With horse ownership comes great responsibility; we have a responsibility to manage our horses to the best of our ability and to do this sustainably and ethically.

Horse keeping has changed dramatically in the last 30 to 40 years and there are many new challenges facing contemporary horse owners. The modern domestic horse is now much more likely to be kept for leisure purposes than for work and this can have huge implications on the health and well-being of our horses and create heavy demands on our time and resources.

We need to rethink how we keep horses today rather than carry on doing things traditionally simply because that is ‘how it has always been done’. We need to look at how we can develop practices that ensure that their needs are met, without compromising their welfare, the environment and our own lifestyle.

This book brings together much of the current research and thinking on responsible, sustainable, ethical horsekeeping so that you can make informed choices when it comes to your own horse management practices. It starts by looking at the way we traditionally keep horses and how this has come about. It then discusses some contemporary issues and offers some solutions in particular a system of horsekeeping that we have developed and call The Equicentral System.

For many years now we have been teaching this management system to horse owners in various climates around the world, to great effect. This system has many advantages for the ‘lifestyle’ of your horse/s, your own lifestyle and for the wider environment - all at the same time, a true win-win situation all round.