Formative Years: Raising and Training the Young Horse from Birth to Two Years

This is a great book. It helps you know the little things to do when raising a foal. The things that most people wouldn't think of are in this book. Its a good book for beginner on up through experienced.

This book was highly informative, and easily understood. I've always a been tying legs up and laying horses down, but to go back and read it in print just confirmed the value of proper, safe handling from the start. There is a fine line between respect and fear with horses, and firm, but fairness is constant throughout this book. Even if one is not a handler, I recommend the book for a better understanding of the horse himself. This book is a must have for your home/business library.

This book contains no fads, no gimmicks, no buzz words, no hype. It gave me straighforward classic horse training information that I could understand and put to use. I've used it on my last 3 Warmblood foal crops and the foals and yearlings are confident, respectful, easy to handle and look forward to their work. I also found the chapter on Evaluating Potential of a young horse particularly interesting and useful.

This book is great! Not only does it contain a wealth of information but it is well-organized and easy to read. Hill obviously knows how to communicate with horses, and unlike many other trainers, she is able to communicate with people as well.Her explanation of how horses learn coupled with the section on body language and voice commands helps a person avoid a lot of wasted time trying to "whisper" to horses when they are obviously not listening!I like the progressive training method Hill outlines: one step at a time, clearly explained, from day 1 to saddling. And finally, I found an accurate definition of "imprinting", a term that has been so abused and misused that it's nearly lost all meaning. The author illustrates appropriate early handling of foals but leaves imprinting to the horses.The training alone is worth the price of the book, but Hill also provides detailed information on all types of health care issues like what shots to give when, and deworming (not "worming" as I've always heard it called).She also tells what, when and how to feed your horse and how much exercise they need.There's a great section on Puberty and I sure wish I'd had this book when I was trying to decide when to geld my colt and what to do afterwards - I could have avoided a lot of stress for both me and the horse.I think what I like best in Hill's approach to horse training is that she clearly has the horse's best interests in mind. It is geared not only toward making a good horse, but making a good horse that stays sound mentally and physically, and that will last a long time. This book is not a 30-day wonder program, it's a lifetime approach that progresses at a pace dictated by the ability and experience of both you and your horse.All in all, I can't recommend this book highly enough for anyone who needs quality information on raising horses, no matter what kind of horses or what you're going to use them for.

This book is great! Not only does it contain a wealth of information but it is well-organized and easy to read. Hill obviously knows how to communicate with horses, and unlike many other trainers, she is able to communicate with people as well.Her explanation of how horses learn coupled with the section on body language and voice commands helps a person avoid a lot of wasted time trying to "whisper" to horses when they are obviously not listening!I like the progressive training method Hill outlines: one step at a time, clearly explained, from day 1 to saddling. And finally, I found an accurate definition of "imprinting", a term that has been so abused and misused that it's nearly lost all meaning. The author illustrates appropriate early handling of foals but leaves imprinting to the horses.The training alone is worth the price of the book, but Hill also provides detailed information on all types of health care issues like what shots to give when, and deworming (not "worming" as I've always heard it called).She also tells what, when and how to feed your horse and how much exercise they need.There's a great section on Puberty and I sure wish I'd had this book when I was trying to decide when to geld my colt and what to do afterwards - I could have avoided a lot of stress for both myself and the horse.I think what I like best in Hill's approach to horse training is that she clearly has the horse's best interests in mind. It is geared not only toward making a good horse, but making a good horse that stays sound mentally and physically, and that will last a long time. This book is not a 30-day wonder program, it's a lifetime approach that progresses at a pace dictated by the ability and experience of both you and your horse.All in all, I can't recommend this book highly enough for anyone who needs quality information on raising horses, no matter what kind of horses or what you're going to use them for.