Horse Housekeeping: Everything You Need to Know to Keep a Horse at Home [Hardcover]

The two sides of the human relationship with horses are reflected in a new book celebrating the practical and the spiritual. As Margaret and Michael Korda point out, before World War I, practically everyone knew at least the rudiments of horse care, and horses were everywhere. Now most people ride at a stable, and the idea of a backyard horse is an exotic one. For those with the space and the desire to bring their horses home, the Kordas have produced a useful guide to housing backyard horses. Written in an anecdotal style, and full of stories about their own farm, the authors share the triumphs as well as the pitfalls of keeping horses. One of the main things the authors stress is the fact that horse keepers in the long run will not save much money, but will be doing things in the way that they want. A nice addition to the other horse-care books in the collection. Nancy Bent
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

In Horse Housekeeping, Margaret and Michael Korda (she is a successful novice- and training-level eventer and he is the author of Horse People) provide everything you need to know to set up a barn of your own and care for your horse (or horses) at home.

Authoritative, inspirational, highly accessible, full of common sense and down-to-earth advice, all of it based on twenty-five years of experience, the Kordas' book is a basic resource for anybody who wants to keep horses in a safe, content, healthy, and cost-effective way at home, from detailed lists of things you need to have on hand to the basic (and not so basic) dos and don'ts of horse care. Divided into such useful chapters as "Fencing and Paddocks," "The Barn Routine," "The Care of the Horse," "People," "Feeding and Caring for the Horse," "Tack," "Horse Clothing," "Equipment," and "Care for the Aging Horse," it is helpfully illustrated and written in a voice that is at once informative, supportive, and full of funny (and not so funny) stories about horse housekeeping. The Kordas offer a unique and reliable guide to horse care that not only will be invaluable to beginner and experienced horse owners alike, but also is astonishingly readable.

They take you through the steps of deciding if having a horse barn is practical for you, including helpful suggestions on space-saving barn designs, creating pastures, building fences, sample exercise routines, the right feed, the basics of horse health care, and the equipment needed for both horse care and property maintenance. This detailed, user-friendly compendium of down-home wisdom, entertaining stories, and straightforward horse sense will help you to set up a barn the right way, so you will have time to actually ride your horse.

Margaret Korda was born in England and now lives with her husband in Dutchess County, New York. They are also coauthors of Horse Housekeeping: How to Keep a Horse at Home.