The Injury-Free Horse: Hands-on Methods for Maintaining Soundness and Health
by Amanda Sutton
Trafalgar Square, August 2001, covered ring binding,
160 pages, indexed, full color, $27.50
Reviewed by Fran Jurga, Hoofcare and Lameness
If you've ever had to bring a horse back from a serious lameness condition, you know how time-consuming and expensive it can be. British equine physiotherapist Amanda Sutton presents a guide to investing time and energy up front in preventing injury and making the most of a horse in good condition.
This practical book could be a syllabus for an equine sports medicine course at the college level. For the casual user, it is well organized, with color tabs marking sections dedicated to all you can do to help your horse stay fit and sound (massage, exercise therapy, etc.). The ring binding holds it flat so you can refer to photos quickly in the course of a stretching regimen.
The most valuable section, however, is tucked away at the end, where Sutton maps out programs for specific sports: endurance, dressage, driving, western, polo and even a section on keeping our elderly pet horses limber and relaxed. Of great value is that Sutton includes when to perform post-training massage; for instance, she suggests that lower-level dressage horses should be rubbed in the neck and back 1-3 hours after exercise, but not immediately. She offers a different plan for upper level dressage horses.
Amanda Sutton is known worldwide for her work on Olympic level sport horses. This book covers the sound horse; one can only imagine the wealth of knowledge she has for treating training injuries. Hopefully, there's another book in the works. As long as your horse is sound, use this book to keep him that way! Order this book from Hoofcare Publishing, PO Box 6600, Gloucester, MA 01930, [email protected] ; tel 978-281-3222; $27.50 plus $5 postage.