Time Travelers: Wild Horses: Galloping Through Time by Kelly Milner Halls

Watching those sleek three-year-olds, long, delicate legs stretching out to cover the track in the famous races of the Triple Crown, it is hard to imagine that the first ancestor of the horse was an eight-inch high creature with four horny toes on its front legs and three on its rear legs. No majestic master of the steppes was this little "dawn horse" either; preyed upon by land and river carnivores, the shy Hyracotherium met its extinction 45 million years ago, long before any would-be human wrangler appeared. But its relatives persisted, evolving through the Mesohippus to Merychippus as a grazing herd animal progressively running faster as its toes evolved into speedy hooves.

By the time Pliohippus evolved, with its one sturdy and swift hoof on each foot, its kind, still small at 12 hands high, had acquired wide-set eyes to spot predators and special adaptations of the skull which enabled the characteristic range of whinnies with which the herd communicated, and this nearly modern horse ranged widely across North America. Despite its land of origin, however, its inheritor, Equus, the modern horse, which successfully emigrated across the land bridge to Asia, soon became extinct in the Americas, leaving its migrant descendants across Asia and Europe to become the horse of human history and legend.

Kelly Milner Halls' Wild Horses: Galloping Through Time (Darby Creek Exceptional Titles) goes on to tell the story of Equus and how they became the work horse and war horse of our own story, changing the face of civilization throughout Eurasia.

Halls features especially the intriguing story of the Przewalski horse, the last and almost vanished descendants of those wild horses first hunted for food and depicted by our early ancestors in those famous cave paintings at Lascaux. Like their cousins the zebras, Prazewalski horses have short stiff black manes, no forelocks, a dark strip down the center of the back, and even occasional barred hindquarters. A "rescued" species, less than 1900 Przewleskis are alive today, despite heroic efforts to shelter them in the wild and breed them in captivity after their numbers were decimated during World War II.

Halls also describes the historic horses of Europe and the Middle East--the Tarpan, the Sorraia, the Camargue and the Konik, and the Caspian and the Arabian, and does not neglect the wild horses of Africa--the various zebra relatives, the Namibia horse, and the wild ass. She then turns again back to North America where Equus began, with the story of the wild horses reintroduced by the Conquistadors and other explorers--the mustangs, Abaco Barbs, and even the burros of our own recent times.

Illustrated lushly with colored photos and detailed drawings, Wild Horses: Galloping Through Time (Darby Creek Exceptional Titles) is a fascinating study of the animal which, with its strength and speed, so thoroughly shaped much of human life. Author Halls also appends listings of sources of information and sites where wild horses may be studied and observed in North America, organizations which specialize in wild horse rescue, and an extensive bibliography of journal articles, books, and web sites, as well as a full index, to round out this thoroughly researched and readable nonfiction book.

Happy Horsekeeping: Seasons of the Horse by Jackie Budd

Anyone who has ever been responsible for the care of a horse throughout a whole year knows that few experiences will ever bring us closer to the natural world around us. Nature impinges upon us constantly.... Although we may not appreciate it while hauling hay on a freezing January morning, this contact with nature is one of the great privileges of being a horse owner.

For Jackie Budd, author of Seasons of the Horse: A Practical Guide to Year-Round Equine Care, taking on the major portion of your horse's care means that you cannot, as many in the twenty-first century may do, remain unaware of the way nature--the turning of the seasons, the requirements of physiology and psychology, and earth's cycle of growth and rest--controls our animals and therefore ourselves. In her view, horse care is for horses, and certainly not for sissies.

An advocate of putting the horse's nature first, Budd's unapologetic thesis is that "...'nature's horse' is the real horse and the best horse for us.... Despite centuries of domestication, our equine friend remains nature's horse, body and soul...." Budd states firmly that most of the problems with domesticated horses--laminitis, colic, and allergies, to name a few--are virtually unknown among feral horses to this day.

This point of view does not make horse keeping an easy task for the conscientious owner. Budd insists upon careful feeding which duplicates the timing and content of natural fodder and upon a high ratio of turn-out time for horses. Horses, she continually reminds us, need a near constant supply of high-fiber food, freedom of movement, and the opportunity to socialize with other horses daily. In our world, she warns, such a lifestyle is sometimes labor intensive for the owner and expensive, particularly for those who must depend upon others to stable and keep the horse daily.

Using a seasonal framework as the outline of her book, Budd offers four thorough introductory chapters covering "Lifestyle Options," "Principles of Feeding," "Routine Health Care," and "Year-Round Health Conditions," sections which deal with most of the knowledge needed by beginners and more experienced owners. The remainder of the text is divided into four sections devoted to solid discussions of care during the four seasons. The author covers feeding, pasture management, controlling the horse's weight through the year, grooming, shoeing (or not), riding and conditioning, health risks during the annual cycle, and providing for proper feeding, time outside, and socialization through the various challenges of each season.

In a lavishly illustrated 272 pages, Budd provides a plenitude of information written in a clear and lively style. In addition, ample checklists, text boxes filled with practical tips and warnings, diagrams, and detailed instructional inserts for everything from mane and tail-braiding to hoof-cleaning break up the text on each page, making for easy reading and location of information. An extensive index offers quick access to the wealth of advice contained in this useful book for the serious amateur horse keeper.

A great book for the first-time horse owner or for the nonfiction section of libraries, Seasons of the Horse: A Practical Guide to Year-Round Equine Care, provides vital information in a highly-readable, easily usable format.