rider.



2. This book was great to read. I learned alot from it and will continue using it as a training reference guide for my 13 yr. old Quarter Horse & my 4 yr. old Paint.



3. Trail Riding by Rhonda hart Poe is more then just what the title indicates.
   She takes you from getting ready to ride through the Trail Rider's Survival Guide and much more in the process. With only five years involved with horses and a few hundred miles on trails she leads you through every phase of trail horsemanship.
   
   There is not adequate space here to pass along how much I learned and will use in the future "on the trail". Ms Poe covers everything from tack and gear for the trail to preparing you and your horse, whether you ride for pleasure or in competition.
   
   Married to a true "Horse-Lady" with more then 20,000 miles on trails I suspected it was my inexperience until after she read the book. She enjoyed it and indicated that she had picked up a lot of tips that she had never thought of. That's from a woman who has a bookshelf full of books on trail riding.
   
   The book was very educational and fun to read with a lot of information for beginners and experienced riders alike. I have no doubt that I will be a better trail riders after my first read and intend to read it a few more times. I would highly recommend it for anyone who wants to be a better horseman, whether on trails or around the pasture.



4. Trail Riding: Train, Prepare, Pack Up & Hit The Trail is an in-depth compendium and guidebook especially for horse owners and horse riders. Written by horse owner and "The Gated Horse" magazine editor Rhonda Hart Poe, Trail Riding covers everything from how to use necessary trail tack and gear, to proper training, vices to avoid (in both rider and animal), survival tips for worst-case scenarios, advice for performing well in competitive trail riding, and much more. Black-and-white illustrations and numerous sidebars filled with tips, tricks and techniques round out Trail Riding, a definitive guide, which is enthusiastically recommended for riders of all skill and experience levels.



5. This is a wonderfully informative book.
   Rhonda covers every topic you could possibly think of and will answer questions you may not have realized you had.

5 comments about What Horses Say: How to Hear, Help and Heal Them.

1. Interesting book, easy to read with sometimes amazing stories. Good book for anyone who thinks a deeper communication with animals is possible, and who wants to know what horses think about the way we're dealing with them.



2. This is not a step-by-step guide as to how to hear and convey information with horses - rather it is more a compendium of wonderful successes of having done so. It will help fill out the scope of your appreciation of what's possible in animal communication; especially with horses. There are interesting statistics associated with each major subject tackled (saddles. freedoms, companionship and more) based on the experiences of one talented and highly regarded equine specialist. She has kept track of the information she has received from all of her clients and compiles a lot of that information here. Her methods reiterate those expounded on in other books on this same subject, but again, this is not deeply explored in this little volume. I may not advise you to start with this book in your search for how-tos, but I would recommend it as a collection of successes that will add depth to your overall knowledge on the subject of animal communication.



3. While the book was a great read it was not a how to book. I wanted more help with animal communication. This book really just gave extraordinary examples of a fabulous animal communicator so as to convince nonbelievers, but there wasn't a how to part.



4. This book is actually about a "psychic" who "talked" to the horses and then writes down the horses' "responses". I really didn't get that idea from the written description of the book before I ordered it. I was really disappointed in the concept as it seemed rather silly in some of the "responses" this psychic recorded! Waste of money.



5. This is an excellent book. Thoroughly enjoyed it and learned so much from it.

5 comments about Gerbils: The Complete Guide to Gerbil Care (Complete Care Made Easy).

1. I may be unusual in that I happened to find out about this book because I adopted my two gerbils from author Donna Anastasi and she offered to sell us copy of the book when we bought them. We had looked through other gerbil books at the pet store and hadn't liked any of them enough to buy one. Donna's book is SO FULL of useful information that I couldn't put it down. Even my 10 year old, who doesn't like to read, went crazy reading this book.
   
   Almost impossibly easy to understand, we consider this our new bible for taking care of our new little friends. Two thumbs up.



2. We loved this gerbil book. It had tons of information. Everything for the basics of care to training and showing your gerbil. There are also quite a few very cute full color pictures. We borrowed every gerbil book they had at our local library and this one stood out far above the rest. We decided we needed our own copy and ever since we purchased it, we refer to it regularly.



3. This book really does make gerbil care easy. Everything from "finding the gerbil of your dreams" to breeding to showing gerbils in competition. I never knew there were such things as gerbil shows! Lots of nice color photos. Devotes a chapter to training gerbils, something not found in a lot of gerbil books. A good book to read if you're even considering a gerbil.



4. My 8 year old has been wanting gerbils for months. We told him he had to read and be able to talk to us about them and their care. He (and the rest of the family) have now read several books. This was by far the best. My son made the decisions about cages, types, sex etc on his own after reading this book. He could discuss care issues and that he was not ready for breeding, wanted 2 females and what he would have to do to care for them.
   
   In comparison to other books, this has more useful information, is more complete, better photos and after three days with the gerbils has already answered multiple questions.
   
   If you can only get one book then this should be it.



5. The other reviewers are right--Donna Anastasi knows gerbils! This delightful book is so much fun to read (again and again) that it would potentially convince anyone that gerbils are the pets for them. Best of all, it's 176 pages, so it's packed full of information--from tips to games. As a result of reading this book I became a fan not only of gerbils, but also of Ms. Anastasi (you will, too!), whose love for these furry little rodents is evident throughout the work. Imagine my delight when I adopted a pair and found out they're great-granddaughters of her gerbils!
   
   If you only get one gerbil care book--make this one it.

2 comments about Starting the Colt.

1. Very informative, easy to understand and implement the techniques described to train yourself as well as the horse!
   Mary Twelveponies goes into detail how to handle a horse mentally, what proper tack to use and what not to use, the very important use of ground work, riding and the do's and dont's of, etc. Excellent for beginners to help them to learn about horsemanship.



2. Mary Twelveponies is a master of the tried and true horse training philosophy: There are no shortcuts. A good start on a young horse can overcome most challenges he'll face later on. Chapter 14 of "Starting the Colt" is devoted to the proper use of the Bosal, or "Jacima." Her research of the origins and applications of the Bosal are top notch. The explanations are clear and easy to understand.
   For a horseman who's interested in training with a Hackamore, this book is a must. No matter which discipline of horsemanship you choose, her books are the manual you can trust.

1 comments about Training for Trail Horse Classes (Equi Skills).

1. This a good book on trail for the money. It covers some really good tips that I didn't know and had never heard of before. Using some of the advice in this book I was able to successfully traverse a complicated trail course with my three year old in just a few days. It is easy to read and easy to understand.

5 comments about What All Good Dogs Should Know: The Sensible Way to Train.

1. Anyone with a serious yearning to understand learning theory will need more in-depth guides than this book. But anyone whose end goal is a mannerly dog who can be a full-fledged family member would do well to start here.
   
   The beauties of this book are:
   (1) It focuses on manners and context - WHY you should teach certain behaviors and HOW to use them in real life. Other books tend to imply that training a dog is a goal in itself - and I've met many trainers who seem to enjoy training just for the sake of it - but your average family wants to train for more practical reasons.
   
   (2) The authors don't waste time justifying themselves or "selling" themselves/their methods.
   
   (3) It promotes realistic expectations and understanding of a dog - simple stuff that everybody really really needs to know but most don't (dogs don't act out of spite; dogs associate their immediate actions with consequences, so you can't punish them for past misdeeds; etc.).
   
   (4) There isn't any bad or dangerous advice (with 1 possible exception, see #3 below), and it steers clear of controversial hot-buttons topics such as dominance theory.
   
   It has a few nuisance issues, tho they aren't a big enough deal to override the positives:
   
   (1) Using the cue (aka command) before the dog knows to associate it with a specific behavior. It is better to get the behavior reliably and then add the word, but it isn't make-or-break.
   
   (2) The only method they introduce for teaching "down" is physical prompting. Prompting is my pet peeve for so many reasons! After you've taught the dog to respond to the prompt, you have to teach them to respond without it - that's double the work. Dogs have an opposition reflex, so pushing or pulling them down will cause them to resist - that's nature, not stubbornness, which the authors don't address. Dogs that don't like handling will shy from prompting. Dogs VERY quickly become collar-wise, and since the prompting requires using the collar, dogs are less likely to respond when they aren't wearing a collar (the collar becomes part of the cue, basically). Etc.
   
   (3) It shows its age by referring to choke chains as the last resort for pullers (choke chains are terrible for pullers, by the way, because pulling will keep the chain tight - very dangerous), but ignores modern alternatives such as harnesses and head halters.
   
   (4) There isn't much in the way of troubleshooting. They say go to your dog rather than call them to you for unpleasantries, which is absolutely vital. But what if your dog begins to associate your approach with unpleasant stuff, and begins to run from you? So, you may need another book for "troubleshooting."



2. A friend on mine gave me this book, she currently has 6 dogs and havs used this book to train all of them. I really enjoyed the book. It was an easy read with very easy to understand methods, funny little comics, and it got right to the point. Grant it my Pup is only 11 weeks old and I'm still having some trouble with a few things with her, but not much. I suggest you give this book a whirl especially if you have read other books and feel they haven't helped much.



3. So easy to follow & understand! And, the cartoons throughout are great!
   Without this book, I would have been completely clueless when it came to getting our first puppy housebroken & trained. Because of this book, we now have two fantastic dogs (one who is 1 year and one at 6 mos. old). This book completely debunks so many age-old dog training myths - how to dicipline, not rewarding inappropriate behavior by accident...etc. I would have done a lot wrong without this book! Very humane, thoughtful & insightful into the world of puppies and dogs. If you've ever wondered "why does my dog do that?" you'll find the answer here. Bravo to the authors!



4. This is one book that every dog owner, or potential dog owner, should buy! It doesn't matter if you have a Rottweiler, a Chihuahua, or just a good old Heinz 57 dog, this book is for all dogs. Cute illustrations and sound advice on how to make your dog the good doggie citizen of the year abound in this book. It addresses common issues like housebreaking, walking on a leash nicely, crate training, and much more. I highly recommend this book!



5. This is a good, basic book about dog training. Some of the insite into why dogs do what they do and what they are really thinking is great information to have. But, if you are serious about dog training it will take more than just this one book to give you all the base knowlege you need.

   I would recommend this book to anyone interested in dogs though. The information it has is accurate and useful and the illustrations are fun and educational. I agree with the person who said it would be a great dog training book for younger children to start with. The illustrations make this book very understandable for everyone.

   Add it to your collection for the pictures and basic information, but do keep reading because there are more comprehensive dog training manuals out there.

2 comments about Treats, Play, Love: Make Dog Training Fun for You and Your Best Friend.

1. understanding the behavior from the dog perspective is helpful in understanding how to treat problematic behavior



2. Some twenty years Burnham wrote one of my favorite training books, *Playtraining Your Dog* -- purportedly as a rebuttal to the mordant severity of Koehler, et al. *Treats, Play, Love* is something of a sequel to *Playtraining,* something of an updating -- and equally superb. When my copy arrived from, I sort riffled the pages as I walked from the mailbox into the house, and all of a sudden, I realized I was sitting at the table, still wearing my jacket and scarf, and reading the damn thing. It's that good. This would be an excellent book to give someone who wants to get started in dog sports. There are whole sections worth quoting.

No comments about Puppy's First Steps: A Proven Approach to Raising a Happy, Healthy, Well-Behaved Companion.