We live in a world where a decent horse book will deplete your allowance or empty your wallet. For people who want information about horses, but don't feel like paying twenty or thirty dollars per book, there are plenty of ways to obtain great information for free.

Show Ads

[edit] Steps

Talk to horse crazy friends or relatives. They may have old books or posters that they are willing to part with, which will be a fine addition to your collection. Sometimes, if a friend is having a garage sale, they will let you have books for free as an act of kindness. If your friend does this, don't push them any farther or take advantage of their generosity. Just say thanks and enjoy your newfound treasure.
If you are looking for information about a specific breed, send a letter to the breed association. They may send you a packet of information including photos, posters, history, information guides, stickers, trading cards, the breed standards, and even books. You can find the contact information for most major breed associations in the back of large horse books (the "resources" section).
The Internet is a great resource. If you are looking for horse care information, visit the website for the Humane Society of the United States. The site offers several free brochures and tip sheets for horse owners to download. You can also go to search engines, like Google, and search for information.
Forums on the Internet. An active and friendly forum can help answer question you can't find the answer to elsewhere and can offer support and encouragement for everything from training to dealing with the death of your horse.
If you've ever thought of taking up a new discipline, or you just want to learn about horse sports, you can contact sports organizations for more free stuff. If you're lucky, they may even send you information about upcoming shows that you could enter.
Your local tack shop. Local tack shops are often the center of the horsey community and will know all the local horsey groups. Most tack shops have a notice board so check it out for local events to expand your circle of horsey friends.

[edit] Warnings

Horse people are a passionate lot and are very free with advice. However many horse ‘hints and tips’ are woefully out of date, come from a time when the aim was to get as much work as possible out of a horse. Today pleasure is the aim of the ‘pleasure horse’, for both the horse and the rider. Listen to all advice and understand the reasons behind it, but understand that all horses are individuals and what works for one horse may not work for another. Filter all advice though a fine mesh of common sense. Don’t follow advice blindly.

[edit] Related wikiHows

[edit] Sources and Citations

The British Horse Society - National charity pushing equine rights and laws. (UK based link)
Equine World UK Equestrian - Has excellent forum (UK based link)