A comprehensive guide to the conditioning, producing, training, and exhibition of the heavy horse breeds. The author gives advice on general care, handling, feeding, shoeing, plaiting, and preparation for the show ring. Harness, handlers, carts, and carriages are examined and the problems of transporting these gentle giants and their vehicles are covered.

From the Wild West shows of the nineteenth century to the popular movie Westerns of the twentieth century, one view of an idealized and mythical West has been promulgated. Elyssa Ford suggests that we look beyond these cowboy cliches to complicate and enrich our picture of the American West. Rodeo as Refuge, Rodeo as Rebellion takes us from the beachfront rodeo arenas in Hawai'i to the reservation rodeos held by Native Americans to reveal how people largely missing from that stereotypical picture make rodeo--and America--their own. Because rodeo has such a hold on our historical and cultural imagination, it becomes an ideal arena for establishing historical and cultural relevance. By claiming a place in that arena, groups rarely included in our understanding of the West--African Americans, Native Americans, Mexican Americans, Native Hawaiians, and the LGBT community--emphasize their involvement in the American past and proclaim their right to an American identity today. In doing so, these groups change what Americans know about their history and themselves. In her journey through these race- and group-specific rodeos, Ford finds that some see rodeo as a form of escape, a refuge from a hostile outside world. For others, rodeo has become a site of rebellion, a place to proclaim their difference and to connect to a different story of America. Still others, like Mexican Americans and the LGBT community, look inward, using rodeo to coalesce and celebrate their own identities. In Ford's study of these historically marginalized groups, she also examines where women fit in race- and group-specific rodeos--and concludes that even within these groups, the traditional masculinity of the rodeo continues to be promoted. Female competitors may find refuge within alternate rodeos based on their race or sexuality, but they still face limitations due to their gender identity. Whether as refuge or rebellion, rodeos of difference emerge in this book as quintessentially American, remaking how we think about American history, culture, and identity.

When owning, training, riding, and showing horses, there is a certain 'look' to which one aspires. No one knows how to do all of this better than those working as 'professional grooms' for the world's top riders and trainers. It is the responsibility of these elite experts to keep their four-legged charges happy, healthy, and primed for peak performance - in body and mind. Now, two of the best professional grooms in the business share their trade secrets, with over 1200 colour photographs demonstrating how to clean the horse from nose to tail; wrap, clip, braid, and ship him; prepare him for or present him in various English competitive scenarios; and care for him after work or showing so he is rested and ready to do it all again. The ultimate modern-day guide for all riders who want their horses to look and feel their best. The complete guide to daily care of keeping horses and preparing for competition. Written by two professional grooms at the top of their game. Everything you need to know with over 1200 photographs by Jessica Dailey. Includes techniques for wrapping legs, bandaging tails, adding quarter marks and polishing the metal on tack

After his remarkable eight-second ride at the 1996 Indian National Finals Rodeo, an elated American Indian world champion bullrider from Pine Ridge, South Dakota, threw his cowboy hat in the air. Everyone in the almost exclusively Indian audience erupted in applause. Over the course of the twentieth century, rodeos have joined tribal fairs and powwows as events where American Indians gather to celebrate community and equestrian competition. In Riding Buffaloes and Broncos, Allison Fuss Mellis reveals how northern Plains Indians have used rodeo to strengthen tribal and intertribal ties and Native solidarity.In the late nineteenth century, Indian agents outlawed most traditional Native gatherings but allowed rodeo, which they viewed as a means to assimilate Indians into white culture. Mistakenly, they treated rodeo as nothing more than a demonstration of ranching skills. Yet through selective adaptation, northern Plains horsemen and audiences used rodeo to sidestep federally sanctioned acculturation. Rodeo now enabled Indians to reinforce their commitment to the very Native values--a reverence for horses, family, community, generosity, and competition--that federal agencies sought to destroy. Mellis has mined archival sources and interviewed American Indian rodeo participants and spectators throughout the northern Great Plains, Southwest, and Canada, including Crow, Northern Cheyenne, and Lakota reservations. The book features numerous photographs of Indian rodeos from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and maps illustrating the all-Indian rodeo circuit in the United States and Canada.

With her landmark first book Horse Speak: The Equine-Human Translation Guide, trainer Sharon Wilsie upended conventional methods of human equine communication (using words and ropes, for example) with her clear classification of the language horses use with each other (body, breath, and intent), as well as an unparalleled explanation of how we as humans can effectively mirror it. Learning to "listen" and "talk" to horses in their language, instead of expecting them to comprehend ours, is a milestone in the progressive philosophy of horsemanship, helping find positive solutions to behavior and training problems and ultimately leading to fewer misunderstandings between horses and humans. In her much anticipated follow up, Wilsie uses true stories to relate examples of "problems" and how they were solved using Horse Speak. Her engaging narrative introduces readers to dozens of real life scenarios from different barns, various disciplines, and riders and handlers with contrasting experiences and backgrounds. Wilsie highlights her Horse Speak process, the clues that point to the best course of action, and the steps she takes to connect with horses that have shut down, grown confused, or become sulky or aggressive for any number of reasons. The result is a book full of incredible insight and exciting possibilities.