THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO OWNING, MAINTAINING, AND ENJOYING HORSES.

The Whole Horse Catalog, the definitive horse guide, is now completely revised and updated to include everything from advances in nutritional thinking to sources on the World Wide Web. With hundreds of illustrations and a detailed, easy-to-understand text, this new edition of The Whole Horse Catalog is the one-stop book for all your equestrian needs.

• Where to look for a horse
• How to select a horse
• How to choose stable construction and furnishings
• Horse health care, feeding, and grooming
• Tack: from bits, bridles, and saddles to halters and harnesses
• Apparel and new equipment advances for riders
• Equestrian sports for participants and spectators alike, including ideas for "holidays on horseback"
• Equestrian magazines, organizations, and Web locations

Filled with advice and contacts, The Whole Horse Catalog is a complete resource guide for the novice and experienced equestrian alike.

Louise von Francois (1817-1893) was a German writer of realist fiction and a contemporary of Fontane, Storm and Meyer. Her most famous novel, 'Die letzte Reckenburgerin' (1871), was regarded as one of the most innovative novels of the nineteenth century and attracted significant critical attention. Francois's novels and novellas are notable for their strong story lines, rich prose and psychological realism. Endorsing the values of honour and duty as prerequisites for the creation of a more equitable society, Francois shared with other literary figures of the period an antipathy toward class prejudice and religious intolerance. Despite Francois's didactic focus, however, her writing lacks neither wit nor suspense, and a firm grasp of narrative technique is her mainstay. Her talent for originality of construction results in highly readable stories that stand the test of time. 'Phosphorus Hollunder' focuses on the development of a male protagonist who is refined through suffering, relinquishing vanity and dilettantism for moral rectitude and responsibility, while also addressing the nineteenth-century social tensions resulting from class distinction and the decline of the nobility. It is a tale of unrequited love and betrayal which retains the reader's interest by challenging rather than capitulating to sentimental romantic stereotypes. 'Der Posten der Frau' is set against the backdrop of the Seven Years' War, and portrays the struggle of a disenchanted young woman to find an appropriate wartime role. Without glamorising her function, Francois elevates the woman's status from that of passive and powerless observer to authoritative sustainer of domestic and social stability. The novella offers a subtle exploration of the ambiguous distinction between the categories of friend and foe, and implies a challenge to traditional feminine identity. Barbara Burns is a senior lecturer in the German Department at the University of Glasgow.

Louise von Francois (1817-1893) was a German realist writer whose work appeared in several editions during her lifetime and was translated abroad. Her most famous novel, Die letzte Reckenburgerin, attracted significant critical attention from her contemporaries and was regarded as one of the most innovative novels of the century. Her other prose fiction, however, is less well known. In the context of the ongoing re-assessment of nineteenth-century women writers, this book evaluates the thematic preoccupations and narrative technique of Francois's creative work as a whole. Through a study of ten representative texts, most of which have not been subject to detailed literary analysis in the past, the author considers Francois's powerful portrayals of female self-reliance, and seeks to elucidate aspects of her most cherished convictions, which centred on values of honour and duty, and on a vision of a more equitable and decent society.