As I mention in Holism and Horses, you should read, read, read; general horse care books and horse health books by well respected holistic veterinarians and other practitioners are a good start. Arm yourself with information and learn all you can about horse behavior and what a horse needs and wants both physically and emotionally. Increasing your knowledge will give you the power to make well-informed decisions and probably save you lots of money and heartache in the long run. You will, in the course of your reading and experiences, come across conflicting and opposing ideas and advice from many self-proclaimed experts, but don't let this discourage you. Just keep the horse's basic nature and needs in mind as your guide.
I am an avid reader, so here I will just highlight a few of my favorite books for suggested reading. My top pick for any horse or pet owner, especially if you are new to the world of holistic and alternative medicine, is The Nature of Animal Healing : The Definitive Holistic Medicine Guide to Caring for Your Dog and Cat by Dr. Martin Goldstein DVM. I know, you are wondering about the title since this website is primarily about horses. Even though Goldstein is a small animal doctor, and the focus of the book is not horses, it is a very inexpensive paperback investment in the health of all of your animals, a super overview of alternative medicine, and it may even change how you look at your own health too. It is an excellent read, easy to understand, humorous and moving. It is a super foundation and reference book to have in your home library of alternative medicine books.
Dr. Mary Brennan's book, Complete Holistic Care and Healing for Horses: The Owner's Veterinary Guide to Alternative Methods and Remedies, is also an invaluable resource to have on hand; it saved me thousands of dollars and potentially the life of my horse when she experienced a severe colic and the veterinarian's last recommendation was surgery (I chose to try homeopathic medicine and acupressure instead, when all else failed). Dr. Brennan asks "is it possible to find an animal that better embodies the majesty of nature than the horse?" Her book examines the horse in mind, body, and spirit and says that humans "admire horses for their beauty and spirit, but by domesticating them, we have altered their relationship with the natural environment. Diet, hoof care, stabling and being ridden are just a few examples of ways in which the horse's life has been changed by his interaction with humans." This book gives pretty thorough overviews of holistic veterinary treatments, horse care and management, and common horse ailments.
Catherine Bird's book is an excellent overview of many different alternative and natural treatment. In A Healthy Horse the Natural Way: A Horse Owner's Guide to Using Herbs, Massage, Homeopathy, and Other Natural Therapies she discusses herbs, massage, aromatherapy, homeopathy, biochemical tissue salts, and much more. Another book if you want to get more in-depth information on specific herbs and their uses is Hilary Page Self's book Veteran Horse Herbal.
Chris Irwin (with Bob Weber) has two books with insights into horse as well as human behavior; books like these help us to remember not to anthropomorphosize horses, emphasizing that we need to deal with them as equines and not as humans. But don't you think that it wouldn't hurt the world if a lot more people were a lot more like horses...
In Dancing with Your Dark Horse: How Horse Sense Helps Us Find Balance, Strength and Wisdom, Irwin says this:
"...horses don't make a distinction between how they feel and how they act. Their physiology is inseparable from their psychology. They haven't learned to divide their body from their mind and their spirit. If they're scared, their head and tail will show it. The same goes for anger, trust, stoic defiance, confidence, and playful aggression. To adapt an old saying, their bodies are the windows to their souls. And because they know nothing different, horses will assume the same is true of us. Horses are simply incapable of understanding that what we humans feel is not always what we show. The idea of laughing on the outside while really crying on the inside is fundamentally unhorselike. An uneasy horse will always show it with a tightly tucked tail and a high head. An uneasy human might show it any way from aggression to nervous laughter. No wonder we confuse horses. We confuse each other."
Make sure that you check out the
Sage Books bookstore for
these and other recommended titles.