The inside story of the crisis within the country’s most classic sport—horseracing—and why money is killing thoroughbreds at the top of their game.

Every year, hundreds of horses die on the racetrack. Why?

In this deeply reported and propulsive narrative, CNN reporter Katie Bo Lillis shows how two high-profile cases lay bare the ills facing the sport: the abrupt, industry-rocking indictments of top trainers Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro, and the untold story of Bob Baffert, the most successful and recognizable horse trainer in modern history, and the allegations he faced after a string of mysterious horse deaths and the high-profile disqualification of his latest Kentucky Derby winner for a failed drug test.

Death of a Racehorse delves deep into the horse racing world, offering intimate access to dozens of top trainers, owners, breeders, veterinarians, lab specialists, and more. The mainstream perception has been that rampant drug use is forcing these horses to run past their natural ability, resulting in heart attacks and broken legs. But this doesn’t paint the full picture.

That picture is driven by class tension between the affluent old stables and an ambitious new guard. This upstairs-downstairs drama shows blue-blooded families on a quest to restore horse racing to the good old days that never existed, versus those like Bob Baffert who are still viewed as outsiders—fantastically successful, but coming from less pedigreed backgrounds and experience. The privileged few, determined to save the sport, seem to hold a powerful suspicion that the sport’s brash, pioneering working class could not possibly be doing so well on their own.

Lillis shows how the breeding industry prioritizes making millions over breeding a sound, durable horse. A disjointed race schedule, created by racetrack operators that are trying to maximize betting opportunities, makes it impossible to manage a horse’s athletic career safely. In this purely capitalistic industry, the brute force of winning and the money that follows has taken the place of a responsible husbandry of the animal that is its beating heart.

Death of a Racehorse is a cutting, on-the-ground investigation into the morally ambiguous behavior at the industry’s glamorous center, raising nuanced questions about the relationship between animal and human—and offering a hopeful path forward for one of America’s oldest and most treasured sports.

This ground-breaking book explores the issues surrounding barefoot horses in the UK and looks in detail at how to improve overall hoof health, in both shod and barefoot horses. This new edition in paperback offers practical, hands-on advice on achieving barefoot performance in a variety of disciplines - from eventing and hunting to endurance - focussing on the essential elements for healthy hooves: diet, environment, exercise and trimming or shoeing. In addition, the book has step-by step advice on rehabilitating problem hooves with case studies of horses with a range of issues, from navicular or tendon damage to metabolic disorders like laminitis and insulin resistance. The authors have successfully ridden and competed their own horses barefoot for many years and have helped many hundreds of their clients' horses work successfully without shoes.

'[Park Lane Stables] is such a force for good' - Rob Brydon '[An] uplifting story' - Horse and Rider This is the story of Park Lane Stables. It is about hope, about horses and about lots and lots of heroes. Natalie O'Rourke was an ordinary little girl from Birmingham in all respects save one: she was lonely. When she discovered how much she loved horses, she decided she wanted to grow up and run a riding stables. She wanted her stables to cater for children and adults with disabilities, additional needs and anyone who needed a friend - people who you might not expect to find riding, but who she knew could find happiness through horses, because she had. Full of guts and optimism, Natalie fought tooth and nail to achieve that dream in the face of some hefty tragedy, heartbreak and hardship. Even the Covid-19 crisis couldn't slow her or her league of fearless Park Lane colleagues down - despite barely surviving financially in lockdown, the stables' 'Pavement Ponies' paid visits to the community on a mission to cheer their neighbours up, and tirelessly supported the NHS. But when the news came that the landlord was selling the stables, and that the Park Lane horses and their humans would be evicted unless they found a whopping GBP1,000,000 to buy the plot, it seemed a mountain too high even for this plucky team to climb. Could they win the support of the nation and with it their fight to save the stables?

Welcome back to Heritage Cove, the little village by the sea brimming with character, community and friendship. The perfect place to fall in love... Running Heritage View Stables is everything Hazel ever dreamed of. She loves working with the horses and managing the business with her brother. But after a terrible incident, she's not sure whether she'll ever be able to put things back the way they were. Gus is ready to start over. He's moved him and his ten-year-old daughter Abigail to Heritage Cove, where he's opening his own vet practice. Everything is falling into place, especially as he watches Abigail start to come out of her shell for the first time since the accident. Neither Hazel nor Gus is looking for love, but could they each be what the other needs? And is happiness even a possibility when their pasts won't let them go? Join new friends and old, as summer comes to Heritage Cove. Praise for Helen Rolfe's heartwarming stories: 'I really loved this book. I fully intended to save it for the long bank holiday weekend, to be enjoyed leisurely over a few days, but I ended up devouring it all in just two sittings...' Jo Bartlett 'One to curl up with after a long hard day, and know you are just going to be treated to a cosy atmosphere, realistic characters that you will come to care for' Rachel's Random Reads 'Such a perfect gift of a book!' Reader Review 'Helen Rolfe is an absolute specialist at building cosy communities and making me want to live there. I want the characters as my friends!' Sue Moorcroft 'Heritage Cove has this wonderful community spirit that I so want to be part of...the balance between the emotional moments, tough relatable topics against the light-hearted fun was done ever so well' Love Books Actually 'What a beautiful story filled with happiness, comedy and lovely characters' Reader Review 'I was gripped by the story from start to finish and the end of the book left me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside' Ginger Book Geek

The Equine-Assisted Therapy Workbook gives readers the tools they need to increase professional competency and personalize the practical applications of equine-assisted therapy. Each chapter includes thought-provoking ethical questions, hands-on learning activities, self-assessments, practical scenarios, and journal assignments applicable to a diverse group of healthcare professionals. The perfect companion to The Clinical Practice of Equine-Assisted Therapy, this workbook is appropriate for both students and professionals.

The "scales of training" are the components of a progressive training system that has evolved from the teaching of the great riding masters of Italy, France, and Germany. The scales apply to the basic schooling of every horse, whether the rider wishes to concentrate on dressage, jumping, or eventing, and provide an essential foundation for the horse's physical and mental development. If the scales are not observed at novice level, then it is unlikely that horse and rider will progress to advanced levels or be able to maintain a consistent level of performance. In this illustrated workbook Claire Lilley explains how to use the scales when schooling and jumping at home. She describes the principles of each training scale and includes in each section a number of exercises designed to improve performance, with notes on what to look for, training tips, and solutions to common mistakes and misunderstandings.

Since prehistory, horses have given us assistance, close companionship and artistic inspiration. Horses offer everything from practical help to brisk exercise to the sheer exhilaration of galloping together across open country. They provide entertaining antics when we're bored and quiet understanding when we need it most. To poets in particular, these beloved creatures are the most wonderful muses, as they neigh, whicker and nuzzle, reflecting back at us our heartfelt tenderness and high spirits. Horse Poems offers a selection of verses in praise of the horse by some of the most celebrated poets of all time. The perfect gift for literary horse fans.

Hilary Bradt's classic account of a journey through Ireland on horseback in the 1980s published for the first time in a single volume. In 1984, Hilary Bradt achieved an ambition from her pony-mad childhood to undertake a long-distance ride. This warm, funny and heart-wrenching account centres on the growing bond between the author and her Connemara ponies, Mollie and Peggy. Using her experience of horsepacking in Peru with saddlebags imported from America, she and Mollie set forth with no decent maps, and only a vague idea of the route. The many challenges and obstacles they face include impassable rivers, bogs, stone walls, and the author's own shyness. The book is also a portrait of a vanished rural Ireland before the Celtic Tiger era, built up from descriptions and conversations with local people. The journey takes Bradt and her ponies a thousand miles south from county Mayo, around the peninsulas of Kerry and Cork, and inland towards Waterford. 'I've never tried hitchhiking with a horse before,' comments the author, faced with the challenge of getting across the River Shannon. 'It's not easy!' Originally published in two separate volumes, Connemara Mollie and Dingle Peggy, this brand new edition brings the whole story together for the first time, with additional, previously unpublished photographs.

The beauty, grace, and uniformity of these magnificent horses, bred selectively for centuries, are unexcelled, and every Arabian owner will agree that there is a spiritual bond and kinship between the Arabian horse and its master such as exists with no other breed. This is the most comprehensive and authoritative work on its subject. The author traces Arabians from 1580 B.C. to the present and through all the countries where they have been bred. Over 200 photographs and reproductions of ancient and modern art depict the great horses of the past and present, the conditions under which they were kept, how they were trained, and how the strains were developed. Drawings show the important points of the classic Arabian, and charts outline the major strains. The canvas on which the author has painted this panorama of the Arabian is large, and it is dedicated to the creative breeders, not only of the past and present, but especially of the future.

This practical book helps you interpret and connect the physical signals that horses display in response to their environment. These signals are evident in the everyday actions, gestures and attitudes that horses communicate to each other, but are often so subtle that they can go unnoticed by humans. This book aims to rectify that, offering horse lovers and equine professionals an opportunity to gain a unique insight into their 'horse's world'. Key features: includes detailed description of language signs of domestic horses, with a special emphasis on calming signals includes 275 pictures to visualize various language signs, calming signals, behaviour sequences and facial features presents communication ladders to show how a horse responds to incentives in his environment, and what signals he uses at certain moments contains tips on the use of the communication ladders and calming signals to improve the socialisation, training and wellbeing of your horse considers equine psychological stress from an environmental perspective, providing a valuable alternative to the current common clinical perspective. After reading this book you will be more astute in spotting calming signals, displacement activities, stress signals and distance-increasing signals, and better able to see which stimuli your horse can handle and which he cannot. This means you will know what to do to calm your horse before his stress rises to an unmanageable level. Language Signs and Calming Signals of Horses is both fascinating and important reading for any equine veterinary practitioner, student or nurse, as well as horse owners and trainers.

The wild horse, popularly known as the mustang, is so ingrained in the American imagination that even those who have never seen one know what it stands for: freedom, independence, the bedrock ideals of the nation. But in modern times it has become entangled in controversy and bureaucratic mismanagement, and now its future is imperiled. In Wild Horse Country, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter David Philipps traces the rich history of wild horses in America and investigates the shocking dilemma they pose in our own time.

'Poignant and compelling, an equine Bridget Jones.' - Racing Post Being a stable lass is probably one of the hardest jobs in the country, and yet for Gemma Hogg it is the most rewarding. She works in the beautiful Yorkshire market town of Middleham and if her colleagues are occasionally challenging, then the horses are downright astonishing. Now, in Stable Lass, she takes us into the closed world of a top racing yard, from the elation of having several winners in one day to the almost indescribable grief of losing a horse. Like most stable lads and lasses, Gemma arrived in her yard as a teenager fresh out of racing college and had to cope with living away from home for the first time, as well as adapting to the brutal long hours, backbreaking work and often treacherous weather. She describes falling in love with Polo Venture, the first racehorse in her care, the pure exhilaration of riding him on Middleham Gallops for the first time and what happens when a horse takes against you, from the growling gelding Valiant Warrior to the potentially lethal Broadway Boy. She brings to life the characters around the yard, from straight-talking boss Micky Hammond to the jockeys starving themselves to make weight, the wealthy owners and the other stable lads and lasses who come from a range of different places and backgrounds. Stable Lass by Gemma Hogg is a unique look into the world of horse racing filled with heart-warming stories and amazing thoroughbreds - some loveable, some cantankerous, all impressive.