From the Back Cover

In forty years as a country veterinarian John J. Mettler has seen just about everything that can happen to horses and horse people -- from the first-time buyer purchasing the wrong mount to the experienced owner coping with a case of acute colic. Here Dr. Mettler shares that long experience, flavoring his straight-forward advice with absorbing, and sometimes hair-raising, anecdotes.
True stories draw the reader into each chapter, illustrating the sensible recommendations that follow. For example, there is the thoroughbred racehorse who never learned about fences -- and the pony who contracted a case of founder from eating cows' food. There is the young girl who saw a champion in a riding-camp reject -- and the lovely and promising filly who died of an easily preventable disease, tetanus.

Dr. Mettler gives invaluable advice on preventive health care, describing immunizations, worming, and dental care, and explaining how three common and serious equine diseases -- colic, choke and founder -- can be prevented and treated. He explains the steps of breeding, pregnancy, and foaling, and gently instructs how to "put a horse down" when the end comes.

Written with a clarity that allows the author's deep love and respect for horses to shine through, Horse Sense is an indispensable handbook for the new or prospective horse owner.

About the Author

John J. Mettler, Jr., D.V.M., is a retired large-animal veterinarian in upstate New York and has written several books on animals, including Basic Butchering of Livestock & Game and Horse Sense. An avid sportsman, his appreciation of the noble turkey was the inspiration for his most recent book, Wild Turkeys. John has written on a broad range of veterinary topics for various magazines and has written a veterinary column for American Agriculturist for over 20 years. He has professional memberships that include the New York State Veterinary Medical Society (past chairman), the American Association of Equine Practitioners, the Society for Theriogenology, and the American Veterinary Medical Association.